ORIGINAL PAPER Potential Positive and Negative Consequences of Coresidence for Teen Mothers and their Children in Adult-Supervised Households Elaine M. Eshbaugh Published online: 15 August 2007 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007 Abstract In 1996, part of the creation of TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) required minor teen parents to live in an adult-supervised household in order to receive cash assistance. This literature review discusses the positive and negative consequences of coresidence. Research has suggested that coresidence may be beneficial for the educational and financial success of teen mothers. However, there is some evidence that coresiding teen mothers have poorer parenting skills than teen mothers who do not coreside. Implications for policy implementation are discussed. Case managers should be aware of the possible risks of coresidence and weigh these risks against potential benefits. In addition, families of teen mothers, especially grandmothers, should be included in programming and interventions in order to provide positive living environments for teen mothers and their children. Keywords Policy Á Teen motherhood Á Intergenerational households Prior to 1996, needy families in the United States depended on Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) as a source of income. Because AFDC was originally intended in the 1930’s as an assistance program to allow widowed women to be stay-at-home mothers, legislators in the 1980s and 1990s were increasingly concerned that the original goal of the program no longer applied (Gordon 1999). More recently, AFDC mothers were less likely to be widowed and more likely to be divorced or never married. Legislators decided that the aim of welfare should be to design a program that encouraged a path to self-sufficiency and decreased need of government financial assistance (US House of Representatives 1996). In other words, cash assistance should be temporary, not long-term. These goals served as E. M. Eshbaugh (&) Department of Family Studies, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0332, USA e-mail: elaine.eshbaugh@uni.edu 123 J Child Fam Stud (2008) 17:98–108 DOI 10.1007/s10826-007-9150-5