title: Young unwed fathers of AFDC children: do they provide support?
abstract: We examine the support provided by fathers of children born to disadvantaged teenage mothers. Our sample includes the fathers of 6,009 children born over a two-year period to 3,855 teenage mothers receiving AFDC in three economically depressed inner cities. These fathers provide little social and economic support to their children. Support declines as their children age from infants to toddlers and as fathers' relationships with the mothers grow more distant. Fathers' employment status and educational attainment positively affect the amount of economic support that they provide but do not strongly influence the amount of social support they provide.
authors.affiliation: Mathematica Policy Research, Princeton, NJ 08543, USA. arangarajan@mathematica-mpr.com
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rangarajan
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gleason
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000385:Aid to Families with Dependent Children / Q000191:economics*; D002655:Child Custody / Q000191:economics*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005219:Father-Child Relations; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010333:Paternal Deprivation; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence; D011610:Psychosocial Deprivation; D012944:Social Support; D014505:Urban Population