Fatherhood: The Importance of Dads

Fatherhood: The Importance of Dads

The Absence of Fathers in the Home has dramatically increased over time.

♦    According to a U.S, Census Bureau report, over 25 million children live apart from their biological fathers. That is 1 out of every 3 (34.5%) children in America. Nearly 2 in 3 (65%) African American children live in fatherless homes. Nearly 4 in 10 (36%) Hispanic children, and nearly 3 in 10 (27%) white children live in fatherless homes.[i]

♦    From 1960 to 1995, the proportion of children living in single-parent homes have tripled, increasing from 9 percent to 27 percent, and the proportion of children living with married parents declined.[ii]

♦    Between 1960 and 2006, the number of children living in single-mother families grew from 8 percent to 23.3 percent.[iii]

♦    34 percent of children currently live apart from their biological father.[iv]

♦    Today, half of all children[v], and 80 percent of African American children, can expect to live at least part of their childhood living apart from their fathers. (Report of Final Natality)

♦    Currently, there is: 11,268,000total custodial mothers and 2,907,000total custodial fathers residing in the United States.[vi]

No Fault Divorce Laws Increases the Divorce Rate.

♦    "No-fault" divorce originated in the United States in 1970 in California.

♦    No-fault divorce is a divorce in which the termination of a marriage requires no showing of wrong-doing by either party or any evidence of a breach in the marital contract. 

♦    Laws providing for no-fault divorce also limit the potential legal defenses of a spouse who would prefer to remain married.

Fathers Play a Crucial Rol in the Development of their Children.

♦    Babies as young as three months old can tell the difference between their mother and father. They can tell by the way each speaks to them, holds them, and by their different smells.

♦    Research has shown that children whose fathers are involved in rearing them score higher on cognitive tests (they seem smarter) than those with relatively uninvolved fathers

♦    Father involvement enhances positive child characteristics such as empathy, self-esteem, self-control, psychological well-being, social competence, and life skills.

♦    In an analysis of nearly 100 studies on parent-child relationships, a father’s love -- measured by children's perceptions of paternal acceptance/rejection, affection/indifference – was as important as a mother’s love in predicting the social, emotional, and cognitive development and functioning of children and young adults.

♦    Children with involved, loving fathers are significantly more likely to do well in school, have healthy self-esteem, exhibit empathy and pro-social behavior, and avoid high-risk behaviors such as drug use, truancy, and criminal activity compared to children who have uninvolved fathers.

Children in Fatherless Homes Experience Poorer Living Conditions.

♦    Children in father-absent homes are five times more likely to be poor.

§  In 2002, 7.8 percent of children in married-couple families were living in poverty, compared to 38.4 percent of children in mother-only household families.[vii]

♦    During the year before their babies were born, 43% of unmarried mothers received welfare or food stamps, 21% received some type of housing subsidy, and 9% received another type of government transfer (unemployment insurance etc.). For women who have another child, the proportion who receives welfare or food stamps rises to 54%.[viii] 

♦    A child with a nonresident father is 54 percent more likely to be poorer than his or her father.[ix]

♦    Compared to living with both parents, living in a single-parent home doubles the risk that a child will suffer physical, emotional, or educational neglect.

♦    The overall rate of child abuse and neglect in single-parent households is 27.3 children per 1,000, whereas the rate of overall maltreatment in two-parent households is 15.5 per 1,000. 

♦    An analysis of child abuse cases in a nationally representative sample of 42 counties found that children from single-parent families are more likely to be victims of physical and sexual abuse than children who live with both biological parents. Compared to their peers living with both parents, children in single parent homes had: 
      - a 77% greater risk of being physically abused
      - an 87% greater risk of being harmed by physical neglect
      - a 165% greater risk of experiencing notable physical neglect
      - a 74% greater risk of suffering from emotional neglect
      - an 80% greater risk of suffering serious injury as a result of abuse
      - a 120% greater risk of being endangered by some type of childabuse. 

Children in Fatherless Homes have a Higher Chance of Drug Abuse, Being Incarcerated, and Becoming Pregnant.

♦    Researchers at Columbia University found that children living in two-parent household with a poor relationship with their father are 68% more likely to smoke, drink, or use drugs compared to all teens in two-parent households. Teens in single mother households are at a 30% higher risk than those in two-parent households.[x]
In a study of 6,500 children, the lack of closeness with a childs father was linked with the number of a child’s friends who smoke, drink, and smoke marijuana. Lack of closeness between the father and his child was also connected with a child’s use of alcohol, cigarettes, and hard drugs and was connected to family structure. Intact families ranked higher on father closeness than single-parent families.[xi]
Even after controlling for income, youths in fatherless households still had significantly higher rates of incarceration than those in mother-father families. Youths who never had a father in the household experienced the highest odds.[xii]

♦    A 2002 Department of Justice survey of 7,000 inmates revealed that 39% of jail inmates lived in mother-only households. Approximately forty-six percent of jail inmates in 2002 had a previously incarcerated family member. One-fifth experienced a father in prison or jail.[xiii]
A study of 109 juvenile offenders conducted by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice along with Florida State University Professors indicated that family structure significantly predicts delinquency.[xiv]

♦    Being raised by a single mother increased the risk of teen pregnancy, marrying with less than a high school education, and forming a marriage where both partners have less than a high school diploma.[xv]
Separation or frequent changes increase a woman’s risk of early menarche, sexual activity and pregnancy. Women whose parents separated between birth and six years old experienced twice the risk of early menstruation, more than four times the risk of early sexual intercourse, and two and a half times higher risk of early pregnancy when compared to women in two-parent families. The longer a woman lived with both parents, the lower her risk of early reproductive development. Women who experienced three or more changes in her family environment exhibited similar risks but were five times more likely to have an early pregnancy.[xvi]