Father Facts Wade F. Horn, Ph.D. National Fatherhood Initiative ------------------------------------------------------- Crime "I met with a group of young men at our juvenile prison not long ago...everyone of them had grown up without a father in the home...Then I finally asked them point blank: Would it have made a difference if your dad had been around...if heÕd helped you with your homework or played ball with you, if he'd been there to teach you right from wrong? That's when I actually saw the tears coming. And I had my answer. It would have made all the difference." South Carolina Governor David M. Beasley at the Governor's Fatherhood Summit, Charleston, South Carolina, September 30, 1997. "Neighborhoods without fathers are neighborhoods without men able and willing to confront errant youths, chase threatening gangs and approach delinquent fathers...the absence of fathers deprives the community of those little platoons that informally but often effectively control boys on the street." James Q. Wilson, Culture, Incentives and the Underclass, in Henry J. Aaron, Thomas E. Mann and Timothy Taylor eds., Values and Public Policy, Brookings Institution 1970-71. "I believe it is the improper channeling of male aggressiveness Ñ largely due to the absence of fathers to teach and enforce the socially acceptable patterns Ñ that accounts for much of the lawlessness among young men these days. In other words, cultural change may be transforming the special roles of men and women into a sort of generic adulthood. But boys will still be boys." William Raspberry, columnist, The Washington Post, November 17, 1995 "From the wild Irish slums of the 19th century Eastern Seaboard to the riot-torn suburbs of Los Angeles, there is one unmistakable lesson in American history: A community that allows a large number of young men to grow up in broken families, dominated by women, never acquiring any stable relationship to male authority, never acquiring any rational expectations about the future Ñ that community asks for and gets chaos." Daniel Patrick Moynihan, "The Negro Family: The Case for National Action," U.S. Department of Labor, 1965 "The research is absolutely clear... the one human being most capable of curbing the antisocial aggression of a boy is his biological father." California-based forensic psychologist Shawn Johnston, as quoted in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, March 29, 1998. Juvenile Delinquency and Father Absence A 1994 survey of incarcerated youths aged 14-17 found that: * the majority said they would like to father a child and thought they would be a good father * 26% had gotten a young woman pregnant * 63% said they would be pleased if they got a young woman pregnant * 78% thought they would be a good role model * 85% thought they would be able to get a good job and support a child Source: J.D. Nesmith et al., "Procreative Experiences and Orientations Toward Paternity Held by Incarcerated Adolescent Males," Journal of Adolescent Health, 20 (1997): 198-203. Children in single parent families are more likely to be in trouble with the law than their peers who grow up with two parents. Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Center for Health Statistics, National Health Interview Survey, Hyattsville, MD, 1988. In a study using national data on over 1600 juveniles in treatment for sex offenses, it was found that: * only 27.8% were living with both biological parents * 26.1% were living with a biological parent and a step-parent * 23.1% were living with their mother only * 3.2% were living with their father only * 6.3% were living with a parent and that parentÕs housemate * 15.1% were living with neither parent Source: Gail Ryan, Thomas Miyoshi, Jeffrey Metzner, Richard Krugman, and George Fryer, "Trends in a National Sample of Sexually Abusive Youths," Journal of the American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, 35 (January 1996): 17-25. A study of juveniles in state reform institutions found that seventy percent grew up in single or no parent situations. Source: Allen Beck, Susan Kline, and Lawrence Greenfield, Survey of Youth in Custody, 1987, U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, September 1988. "Teens from single-parent or stepparent homes are more likely to commit a school crime (possess, use or distribute alcohol or drugs; possess a weapon; assault a teacher, administrator or another student) than teens from intact homes." Source: Patricia H. Jenkins, "School Delinquency and School Commitment," Sociology of Education 68 (1995): 221-239. "The prevalence of delinquency among children from broken homes is 10-15 percent higher than among children from intact homes." Source: L. Edwards Wells and Joseph H. Rankin, "Families and Delinquency: A Meta-Analysis of the Impact of Broken Homes," Social Problems 38, no.1 (1991): 71-93. A study in the state of Washington using statewide data found an increased likelihood that children born out-of-wedlock would become a juvenile offender. Compared to their peers born to married parents, children born out-of-wedlock were: * 1.7 times more likely to become an offender and 2.1 times more likely to become a chronic offender if male * 1.8 times more likely to become an offender and 2.8 times more likely to become a chronic offender if female * 10 times more likely to become a chronic juvenile offender if male and born to an unmarried teen mother. Source: Amy Conseur et al., "Maternal and Perinatal Risk Factors for Later Delinquency," Pediatrics, Vol. 99 (1997): 785-790. A study of 1,800 middle school students found that children who did not live with both biological parents were more likely to carry a gun than children who lived with both biological parents. Source: Susan L. Bailey, Robert L. Flewelling, and Dennis P. Rosenbaum, "Characteristics of Students Who Bring Weapons to School," Journal of Adolescent Health 20 (1997): 261-270. A study on over 1,000 middle school students found that those who reported high levels of family attachment, on average, lived in intact households. Their peers with low levels of family attachment were significantly more involved in delinquent acts, and cigarette, alcohol, and drug use. Source: Jan Sokol-Katz, Roger Dunham, and Rick Zimmerman, "Family Structure Versus Parental Attachment in Controlling Adolescent Deviant Behavior: A Social Control Model," Adolescence, Vol. 32 (1997): 201-214. In a study using a national probability sample of 1,636 young men and women, it was found