the repercussions of not having a father?

what happens to that child mentally and emotionally if they never have a father or father figure.. ?

share your thoughts and/or experiences..

 

i was raised in a mostly female family by my mom and maternal grandmother with little outside contact in general, so in high school, boys were of special novelty for me. married, now, i recognize i had no male role model. and now i'm married to someone almost twice my age. related? possibly

 

Statistics:

• 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes (US Dept. Of Health/Census) – 5 times the average.

• 90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes – 32 times the average.

• 85% of all children who show behavior disorders come from fatherless homes – 20 times the average. (Center for Disease Control)

• 80% of rapists with anger problems come from fatherless homes –14 times the average. (Justice & Behavior, Vol 14, p. 403-26)

• 71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes – 9 times the average. (National Principals Association Report)

Father Factor in Education - Fatherless children are twice as likely to drop out of school.

• Children with Fathers who are involved are 40% less likely to repeat a grade in school.

• Children with Fathers who are involved are 70% less likely to drop out of school.

• Children with Fathers who are involved are more likely to get A’s in school.

• Children with Fathers who are involved are more likely to enjoy school and engage in extracurricular activities.

• 75% of all adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers come from fatherless homes – 10 times the average.

Father Factor in Drug and Alcohol Abuse - 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.

• 70% of youths in state-operated institutions come from fatherless homes – 9 times the average. (U.S. Dept. of Justice, Sept. 1988)

• 85% of all youths in prison come from fatherless homes – 20 times the average. (Fulton Co. Georgia, Texas Dept. of Correction)

Father Factor in Incarceration – Even after controlling for income, youths in father-absent households still had significantly higher odds of incarceration than those in mother-father families. Youths who never had a father in the household experienced the highest odds. 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.
Father Factor in Crime - A study of 109 juvenile offenders indicated that family structure significantly predicts delinquency. Adolescents, particularly boys, in single-parent families were at higher risk of status, property and person delinquencies. Moreover, students attending schools with a high proportion of children of single parents are also at risk. A study of 13,986 women in prison showed that more than half grew up without their father. Forty-two percent grew up in a single-mother household and sixteen percent lived with neither parent
Father Factor in Child Abuse – 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.
Daughters of single parents without a Father involved are 53% more likely to marry as teenagers, 711% more likely to have children as teenagers, 164% more likely to have a pre-marital birth and 92% more likely to get divorced themselves.
Adolescent girls raised in a 2 parent home with involved Fathers are significantly less likely to be sexually active than girls raised without involved Fathers.

• 43% of US children live without their father [US Department of Census]

• 90% of homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes. [US D.H.H.S., Bureau of the Census]

• 80% of rapists motivated with displaced anger come from fatherless homes. [Criminal Justice & Behaviour, Vol 14, pp. 403-26, 1978]

• 71% of pregnant teenagers lack a father. [U.S. Department of Health and Human Services press release, Friday, March 26, 1999]

• 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes. [US D.H.H.S., Bureau of the Census]

• 85% of children who exhibit behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes. [Center for Disease Control]

• 90% of adolescent repeat arsonists live with only their mother. [Wray Herbert, “Dousing the Kindlers,” Psychology Today, January, 1985, p. 28]

• 71% of high school dropouts come from fatherless homes. [National Principals Association Report on the State of High Schools]

• 75% of adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers come from fatherless homes. [Rainbows f for all God’s Children]

• 70% of juveniles in state operated institutions have no father. [US Department of Justice, Special Report, Sept. 1988]

• 85% of youths in prisons grew up in a fatherless home. [Fulton County Georgia jail populations, Texas Department of Corrections, 1992]

• Fatherless boys and girls are: twice as likely to drop out of high school; twice as likely to end up in jail; four times more likely to need help for emotional or behavioral problems. [US D.H.H.S. news release, March 26, 1999]

