Families without fathers remain a growing social problem
For a child, the perfect home is one that includes both a loving mother and father. But for many youth in America, including thousands in Alabama, the reality of a two-parent household is only a dream.
Far from only leaving the child feeling lonely and insecure, experts say homes without fathers have a negative impact on society.
“Almost anything bad that can happen to a child occurs with much greater frequency to the children of divorce and those who live in single parent families,” said David Popenoe, author of “Life Without Father.”
Popenoe points to statistics about the impact of homes without fathers. He notes substantial evidence that the absence of a father is the “most prominent reason” for all of the conditions, independent of economic issues:
- Violent crime among juveniles increased from 16,000 arrests in 1960 to 96,000 in 1992, a period in which the juvenile population remained stable.
- Reports of child neglect and abuse have quintupled since 1976, when data was first collected.
- Eating disorders and rates of unipolar depression have soared among adolescent girls.
- Teen suicide has tripled.
- SAT scores have declined nearly 80 points.
- Poverty has shifted from the elderly to the young.
“The linkage of these now-familiar conditions to fatherlessness is empirically verified by a voluminous body of social and behavioral research,” Popenoe said in addressing the statistics. “Because children represent the future of our society, these negative consequences are a social calamity in the making.
“It is a misfortune not just for those children affected by it but for every family member,” Popenoe said.
Addressing the issue in his book “Fatherless America,” David Blankenhorn said a growing problem exists in the growing number of homes without fathers and a culture of fatherlessness.
Blankenhorn, chair of the Maryland-based National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI) and founder/president of the Institute for American Values, not only argues the importance of fathers has been de-emphasized in America but that the result is an increase in crime, domestic violence, incidents of child sex abuse and child poverty.
“A generation ago, an American child could reasonably expect to grow up with his or her father,” Blankenhorn said during an address to the Center of the American Experiment in Minneapolis. “Today, an American child can reasonably expect not to. This trend of fatherlessness is the most socially consequential family trend of our generation.”
Blankenhorn said correcting the rise in single-parent homes is an issue that politicians must begin to address.
“The only credible strategy for reversing that current trend is to increase the number of children in America who grow up with their two married parents,” Blankenhorn said. “And the best way to take a crack at that large task is to reinvigorate fatherhood as a social role and to begin the process of reconnecting millions of American children to their fathers.”
Blankenhorn is not alone in his assessment.
“When a child’s biological father is not present in the house, it increases the risk of that child being involved in a number of negative social behaviors,” said John Hill, director of research with the Alabama Policy Institute.
Hill said male children are not alone in the effect a father’s absence has on them.
“It takes out role models, not just for the boys but the girls too,” he said. “The boys need to see what a responsible man is like and girls need to see what a strong man is so they will know what to seek in a companion.”
Commitment by the father is important in how children learn about responsibility, Hill said. “They need to see that Dad doesn’t just walk out when things get bad,” he said.
Popenoe said the absence of both parents also retards children’s total development. “Evidence about the negative effects of divorce on the social and behavioral development of children is now legion in the social sciences.”
Popenoe said children from divorced homes performed more poorly on a wide range of assessments including:
- Parents’ ratings of hostility toward adults, peer popularity, nightmares and anxiety.
- Teachers’ ratings of school-related behaviors and mental health, including dependency, anxiety, aggression, withdrawal, inattention, peer popularity and self-control.
- Scores in reading, spelling and math.
- school performance indices, including grades in reading and math as well as repeating a school grade.
- Physical health ratings.
- Referral to the school psychologist.
Children from broken homes also carry emotional baggage beyond their youth, according to psychologist Judith Wallerstein.
“A significant number of children (of divorce) suffer long-term, perhaps detrimental effects from divorce,” Wallerstein said.
- More than one-third of youth experience moderate to severe depression five years after a divorce.
- A significant number of young men and women appeared troubled, adrift and were achieving below expectations 10 years after a divorce.
- Many had trouble establishing their own relationships with the opposite sex 15 years after a divorce.
The solution, said Blankenhorn, is a reinvigoration of the role of fatherhood and a return to the “good family man.”
“The most important predictor of criminal behavior is not race, not income, not religious affiliation,” said Blankenhorn. “It’s father absence. It’s boys who don’t grow up with their fathers.”
Blankenhorn said studies have documented the correlation between criminal behavior and the absence of a father in a home.
Once researchers account for “income and other factors, it’s the absence of the father that seems to generate an increased likelihood of criminal activity,” Blankenhorn said. “More than 70 percent of all the juveniles right now in long-term correctional facilities are young men who grew up without fathers in their homes.”
James Q. Wilson, a professor at the University of California in Los Angeles, said neighborhood standards may be set by mothers, “but they are enforced by fathers, or at least by adult males.
“Neighborhoods without fathers are neighborhoods without men able and willing to confront errant youth, chase threatening gangs and reproach delinquent fathers,” Wilson said. “The absence of fathers deprives the community of those little platoons that informally but effectively control the boys on the street.’’
The impact of children growing up in homes without fathers is a factor NFI president Wade F. Horn said is reflected in the emotional health of today’s children.
“On almost every indicator of child well-being, children today fare worse than their counterparts just a generation ago,” Horn said. “The reason is the dramatic rise, over the last 30 years, in the number of children living in fatherless households.”
Horn said children growing up without fathers are “more likely to fail at school or to drop out, engage in early sexual activity, develop drug and alcohol problems, and experience or perpetrate violence.”
Popenoe cites statistics showing the percentage of children living apart from their biological fathers more than doubled from 17 percent to 36 percent between 1960 and 1990.
“Involved fathers are indispensable for the good of children and society,” Popenoe said, “and our growing national fatherlessness in a disaster in the making.”
Pointing to the negative impact fatherless homes have on children, Hill offered the following statistics:
- 22-30 percent of students from broken homes repeat a grade in school, versus 12 percent of students from a home with both parents.
- 67 percent of children from homes without both parents attend college, compared to 85 percent from homes with a mother and father.
The National Fatherhood Initiative was created in 1994. Horn described its purpose as “to counter the growing problem of fatherlessness by stimulating a broad-based social movement to restore responsible fatherhood as a national priority.”
Horn said the importance of homes with fathers is becoming an issue among politicians.
“Virtually everyone — from former Vice President Dan Quayle to President Clinton — now agrees that fathers matter,” Horn said, “and they matter a lot more than many had previously realized.”
Despite that realization, Hill referenced statistics that indicate the situation is far from correcting itself:
- This year, more than a million children will experience the divorce or separation of their parents.
- An additional 1.3 million babies will be fathered out-of-wedlock.
- Overall, nearly 2.5 million children will join the ranks of the fatherless.
Horn said NFI is involved with a public education campaign highlighting the importance of fathers to the well-being of children and communities.
“In addition, we have developed, in conjunction with the Ad Council, a national public service announcement campaign to raise the awareness of every American that fathers make unique and irreplaceable contributions to the lives of their children,” he said, “and that collectively we need to encourage and support men to be good and responsible fathers.”
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