“I needed a Daddy hug.”
It was I who got up early and took Tanah to catch the bus going to the Region Drama competition. I prepared a bag of snacks for her and gave her money so that she could buy lunch. I loaned her a favorite necklace for her costume. It was me, her mother, who performed all the home tasks necessary to launch Tanah’s region drama performance.
Tanah wanted so, SO badly to qualify for state in the One Act completion. She was the lead in Roy High’s One Act and a state qualification berth would reflect well on her acting ability. It would also mean that she would get to spend two days in a hotel in Provo, swimming, playing, flirting, and laughing with some of her greatest friends. The actual performance of the one act at the state competition would only briefly interrupt the fun they would have hanging out at the hotel.
Late that afternoon Tanah called home and asked her dad to meet her at Roy High. Obligingly, he drove to the high school, met her, and came home…..without her. During a brief stop at Roy High, in between the region drama competition and another social obligation, she wanted to see Lance.
Lance’s answer to my question as to why Tanah wanted him to meet her at the high school was noncommittal but Tanah’s response to the same question was very direct. “I needed a Daddy hug,” she said.
It turns out that the one act performance at Region was a bust. Not only did they NOT qualify for state, theirs was the lowest score of all the one act performances. And, to add insult to injury, if they had placed even second-to-last, instead of last, Roy High would have won the Region Drama Competition. The one act’s poor placing cost the team the region trophy. No glory, no trophy, and no two-night stay in a Provo hotel. Tanah was devastated and, in her heartache, she turned to her father.
“I needed a daddy hug.”
I, too, have needed a daddy hug.
When I was 16 I drove a spud truck during potato harvest. For two weeks in October I got up early and worked late, driving the empty truck to the field, driving it alongside the digger as the potatoes were loaded, driving it full to the pit to be unloaded and then driving it empty back to the field again.
One day I turned a corner a little too closely. My rear tires went off the road and into the barrow pit. Almost in slow motion, the truck tipped over, spilling an entire load of potatoes onto the ground. The truck was on its side, I was inside, and the potatoes were outside. I was devastated and, in my heartache, I turned to my father.
I needed a daddy hug.
It was a spring evening when I got the call from BYU telling me that I had been awarded the Spencer W. Kimball scholarship. Again I launched myself into his arms, this time in celebration. Other times physical pain caused my daddy hug need. Once, caught between a rock and a hard place, my finger was smashed and the building pressure beneath the finger nail was becoming unbearable. Dad’s hug helped the hurt and the hole he drilled with the fire-heated needle relieved the pressure.
My Dad could fix it…smashed finger, spilled potatoes, bruised soul…….whatever “it” was. Growing up, I was completely confident that my dad could fix anything. I remember pondering a friend’s troubles and thinking “If she could just live with us for a while, Dad would help her.”
Everyone needs a daddy hug, once in a while. Sociologist, Dr. David Popenoe, said “Fathers are far more than just ‘second adults’ in the home. Involved fathers bring positive benefits to their children that no other person is as likely to bring.”
In 2006 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published a document titled “The Importance of Fathers in the Healthy Development of Children”. From that document:
”Children with involved, caring fathers have better educational outcomes. A number of studies suggest that fathers who are involved, nurturing, and playful with their infants have children with higher IQs, as well as better linguistic and cognitive capacities.
“The influence of a father’s involvement on academic achievement extends into adolescence and young adulthood. Numerous studies find that an active and nurturing style of fathering is associated with better verbal skills, intellectual functioning, and academic achievement among adolescents.
“Even from birth, children who have an involved father are more likely to be emotionally secure, be confident to explore their surroundings, and, as they grow older, have better social connections with peers. These children also are less likely to get in trouble at home, school, or in the neighborhood.
“One study of school-aged children found that children with good relationships with their fathers were less likely to experience depression, to exhibit disruptive behavior, or to lie and were more likely to exhibit pro-social behavior. This same study found that boys with involved fathers had fewer school behavior problems and that girls had stronger self-esteem. In addition, numerous studies have found that children who live with their fathers are more likely to have good physical and emotional health, to achieve academically, and to avoid drugs, violence, and delinquent behavior.”