Census Fatherhood Statistics

• 64.3 million: Estimated number of fathers across the nation
• 26.5 million: Number of fathers who are part of married-couple families with their own children under the age of 18.
  Among these fathers -
  • 22 percent are raising three or more of their own children under 18 years old (among married-couple family households only).
  • 2 percent live in the home of a relative or a non-relative.
• 2.5 million: Number of single fathers, up from 400,000 in 1970. Currently, among single parents living with their children, 18 percent are men.
  Among these fathers -
  • 8 percent are raising three or more of their own children under 18 years old.
  • 42 percent are divorced, 38 percent have never married, 16 percent are separated and 4 percent are widowed. (The percentages of those divorced and never married are not significantly different from one another.)
  • 16 percent live in the home of a relative or a non-relative.
  • 27 percent have an annual family income of $50,000 or more.
• 85 percent: Among the 30.2 million fathers living with children younger than 18, the percentage who lived with their biological children only.
  • 11 percent lived with step-children
  • 4 percent with adopted children
  • < 1 percent with foster children
  Recent policies encourage the development of programs designed to improve the economic status of low-income nonresident fathers and the financial and emotional support provided to their children. This brief provides ten key lessons from several important early responsible fatherhood initiatives that were developed and implemented during the 1990s and early 2000s. Formal evaluations of these earlier fatherhood efforts have been completed making this an opportune time to step back and assess what has been learned and how to build on the early programs’ successes and challenges.While the following statistics are formidable, the Responsible Fatherhood research literature generally supports the claim that a loving and nurturing father improves outcomes for children, families and communities.
• 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.
• Studies on parent-child relationships and child wellbeing show that father love is an important factor in predicting the social, emotional, and cognitive development and functioning of children and young adults.
• 24 million children (34 percent) live absent their biological father.
• Nearly 20 million children (27 percent) live in single-parent homes.
• 43 percent of first marriages dissolve within fifteen years; about 60 percent of divorcing couples have children; and approximately one million children each year experience the divorce of their parents.
• Fathers who live with their children are more likely to have a close, enduring relationship with their children than those who do not.
• Compared to children born within marriage, children born to cohabiting parents are three times as likely to experience father absence, and children born to unmarried, non-cohabiting parents are four times as likely to live in a father-absent home.
• About 40 percent of children in father-absent homes have not seen their father at all during the past year; 26 percent of absent fathers live in a different state than their children; and 50 percent of children living absent their father have never set foot in their father’s home.
• Children who live absent their biological fathers are, on average, at least two to three times more likely to be poor, to use drugs, to experience educational, health, emotional and behavioral problems, to be victims of child abuse, and to engage in criminal behavior than their peers who live with their married, biological (or adoptive) parents.
• From 1995 to 2000, the proportion of children living in single-parent homes slightly declined, while the proportion of children living with two married parents remained stable.

 

i didnt have a father in my life, i turned out ok. i wouldnt be me if i had my dad in my life. i like who i am currently

 

i laughed at the "Children who live absent their biological fathers are, on average, at least two to three times more likely to be poor, to use drugs, to experience educational, health, emotional and behavioral problems, to be victims of child abuse, and to engage in criminal behavior than their peers who live with their married, biological (or adoptive) parents" part. its cuz we know that society is bs. the govt is a bunch of idiots, fuckem all.

 

And look at you! You long haired dready, pot smoking druggo! Shame on you!! =p

My daddy and I are like peas and corn.. or we were when I was young and I went travelling with him and he schooled me. I turned out to be a lesbian... So fuck knows what that says >.<

 

I'm not going to quote all of these statistics, but in reference to your post:

Is dysfunction in the absence of a parent a causation or correlation? My guess would be that having an dysfunction is caused by poverty, lack of stability, absence of proper nutrition, insufficient parental supervision (since the single parent is working more often), lack of attention, lack of responsible adults in the child's life, regular exposure to violence.

