This study uses data from the Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to examine family structure's associations with adolescent physical health, behavior, and emotional well-being. Findings suggest that adolescents in most other family types tend to have poorer outcomes than those in two-biological-parent families. Adolescents living with their biological father but not their mother have similar outcomes to those living with their single, biological mother. Although transitioning to a single-parent family is adversely associated with multiple outcomes, few associations are found for other types of transitions, and there are few differences in adolescent outcomes by parental marital status. Estimates from models utilizing adolescent- and caregiver-reported outcome measures, though similar with regard to behavior problems, differ considerably with regard to physical health and emotional well-being such that those using adolescent reports suggest a stronger relation between family structure and adolescent well-being than those using caregiver reports.

This article reviews the existing literature on young disadvantaged fathers' involvement with children. It first outlines the predominant theoretical perspectives regarding father involvement among resident (married and cohabiting) biological fathers, resident social fathers (unrelated romantic partners of children's mothers), and nonresident biological fathers. Second, it presents a brief discussion of the ways in which fathers contribute to childrearing. Third, it describes the socioeconomic characteristics of men who enter fatherhood at a young age, highlighting that they tend to be socioeconomically disadvantaged. Fourth, it reviews the empirical research on both antecedents of father involvement and patterns of involvement across father types. Finally, it describes the limitations of existing research and provides suggestions for future research and policy.