Enhancing Coparenting among Pregnant, Low-Income Teens: Adaptation of Family Foundations

The coparenting relationship is a key influence on parent adjustment, parenting quality, and child outcomes, which presents a potential means of integrating two streams of intervention work: prevention of poor parenting and prevention of couple relationship difficulties. Family Foundations is an innovative and evidence-based prevention program for adult couples designed to enhance the coparenting relationship across the transition to parenthood. The program has been shown to reduce parent depression and stress, enhance couple relationship quality, reduce harsh parenting, and enhance child social-emotional functioning through age 3. We will present data on a trial of Family Foundations with adults. We will then present material from needs assessment research with low-income, primarily African-American teens regarding the pregnancy and early parenthood phases. Finally, we will discuss the principles that guided the adaptation of Family Foundations for this population, and present feedback from focus groups and piloting of adapted sessions.