Father Absence Research Paper

Most mothers and fathers love their kids with all their heart. As a child begins to age, parents begin to influence their kids and will mold them as they mature. However, parents without much care for their kids will leave a long-term effect on their children and in this study, the main impact is the father.

Communities, families, and friends all drastically affect the young men and women into which every child eventually matures. Their lifestyles, choices, and even fates can be determined by these elements in their lives. Two boys with the same name, each born and raised in Baltimore in the presence of a loving family, somehow managed to end up on two completely different life paths. While one is forced to endure a life sentence in prison, the other has accomplished many notable achievements, including writing a New York Times bestselling novel titled The Other Wes Moore.

For various reasons, many children in the United States are living without their fathers in their homes or absent from their lives entirely. This is an issue all across the world and the children are having to deal with the disadvantages caused by the lack of support from their fathers. This issue has a significant effect on society and can be viewed and interpreted from the three sociological perspectives. As a result of many studies, it was found that children raised in father absent homes almost universally experience disadvantages such as: worse health, poorer academic achievement, and a less enjoyable educational experience. There are many variables that need to be taken into effect when considering

Studies show that students living in father absent homes perform worse academically than those living in father present homes. Researchers found that children perform better in math when the father is present (Cho, Lee, & Kuchner, 2007). When a father is present in the home researcher Carlson (2006) suggested that a child is less likely to experience depression and anxiety. Because the family structure has adjusted greatly over the years children are more likely to live in a “non traditional” family in some point of their lives. Although researchers have found that at some point children will live with a single parent, there are still a large number of children being raised in two-parent families.

The degree to which fathers are or are not involved in the lives of their children, as well as the quality of that involvement, is a significant factor in predicting many things about a child’s future life. A review of the literature will show cognitive, emotional, social, and physical advantages to children who are reared with engaged fathers; whether or not those fathers live in the home with their children. There is also significant research that correlates negative behaviors and developmental outcomes in children with father absence.

In today’s society, it is common for family units to be missing a member that was once the backbone of American families. This member was the person who financially supported and provided for the remainder of the family, while also upholding the moral and religious values that the family would abide by. This absent figure is most commonly known as the father. Statistics show that “an estimated 24.7 million children (33%) live absent their biological father” ("The Consequences of Fatherlessness"). This means that approximately one in three children are fatherless. This startling fact reigns prevalent all throughout the American nation. For the father to be missing from a child’s life on a daily basis, there are various ways in which the child can be affected. As time passes and society changes, the way in which a family functions is continuing to evolve.

Between the two sets of parents, fathers are the most uninvolved in child development (Lamb, 1996). Their contribution is often minimal and in some cases is often null. Society has often given importance and focus in the responsibility of the mother while that of the father has often been given a secondary significance. According to Horn (2002), fatherlessness has over time risen to become the root to social normlessness. Children raised without fathers are known to undergo various detriments in life, for instance, dropping out of school, engaging in delinquency and engaging in sexual activities at a tender age.

The role of the father, a male figure in a child’s life is a very crucial role that has been diminishing over the years. An absent father can be defined in two ways; the father is physically not present, or the father is physically present, but emotionally present. To an adolescent, a father is an idolized figure, someone they look up to (Feud, 1921), thus when such a figure is an absent one, it can and will negatively affect a child’s development. Many of the problems we face in society today, such as crime and delinquency, poor academic achievement, divorce, drug use, early pregnancy and sexual activity can be attributed to fathers being absent during adolescent development (Popenoe, 1996; Whitehead, 1993). The percentage of

Many have argued that fathers have an important role in psychological development of children and adolescents. Research evidence indicates that the father is essential role in psychological as well as sociological well-being.

The lack of a father figure can cause a child to have cognitive, emotional, and social issues. A research was conducted in the UK on children that were raised in a fatherless family from birth. The research was conducted by questionnaires and interviews (MacCallum, Fiona and Susan Golombok. "Children Raised in Fatherless Families from Infancy: A Follow-Up of Children of Lesbian and Single Heterosexual Mothers at Early Adolescence." Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, vol. 45, no. 8, Nov. 2004, pp. 1407-1419.). The child’s social and emotional development was not negatively affected by the absence of a father. (MacCallum and Golombok 1412). The results proved that children who grow up with just their mother perceive her to be more available and more dependable than their peers who grew up in a home

The literature review examines the father 's role as being very important to a child 's development and brings out positive benefits when they’re actively involved. A father who is involved ensures a sufficient amount of cognitive ability, supports the child 's educational achievements and awareness of overall health and social behavior. Fathers are more than just the second adult in the home. When involved fathers, biological or not, they bring positive benefits to a child that no other person is likely to bring. A child without a father figure in the early stages of childhood can have a negative effect on their social behavior and general health.

“Children with fathers at home tend to do better in school, are less prone to depression and are more successful in relationships. Children from one-parent families achieve less and get into trouble more than children from two parent families.”( The Consortium for the Study of School Needs of Children from One Parent Families, 1980). Children in single-parent homes are becoming more common now days; more so single mother families, where there is an absent father in the child’s life. Whether the father is present or absent in the child’s life, they still have an influence in the development of the child. A father’s influence on a child’s development occurs when they are absent part or throughout the child’s life, from birth until adulthood, as well absence after a divorce or death.

Little girls who live without a father do so not only due to death, abandonment, or divorce, but also due to physically present fathers but who are emotionally absent, or ill over a lengthy period of time in some way (clinical depression, terminal disease, etc.), or because the father is a workaholic, or because in some fashion the father is a disappointment to the daughter, as might be the case in a weak or ineffectual father. Such differing types of absence in the girl 's life may have major consequences of varying kinds, since a healthy emotional and socio-psychological developmental trajectory in the early years of life does require some type of positive paternal role model.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the growing epidemic of fatherlessness as it affects all aspects of American society today, as well as the potential role of the corporate body of the Christian church together with each Christian individually is not only addressing the root of the issue, but ultimately the symptoms as well. While experts agree that fathers play a crucial role in the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well being of children, nonetheless there remains a growing ideology within our society today, from men and women alike, that touts no legitimate need for fathers to exist within the family framework. Thus, the poisonous fingers of fatherlessness have clasped a death grip over every aspect of society. It can be seen

Even when the father is alive, he can possibly be physically away because of his work. No matter what the cause is, a father’s absence affects the future life of their children. Fathers affect who their children become and how they live their lives.