“In short, fathers have a powerful and positive impact upon the development and health of children.” (https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/fatherhood.pdf#page=19&view=CHAPTER 2 Fathers and Their Impact on Children’s Well-being)
[NOTE: Specific studies are cited as a post script.]
Powerful. Positive. Profound. Fathers are priceless.
I am so grateful for fathers. I am grateful for the fathers of my friends, men who have raised and nurtured the people I love. I am grateful the father of my children; I love it, LOVE IT, that they want Daddy hugs. I am grateful for the father of my body; my dad is largely responsible for who and what I am. And I am grateful for the Father of my spirit, a Heavenly Father whose wise love makes joy possible.
Happy Father’s Day! Father’s Day IS a happy day. I am so happy to have fathers.
Love,
Teresa
**Scroll to bottom for photos.......
RESEARCH ABOUT THE INFLUENCE OF FATHERS
http://www.fatherhood.org/statistics-on-father-absence-download?submissionGuid=4d24af99-504e-48ee-8038-5a8f1654f724 From National Fatherhood Initiative (www.fatherhood.org),
· There is evidence supporting the positive influence of father engagement on children’s social, behavioral, and psychological outcomes. Father involvement seems to reduce the occurrence of behavioral problems in boys and psychological problems in young women, as well as enhancing cognitive development, while decreasing delinquency and economic disadvantage in low-income families. Source: Sarkadi, A., Kristiansson, R., Oberklaid, F., & Bremberg, S. (2008). Fathers’ involvement and children’s developmental outcomes: a systematic review of longitudinal studies. Acta Pædiatrica, 97, 153–158
· The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (N= 2,733) was used to examine the benefits of biological father involvement in adolescent lives. • Nonresident biological fathers that provided continuous emotional support and social interaction greatly reduced their children’s behavioral problems. • The benefit of each unit of biological father involvement was two to three times greater when the father lived with his children compared to elsewhere. • There is no substantial difference in how father involvement affects sons versus daughters. Source: Carlson, M. J. (2006). Family structure, father involvement, and adolescent behavioral outcomes. Journal of Marriage and Family, 68, 137–154.
· A study of 1,977 children age 3 and older living with a residential father or father figure found that children living with married biological parents had significantly fewer externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems than children living with at least one nonbiological parent.
Source: Hofferth, S. L. (2006). Residential father family type and child well-being: investment versus selection. Demography, 43, 53-78.
· A study of 3,400 middle schoolers indicated that not living with both biological parents quadruples the risk of having an affective disorder.
Source: Cuffe, Steven P., Robert E. McKeown, Cheryl L. Addy, and Carol Z. Garrison. “Family Psychosocial Risk Factors in a Longitudinal Epidemiological Study of Adolescents.” Journal of American Academic Child Adolescent Psychiatry 44 (February 2005): 121-129.
· 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.
Source: Harper, Cynthia C. and Sara S. McLanahan. “Father Absence and Youth Incarceration.” Journal of Research on Adolescence 14 (September 2004): 369-397.
· In a study using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1997, the researchers examined father-child relationship and father’s parenting style as predictors of first delinquency and substance use among adolescents in intact families. The results indicated that a more positive father-child relationship predicts a reduced risk of engagement in multiple first risky behaviors. The positive influence of the father-child relationship on risk behaviors seemed to be stronger for male than for female adolescents.
Source: Bronte-Tinkew, J., Moore, K.M., & Carrano, J. (2006). The father-child relationship, parenting styles, and adolescent risk behaviors in intact families. Journal of Family Issues, 27, 850-881.
Source: Jordahl, T., & Lohman, B.J. (2009).A bioecological analysis of risk and protective factors associated with early sexual intercourse of young adolescents. Children and Youth Services Review 31, 1272–1282.
