Effects of a prebirth coparenting intervention on the parenting behaviors of young fathers

The current study investigated the effectiveness of a prebirth coparenting intervention in improving father involvement and the quality of fathering amongst adolescent and young fathers. Participants included 96 expectant adolescent couples who comprised the first wave of participants in the Young Parenthood Study. Adolescent couples participated in a baseline assessment occurring before the adolescent mother was 26 weeks gestation, and participated in two follow-up assessments at 8 weeks and 18 months postbirth. Adolescent couples were randomized into the intervention group («=51) or control group (n=45) following the baseline assessment, with intervention couples participating in 5-10 intervention sessions occurring before the baby was born. The intervention was designed to improve the quality of the coparenting relationship, with the intention that the quality of the coparenting relationship would "spill-over" into the quality of parent-child relations. Results indicated that fathers participating in the coparenting intervention had higher father-reported scores (but not mother-reported scores) of father involvement at 18 months postbirth as compared to fathers in the control group. Additionally, although only marginally significant, fathers in the coparenting intervention were warmer with their children during a play interaction at the 18-month follow-up. There were no observed intervention effects, however, on the quality of the coparenting relationship at follow-up, but the quality of the coparenting relationship was related to both father involvement scores and father warmth. As the first study to investigate the use of a coparenting intervention with adolescent mothers and young fathers together, the results of the current study offer support for the continued development of coparenting interventions for use with adolescents.