that older boys and girls from female headed households are more likely to commit criminal acts than their peers who lived with two parents. Source: Karen Heimer, "Gender, Interaction, and Delinquency: Testing a Theory of Differential Social Control," Social Psychology Quarterly 59 (1996): 39-61. A longitudinal study on 919 children indicated that family disruption during childhood, marital conflict and low parental involvement increased the odds that a child would engage in anti-social behaviors such as fighting, lying, cheating, and criminal activity. Source: Hee-Og Sim and Sam Vuchinich, "The Declining Effects of Family Stressors on Antisocial Behavior From Childhood to Adolescence and Early Adulthood," Journal of Family Issues 17 (1996): 408-427. In a re-analysis of data from a study of 500 delinquent and 500 non-delinquent youths originally conducted in the 1950s, it was found that the low supervision of adolescents frequently found in father-absent homes was more the cause of delinquency than poverty. Source: Robert J. Sampson and John H. Laub, "Urban Poverty and the Family Context of Delinquency: A New Look at Structure and Process in a Classic Study," Child Development 65 (1994): 523-540. In a study on 194 white, urban boys, researchers found that being in a stepfamily or living with a single mother at the age of 10 more than doubled the odds that a boy would eventually be arrested, compared to children who lived with both biological parents. Source: Chris Coughlin and Samuel Vuchinich, "Family Experience in Preadolescence and the Development of Male Delinquency," Journal of Marriage and the Family, 58 (May 1996): 491-501. "The likelihood that a young male will engage in criminal activity doubles if he is raised without a father and triples if he lives in a neighborhood with a high concentration of single-parent families." Source: M. Anne Hill and June OÕNeill, Underclass Behaviors in the United States: Measurement and Analysis of Determinants, City University of New York, Baruch College (1993). Compared to boys from intact, two-parent families, adolescent boys from disrupted families are not only more likely to be incarcerated for delinquent offenses, but to also manifest worse conduct while incarcerated. Source: M. Eileen Matlock, (et. al.), "Family Correlates of Social Skills Deficits in Incarcerated and Nonincarcerated Adolescents," Adolescence 29 (1994): 119-130. "Teenage fathers are more likely than their childless peers to commit and be convicted of illegal activity, and their offenses are of a more serious nature." Source: M.A. Pirog-Good, "Teen Fathers and the Child Support System," In Paternity Establishment, A Public Policy Conference. Vol. II: Studies of the Circumstances of Mothers and Fathers, SR #56B, Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin: Madison, WI, 1992. The vast majority of juvenile delinquents in Wisconsin were either born out-of-wedlock or the product of broken homes. Only 13 percent of delinquents came from families in which the biological mother and father were married to each other. By contrast, 33 percent had parents who were either divorced or separated and 44 percent have parents who were never married. Source: Wisconsin Department of Health and Social Services, Division of Youth Services, "Family Status of Delinquents in Juvenile Correctional Facilities in Wisconsin," April 1994. "The relationship [between family structure and crime] is so strong that controlling for family configuration erases the relationship between race and crime and between low income and crime. This conclusion shows up time and again in the literature." Source: Elaine Kamarck and William Galston, Putting Children First: A Progressive Family Policy for the 1990s, Progressive Policy Institute: Washington, DC, September 1990. Violent Crime and Father Absence A 1988 study found that the proportion of single-parent households in a community predicts its rates of violent crime and burglary, but the communityÕs poverty level does not. Source: Douglas A. Smith and G. Roger Jarjoura, "Social Structure and Criminal Victimization," Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 25 (February 1988): 27-52. One study of adolescents charged with murder found that seventy-two percent grew up without their fathers. Source: Dewey Cornell, (et. al.), "Characteristics of Adolescents Charged with Homicide," Behavioral Sciences and the Law 5 (1987): 11-23. A study of men accused of rape found that sixty percent grew up absent their biological fathers. Source: Nicholas Davidson, "Life Without Father," Policy Review (1990); see also Karl Zinsmeister, "Crime is Terrorizing Our NationÕs Kids," Citizen (Aug. 20, 1990): 12. Adult Criminality and Father Absence Young black men raised in single-parent families on welfare and living in public housing are twice as likely to engage in criminal activities compared to black men raised in two-parent families also on welfare and living in public housing. Source: Anne M. Hill and June OÕNeill, Underclass Behaviors in the United States: Measurements and Analysis of Determinants, City University of New York, Baruch College (1993). The children of single teenage mothers are more at risk for later criminal behavior. One main reason for this may be the fact that single teenage mothers monitor their children less than older married mothers do. It was also found that in the case of a teenage mother, the absence of a father increases the risk of harshness from the mother. Source: Merry Morash and Lila Rucker, "An Exploratory Study of the Connection of MotherÕs Age and Childbearing to Her ChildrenÕs Delinquency in Four Data Sets," Crime & Delinquency 35, no. 1 (1989): 45-93. A survey in the summer of 1991 of 13,986 prison inmates found 43 percent grew up in a single-parent household - 39 percent with their mother and 4 percent with their fathers. An estimated 14 percent of the inmates had lived in households with neither biological parent. About 14 percent had lived in a foster home, agency, or other institution at some time during childhood. Source: U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Survey of State Prison Inmates 1991, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, March 1993. [Previous | Table of Contents | Next ] (c) 1998, National Fatherhood Initiative. All rights reserved. Father Facts 3 is available in softcover from the National Fatherhood Initiative. NFI Resource Catalog Price: US $8.00. 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