· Adolescent girls who reported higher levels of relationship quality with their fathers were less likely to have sex before age 16, compared with adolescent girls who reported lower levels of father-daughter relationship quality.
Source: Ikramullah, E., Manlove, J., Cui, C., & Moore, K. A. (2009). Parents matter: The role of parents in teens’ decisions about sex. Washington, D.C.: Child Trends.
Teens without fathers were twice as likely to be involved in early sexual activity and seven times more likely to get pregnant as an adolescent.
Source: Ellis, Bruce J., John E. Bates, Kenneth A. Dodge, David M. Ferguson, L. John Horwood, Gregory S. Pettit, and Lianne Woodward. “Does Father Absence Place Daughters at Special Risk for Early Sexual Activity and Teenage Pregnancy.” Child Development 74 (May/June 2003): 801-821.
· Even after controlling for community context, there is significantly more drug use among children who do not live with their mother and father.
Source: Hoffmann, John P. “The Community Context of Family Structure and Adolescent Drug Use.” Journal of Marriage and Family 64 (May 2002): 314-330.
Source: Finn, Kevin, Neil Johannsen, and Bonny Specker. “Factors associated with physical activity in preschool children.” The Journal of Pediatrics 140 (January 2002): 81-85.
Father’s, not mother’s, total and percentage body fat the best predictor of changes in daughter’s total and percentage body fat.
Source: Figueroa-Colon R, Arani RB, Goran MI, Weinsier RL. “Paternal body fat is a longitudinal predictor of changes in body fat in premenarcheal girls.” Department of Pediatrics, General Clinical Research Center, Medical Statistics Unit, Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham
· Father involvement in schools is associated with the higher likelihood of a student getting mostly A's. This was true for fathers in biological parent families, for stepfathers, and for fathers heading single-parent families.
Source: Nord, Christine Winquist, and Jerry West. Fathers’ and Mothers’ Involvement in Their Children’s Schools by Family Type and Resident Status. (NCES 2001-032). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2001.
- When fathers are involved, their children learn more, perform better in school and exhibit healthier behavior. Even when fathers do not share a home with their children, their active involvement can have a lasting and positive impact. The Education Department is working for fuller recognition and inclusion of fathers in all of their programs because of the huge impact fathers can have on their kids.
Source: A Call to Commitment: Fathers’ Involvement in Children’s Learning, published by the U.S. Department of Education. Updated February 19, 2010.
http://www.education.com/reference/article/father-involvement-important-education/
– Father involvement makes a difference in kids’ emotional lives. From a study based on 17,000 children born in the United Kingdom in 1958 who were followed up with at ages 7, 11, 16, 23 and 33:
Children in father-absent homes are almost four times more likely to be poor. In 2011, 12 percent of children in married-couple families were living in poverty, compared to 44 percent of children in mother-only families.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Children’s Living Arrangements and Characteristics: March 2011, Table C8. Washington D.C.: 2011.
– The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states, “Fatherless children are at a dramatically greater risk of drug and alcohol abuse.”
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. National Center for Health Statistics. Survey on Child Health. Washington, DC, 1993.
– A study of 1,977 children age 3 and older living with a residential father or father figure found that children living with married biological parents had significantly fewer externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems than children living with at least one non-biological parent.
Source: Hofferth, S. L. (2006). Residential father family type and child well-being: investment versus selection. Demography, 43, 53-78.
– Children of single-parent homes are more than twice as likely to commit suicide.
Sources: The Lancet, Jan. 25, 2003 • Gunilla Ringbäck Weitoft, MD, Centre for Epidemiology, the National Board of Health and Welfare, Stockholm, Sweden • Irwin Sandler, PhD, professor of psychology and director of the Prevention Research Center, Arizona State University, Tempe • Douglas G. Jacobs, MD, associate clinical professor of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; and founder and director, The National Depression Screening Program • Madelyn Gould, PhD, MPH, professor of child psychiatry and public health, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University; and research scientist, New York State Psychiatric Institute.
http://www.webmd.com/baby/news/20030123/absent-parent-doubles-child-suicide-risk
– Father involvement in schools is associated with the higher likelihood of a student getting mostly A’s. This was true for fathers in biological parent families, for stepfathers, and for fathers heading single-parent families.