So, I don't think it is vital to have an important figure of a certain gender in one's life, be it a mother or father. What matters is to have loving adults present in the home. Gender irrelevant (or not enough to be VERY significant). If a child is raised by a single mother or a single father who is able to meet their needs, care for them, and provide a stable positive influence, I don't think many of these stats would apply.

 

haha shame on me indeed

 

I kind of had neither. Gramma raised me and I did a lot of floppin' around with no plan. Took me awhile, but I guess I'm OK. I can remember having a strong feeling of being myself though-- a strong personality even before I went to school.

 

Dont think having a father is important?

Ive been walking around for 35 years wondering why my father didnt want me,didnt love me,where is he,how could he have 2 more kids after me that he stayed with,why does he want and love them but not me.everyday i wonder what its like to have a dad and its been killing me mentally and emotionaly for 35 years.

Ive had a couple wannabe dads who do love me but its not the same,or atleast i dont think it is.i know they can get up and leave me without ever thinking about me,im not thier kid.

 

Most men are little boys that never grow up

And most women are fooking nutcases

Parents dont mean shit, the whole point is to be an improvement on them

And role models are usually about wanting to be rich and/or famous, have the stuff they have.

Hardly anybody dreams of growing up to be someone that actually helps people

 

I'm sorry to hear about your struggle and I can tell that this is a sensitive subject for you.

But I don't think that you totally read my post. All I can say is that I don't think fathers are the most important variable in this equation. Wouldn't you have had similar feelings of abandonment if you had been raised my a single father? You would have had the same feelings about maternal abandonment, is my guess.

I was also responding directly to statistics that were posted. I think that if you read the stats, and then my response, it would make greater sense.

Other than feelings of sadness and questioning, do you think you are a bad person? Did you have an otherwise stable life?

 

Don't feel that it is a flaw in you that your biological father did not get to know you or be a part of your life. That is a flaw in him. Who knows what all went in to making him what he is, or what caused him to not be a part of your life. But I'm sure that you can see for yourself if you think about it, we can all be selfish and we all make mistakes. His decision was all about himself not you.

 

Dad... is that you?!?!?!

 

I had a great dad...i just wish i could have shared him, well i did, my husband had no dad..and my dad had no sons...but he had 4 daughters and every one of us loved him dearly, he was an awsome grandad...laughed, played...we cherished him, he taught us tollerance, that shouting wasnt always needed...never smacked us...always provided for us...mum, yeah, she was a head case who cooked cleaned and knocked seven bells out of her kids! Good job we had dad i say...
Mums are not all that you know...

 

Without typing out a long story....I think the most important thing is that the child feels loved and supported by whoever happens to being raising him/her.

 

My dad died when I was ten years old. My mom did remarry when I was 13, but I think ultimately it was for the worse. My step-dad was kind of a jerk. I think it matters more who your parent(s)/guardian(s) are and how they raise you than anything else.

 

Hmmmm, yes threads like this can be ultra sneaky, Glasshopeers post is quoted from sites like innocentdads, mormon women take a stand etc. There is of course no press release of such nature coming from the department of justice, or the CDC.

I' d invite anyone interested in the truth to google this themselves, google real stats from the proper gov departments.

Then it comes back to why ones like Glasshopper, need to do this

 

It sucks man. I survived a lot not having a father, but I'm still pretty messed up. I've become somewhat of a sociopath. I'm at a point where I really need a father figure but there was just no one there. I don't have knowledge of basic skills, I won't be able to learn other skills. Fuck dead beat dads. They're all fucking losers. It hurts every day man, and there is no way to bandage it..

 

But how would you or anyone else know the difference, if you had grown up with a perfect dad that you may have ended up in exactly the same place at the age you are now. Actually calling yourself a sociopath would rule out you being a sociopath.

Or has it just been something convenient to balme everything thats gone wrong in your life on

You wont be able to learn new skills? So the only way to people can push themselves and learn new skills is by way of a father figure?

Seriously, C'mon