Children Benefit in Homes with Fathers
by Youmasu J.
Siewe, Ph.D, MPH.
Over 27 million
children in the United States live in homes without fathers, reports the
National Center for Fathering. According to research from this center and the
National Center for Substance Abuse and Prevention (NCSAP), children who grow
up without a father or father-figure in their lives are 10 times more likely to
be economically disadvantaged, twice as likely to drop out of school, more
likely to commit crimes, more likely to behave antisocially, two to three times
more likely to have emotional problems, and have an increased risk for drug
abuse.
Conversely,
by the same report, children in a home with an actively involved father or
father-figure do better in school, have lower levels of delinquency, have
better cognitive and general health, attain higher levels of education, and
achieve better economic self-sufficiency later in their lives than children raised
in homes without a father.
Summary of the research
1. Children who have an actively involved father or
father-figure have better cognitive and health advantages, attain higher levels
of education and later achieve better economic self-sufficiency than those in homes
without a fathers.
2. The less time fathers live with
their children, the more behavioral problems their children are likely to display.
3. Children whose fathers engage
in high levels of antisocial behavior in a home with a child have greater
behavioral problems than children in single parent homes.
4. During school-age years, fathers are important to both boys and girls in
terms of sex-role identity, especially for boys, who identify more with their
fathers than their mothers.
5. Many children consider their fathers to be stricter than their mothers, and
appear to respond more readily to the system of rewards and punishments that
fathers tend to use.
6. A father’s presence is as crucial to a child’s healthy development as is the
mother’s
7. Good male role models help adolescent boys develop their gender
characteristics,
8. Good male role models help adolescent girls form opinions of men as well as
their ability to relate to them.
9. Children with loving and actively involved non-biological fathers in a home
can reap benefit similar to those of children with biological fathers in the home.
10. Fathers who are physically and emotionally involved in the lives of their
children contribute to the emotional health of their children as well as their
children contribute to the fathers’ emotional health. To be continued with
“fathering tips”.
Youmasu J. Siewe, Ph.D., MPH, is State Specialist for
Public Health Education, Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service at OSU in