Source: Nord, Christine Winquist, and Jerry West. Fathers’ and Mothers’ Involvement in Their Children’s Schools by Family Type and Resident Status. (NCES 2001-032). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2001.
– 71% of high school dropouts are fatherless; fatherless children have more trouble academically, scoring poorly on tests of reading, mathematics, and thinking skills; children from father-absent homes are more likely to be truant from school, more likely to be excluded from school, more likely to leave school at age 16, and less likely to attain academic and professional qualifications in adulthood.
Source: Edward Kruk, Ph.D., “The Vital Importance of Paternal Presence in Children’s Lives.” May 23, 2012.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/co-parenting-after-divorce/201205/father-absence-father-deficit-father-hunger
It was I who got up early and took Tanah to catch the bus going to the Region Drama competition. I prepared a bag of snacks for her and gave her money so that she could buy lunch. I loaned her a favorite necklace for her costume. It was me, her mother, who performed all the home tasks necessary to launch Tanah’s region drama performance.
Tanah wanted so, SO badly to qualify for state in the One Act completion. She was the lead in Roy High’s One Act and a state qualification berth would reflect well on her acting ability. It would also mean that she would get to spend two days in a hotel in Provo, swimming, playing, flirting, and laughing with some of her greatest friends. The actual performance of the one act at the state competition would only briefly interrupt the fun they would have hanging out at the hotel.
Late that afternoon Tanah called home and asked her dad to meet her at Roy High. Obligingly, he drove to the high school, met her, and came home…..without her. During a brief stop at Roy High, in between the region drama competition and another social obligation, she wanted to see Lance.
Lance’s answer to my question as to why Tanah wanted him to meet her at the high school was noncommittal but Tanah’s response to the same question was very direct. “I needed a Daddy hug,” she said.
It turns out that the one act performance at Region was a bust. Not only did they NOT qualify for state, theirs was the lowest score of all the one act performances. And, to add insult to injury, if they had placed even second-to-last, instead of last, Roy High would have won the Region Drama Competition. The one act’s poor placing cost the team the region trophy. No glory, no trophy, and no two-night stay in a Provo hotel. Tanah was devastated and, in her heartache, she turned to her father.
“I needed a daddy hug.”
I, too, have needed a daddy hug.
When I was 16 I drove a spud truck during potato harvest. For two weeks in October I got up early and worked late, driving the empty truck to the field, driving it alongside the digger as the potatoes were loaded, driving it full to the pit to be unloaded and then driving it empty back to the field again.
One day I turned a corner a little too closely. My rear tires went off the road and into the barrow pit. Almost in slow motion, the truck tipped over, spilling an entire load of potatoes onto the ground. The truck was on its side, I was inside, and the potatoes were outside. I was devastated and, in my heartache, I turned to my father.
I needed a daddy hug.
It was a spring evening when I got the call from BYU telling me that I had been awarded the Spencer W. Kimball scholarship. Again I launched myself into his arms, this time in celebration. Other times physical pain caused my daddy hug need. Once, caught between a rock and a hard place, my finger was smashed and the building pressure beneath the finger nail was becoming unbearable. Dad’s hug helped the hurt and the hole he drilled with the fire-heated needle relieved the pressure.
My Dad could fix it…smashed finger, spilled potatoes, bruised soul…….whatever “it” was. Growing up, I was completely confident that my dad could fix anything. I remember pondering a friend’s troubles and thinking “If she could just live with us for a while, Dad would help her.”
Everyone needs a daddy hug, once in a while. Sociologist, Dr. David Popenoe, said “Fathers are far more than just ‘second adults’ in the home. Involved fathers bring positive benefits to their children that no other person is as likely to bring.”
In 2006 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published a document titled “The Importance of Fathers in the Healthy Development of Children”. From that document:
”Children with involved, caring fathers have better educational outcomes. A number of studies suggest that fathers who are involved, nurturing, and playful with their infants have children with higher IQs, as well as better linguistic and cognitive capacities.
“The influence of a father’s involvement on academic achievement extends into adolescence and young adulthood. Numerous studies find that an active and nurturing style of fathering is associated with better verbal skills, intellectual functioning, and academic achievement among adolescents.
“Even from birth, children who have an involved father are more likely to be emotionally secure, be confident to explore their surroundings, and, as they grow older, have better social connections with peers. These children also are less likely to get in trouble at home, school, or in the neighborhood.
“One study of school-aged children found that children with good relationships with their fathers were less likely to experience depression, to exhibit disruptive behavior, or to lie and were more likely to exhibit pro-social behavior. This same study found that boys with involved fathers had fewer school behavior problems and that girls had stronger self-esteem. In addition, numerous studies have found that children who live with their fathers are more likely to have good physical and emotional health, to achieve academically, and to avoid drugs, violence, and delinquent behavior.”
“In short, fathers have a powerful and positive impact upon the development and health of children.” (https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/fatherhood.pdf#page=19&view=CHAPTER 2 Fathers and Their Impact on Children’s Well-being)
[NOTE: Specific studies are cited as a post script.]
Powerful. Positive. Profound. Fathers are priceless.
I am so grateful for fathers. I am grateful for the fathers of my friends, men who have raised and nurtured the people I love. I am grateful the father of my children; I love it, LOVE IT, that they want Daddy hugs. I am grateful for the father of my body; my dad is largely responsible for who and what I am. And I am grateful for the Father of my spirit, a Heavenly Father whose wise love makes joy possible.
Happy Father’s Day! Father’s Day IS a happy day. I am so happy to have fathers.
Love,
Teresa
**Scroll to bottom for photos.......
RESEARCH ABOUT THE INFLUENCE OF FATHERS
http://www.fatherhood.org/statistics-on-father-absence-download?submissionGuid=4d24af99-504e-48ee-8038-5a8f1654f724 From National Fatherhood Initiative (www.fatherhood.org),
· There is evidence supporting the positive influence of father engagement on children’s social, behavioral, and psychological outcomes. Father involvement seems to reduce the occurrence of behavioral problems in boys and psychological problems in young women, as well as enhancing cognitive development, while decreasing delinquency and economic disadvantage in low-income families. Source: Sarkadi, A., Kristiansson, R., Oberklaid, F., & Bremberg, S. (2008). Fathers’ involvement and children’s developmental outcomes: a systematic review of longitudinal studies. Acta Pædiatrica, 97, 153–158
- Children whose fathers are stable and involved are better off on almost every cognitive, social, and emotional measure developed by researchers. For example, high levels of father involvement are correlated with sociability, confidence, and high levels of self-control in children. Moreover, children with involved fathers are less likely to act out in school or engage in risky behaviors in adolescents. Source: Anthes, E. (2010, May/June). Family guy. Scientific American Mind.
· The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (N= 2,733) was used to examine the benefits of biological father involvement in adolescent lives. • Nonresident biological fathers that provided continuous emotional support and social interaction greatly reduced their children’s behavioral problems. • The benefit of each unit of biological father involvement was two to three times greater when the father lived with his children compared to elsewhere. • There is no substantial difference in how father involvement affects sons versus daughters. Source: Carlson, M. J. (2006). Family structure, father involvement, and adolescent behavioral outcomes. Journal of Marriage and Family, 68, 137–154.
- Babies with a father’s name on the birth certificate are 4 times more likely to live past 1 year of age.
Source: Alio, A.P., Mbah, A.K., Kornosky, J.L., Marty, P.J. & Salihu, H.M. "The Impact of Paternal Involvement on Feto-Infant Morbidity among Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics". Matern Child Health J. 2010; 14(5): 735-41.
· A study of 1,977 children age 3 and older living with a residential father or father figure found that children living with married biological parents had significantly fewer externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems than children living with at least one nonbiological parent.
Source: Hofferth, S. L. (2006). Residential father family type and child well-being: investment versus selection. Demography, 43, 53-78.
· A study of 3,400 middle schoolers indicated that not living with both biological parents quadruples the risk of having an affective disorder.
Source: Cuffe, Steven P., Robert E. McKeown, Cheryl L. Addy, and Carol Z. Garrison. “Family Psychosocial Risk Factors in a Longitudinal Epidemiological Study of Adolescents.” Journal of American Academic Child Adolescent Psychiatry 44 (February 2005): 121-129.
· 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.
Source: Harper, Cynthia C. and Sara S. McLanahan. “Father Absence and Youth Incarceration.” Journal of Research on Adolescence 14 (September 2004): 369-397.
· In a study using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1997, the researchers examined father-child relationship and father’s parenting style as predictors of first delinquency and substance use among adolescents in intact families. The results indicated that a more positive father-child relationship predicts a reduced risk of engagement in multiple first risky behaviors. The positive influence of the father-child relationship on risk behaviors seemed to be stronger for male than for female adolescents.
Source: Bronte-Tinkew, J., Moore, K.M., & Carrano, J. (2006). The father-child relationship, parenting styles, and adolescent risk behaviors in intact families. Journal of Family Issues, 27, 850-881.
- A study using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health explored the relationship between family structure and risk of violent acts in neighborhoods. The results revealed that if the number of fathers is low in a neighborhood, then there is an increase in acts of teen violence. The statistical data showed that a 1 percent increase in the proportion of single-parent families in a neighborhood is associated with a 3 percent increase in an adolescent’s level of violence. In other words, adolescents who live in neighborhoods with lower proportions of single-parent families and who report higher levels of family integration commit less violence.
Source: Knoester, C., & Hayne, D. A. (2005). Community context, social integration into family, and youth violence. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67, 767-780. - 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.
Source: Anderson, Amy L. “Individual and contextual influences on delinquency: the role of the single-parent family.” Journal of Criminal Justice 30 (November 2002): 575-587. - In a study of INTERPOL crime statistics of 39 countries, it was found that single parenthood ratios were strongly correlated with violent crimes. This was not true 18 years ago. Source: Barber, Nigel. “Single Parenthood As a Predictor of Cross-National Variation in Violent Crime.” Cross-Cultural Research 38 (November 2004): 343-358.
- A study using a sample of 1,409 rural southern adolescents (851 females and 558 males) aged 11 to 18 years, investigated the correlation between father absence and self-reported sexual activity. The results revealed that adolescents in father-absent homes were more likely to report being sexually active compared to adolescents living with their fathers. The analysis indicates that father absence can have a detrimental effect on adolescents’ lifestyle choices. This study also revealed a statistical significance between father absence and adolescent self-esteem.
Source: Hendricks, C. S., Cesario, S. K., Murdaugh, C., Gibbons, M. E., Servonsky, E. J., Bobadilla, R. V., Hendricks, D. L., Spencer-Morgan, B., & Tavakoli, A. (2005). The influence of father absence on the self-esteem and self-reported sexual activity of rural southern adolescents. ABNF Journal, 16, 124-131.
Source: Jordahl, T., & Lohman, B.J. (2009).A bioecological analysis of risk and protective factors associated with early sexual intercourse of young adolescents. Children and Youth Services Review 31, 1272–1282.
· Adolescent girls who reported higher levels of relationship quality with their fathers were less likely to have sex before age 16, compared with adolescent girls who reported lower levels of father-daughter relationship quality.
Source: Ikramullah, E., Manlove, J., Cui, C., & Moore, K. A. (2009). Parents matter: The role of parents in teens’ decisions about sex. Washington, D.C.: Child Trends.
- Adolescent boys who had dinner with their family every day were less likely to have had sex before age 16, compared with those who report they eat dinner with their family less than five nights a week. 31 percent of teen boys who reported having dinner with their family every day were estimated to have had sex before age 16, compared with 37 percent of teen boys who reported that they had dinner with their family fewer than five days a week.
Source: Ikramullah, E., Manlove, J., Cui, C., & Moore, K. A. (2009). Parents matter: The role of parents in teens’ decisions about sex. Washington, D.C.: Child Trends.
Teens without fathers were twice as likely to be involved in early sexual activity and seven times more likely to get pregnant as an adolescent.
Source: Ellis, Bruce J., John E. Bates, Kenneth A. Dodge, David M. Ferguson, L. John Horwood, Gregory S. Pettit, and Lianne Woodward. “Does Father Absence Place Daughters at Special Risk for Early Sexual Activity and Teenage Pregnancy.” Child Development 74 (May/June 2003): 801-821.
· Even after controlling for community context, there is significantly more drug use among children who do not live with their mother and father.
Source: Hoffmann, John P. “The Community Context of Family Structure and Adolescent Drug Use.” Journal of Marriage and Family 64 (May 2002): 314-330.
- A study with 441 college students revealed that a poor parental bond with one’s father was highly predictive of depression, a well-known predictor of alcohol abuse and related problems for both females and males. These findings suggest evidence for parental influences on pathways to alcohol abuse through depression.
Source: Patock-Peckham, J. A., & Morgan-Lopez, A. A. (2007). College drinking behaviors: Mediational links between parenting styles, parental bonds, depression, and alcohol problems. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 21, 297–306 - The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth found that obese children are more likely to live in father-absent homes than are non-obese children.
Source: National Longitudinal Survey of Youth - In a study using a sample of 2,537 boys and 2,446 girls, researchers investigated the relationship between Body Mass Index (BMI) status at ages 4 to 5 years and mothers’ and fathers’ parenting involvement and parenting styles. The results showed that only fathers’ parenting behaviors and styles were associated with increased risks of child overweight and obesity. Mothers’ parenting behaviors and styles were not associated with a higher likelihood of children being in a higher BMI category. In the case of fathers, however, higher father control scores were correlated with lower chances of the child being in a higher BMI category. Moreover, children of fathers with permissive and disengaged parenting styles had higher odds of being in a higher BMI category.
Source: Wake, M., Nicholson, J.M., Hardy, P., & Smith, K. (2007). Preschooler obesity and parenting styles of mothers and fathers: Australian national population study, Pediatrics, 12, 1520-1527. - Study that looked at family lifestyle and parent’s Body Mass Index (BMI) over a nine year period found:A fathers’ body mass index (a measurement of the relative composition of fat and muscle mass in the human body) is directly related to a child’s activity level. In a study of 259 toddlers, more active children were more likely to have a father with a lower BMI than less active children.
- Father’s Body Mass Index (BMI) predicts son’s and daughter’s BMI independent of offspring’s alcohol intake, smoking, physical fitness, and father’s education
- Furthermore, BMI in sons and daughters consistently higher when fathers were overweight or obese
- Physical fitness of daughters negatively related to their father’s obesity
- Obesity of fathers associated with a four-fold increase in the risk of obesity of sons and daughters at age 18
Source: Finn, Kevin, Neil Johannsen, and Bonny Specker. “Factors associated with physical activity in preschool children.” The Journal of Pediatrics 140 (January 2002): 81-85.
Father’s, not mother’s, total and percentage body fat the best predictor of changes in daughter’s total and percentage body fat.
Source: Figueroa-Colon R, Arani RB, Goran MI, Weinsier RL. “Paternal body fat is a longitudinal predictor of changes in body fat in premenarcheal girls.” Department of Pediatrics, General Clinical Research Center, Medical Statistics Unit, Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham
· Father involvement in schools is associated with the higher likelihood of a student getting mostly A's. This was true for fathers in biological parent families, for stepfathers, and for fathers heading single-parent families.
Source: Nord, Christine Winquist, and Jerry West. Fathers’ and Mothers’ Involvement in Their Children’s Schools by Family Type and Resident Status. (NCES 2001-032). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2001.
- Students living in father-absent homes are twice as likely to repeat a grade in school; 10 percent of children living with both parents have ever repeated a grade, compared to 20 percent of children in stepfather families and 18 percent in mother-only families.
Source: Nord, Christine Winquist, and Jerry West. Fathers’ and Mothers’ Involvement in Their Children’s Schools by Family Type and Resident Status. (NCES 2001-032). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2001. - A study of 1330 children from the PSID showed that fathers who are involved on a personal level with their child schooling increases the likelihood of their child's achievement. When fathers assume a positive role in their child's education, students feel a positive impact.
Source: McBride, Brent A., Sarah K. Schoppe-Sullivan, and Moon-Ho Ho. "The mediating role of fathers' school involvement on student achievement." Applied Developmental Psychology 26 (2005): 201-216.
- When fathers are involved, their children learn more, perform better in school and exhibit healthier behavior. Even when fathers do not share a home with their children, their active involvement can have a lasting and positive impact. The Education Department is working for fuller recognition and inclusion of fathers in all of their programs because of the huge impact fathers can have on their kids.
Source: A Call to Commitment: Fathers’ Involvement in Children’s Learning, published by the U.S. Department of Education. Updated February 19, 2010.
http://www.education.com/reference/article/father-involvement-important-education/
– Father involvement makes a difference in kids’ emotional lives. From a study based on 17,000 children born in the United Kingdom in 1958 who were followed up with at ages 7, 11, 16, 23 and 33:
- Children with involved fathers have less emotional and behavioral difficulties in adolescence
- Teenagers who feel close to their fathers in adolescence go on to have more satisfactory adult marital relationships.
- Girls who have a strong relationship with their fathers during adolescence showed a lack of psychological distress in adult life.
Children in father-absent homes are almost four times more likely to be poor. In 2011, 12 percent of children in married-couple families were living in poverty, compared to 44 percent of children in mother-only families.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Children’s Living Arrangements and Characteristics: March 2011, Table C8. Washington D.C.: 2011.
– The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states, “Fatherless children are at a dramatically greater risk of drug and alcohol abuse.”
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. National Center for Health Statistics. Survey on Child Health. Washington, DC, 1993.
– A study of 1,977 children age 3 and older living with a residential father or father figure found that children living with married biological parents had significantly fewer externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems than children living with at least one non-biological parent.
Source: Hofferth, S. L. (2006). Residential father family type and child well-being: investment versus selection. Demography, 43, 53-78.
– Children of single-parent homes are more than twice as likely to commit suicide.
Sources: The Lancet, Jan. 25, 2003 • Gunilla Ringbäck Weitoft, MD, Centre for Epidemiology, the National Board of Health and Welfare, Stockholm, Sweden • Irwin Sandler, PhD, professor of psychology and director of the Prevention Research Center, Arizona State University, Tempe • Douglas G. Jacobs, MD, associate clinical professor of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; and founder and director, The National Depression Screening Program • Madelyn Gould, PhD, MPH, professor of child psychiatry and public health, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University; and research scientist, New York State Psychiatric Institute.
http://www.webmd.com/baby/news/20030123/absent-parent-doubles-child-suicide-risk
– Father involvement in schools is associated with the higher likelihood of a student getting mostly A’s. This was true for fathers in biological parent families, for stepfathers, and for fathers heading single-parent families.
Source: Nord, Christine Winquist, and Jerry West. Fathers’ and Mothers’ Involvement in Their Children’s Schools by Family Type and Resident Status. (NCES 2001-032). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2001.
– 71% of high school dropouts are fatherless; fatherless children have more trouble academically, scoring poorly on tests of reading, mathematics, and thinking skills; children from father-absent homes are more likely to be truant from school, more likely to be excluded from school, more likely to leave school at age 16, and less likely to attain academic and professional qualifications in adulthood.
Source: Edward Kruk, Ph.D., “The Vital Importance of Paternal Presence in Children’s Lives.” May 23, 2012.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/co-parenting-after-divorce/201205/father-absence-father-deficit-father-hunger
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