[Image] [Image] Father Facts Wade F. Horn, Ph.D. National Fatherhood Initiative ------------------------------------------------------------ Sexual Activity and Father Absence "If our daughters are to flower, they need optimal growing conditions: Almost always this means being lovingly cared for by mother and father. It is from her mother that a girl learns to be a woman; it is from her father that she learns what to expect from men in the way of love and respect." Evelyn Bassoff, Ph.D., Cherishing Our Daughters: How Parents Can Raise Girls to Become Strong and Loving Women, 1998. "Today with the rise in illegitamacy and divorce, fewer fathers are around to protect and defend their daughtersÕ saftey and honor. With more girls lacking the love and attention that only a father can give, more of them are willing to settle for perverse alternatives, namely, seeking intimacy with predatory adult men." Gracie S. Hsu, "Leaving the Vulnerable Open to Abuse," Perspective, September 9, 1996. "Having loving parents you can talk to can help reduce teen pregnancy. Fathers [especially] are very influential in the decision to have sex," Survey of teenage girls conducted by Mark Clements Research, as cited in Parade, February 2, 1997. Survey Data A survey of 720 teenage girls found: * 97% of girls said that having parents they could talk to could help reduce teen pregnancy * 93% said having loving parents reduced the risk * 76% said that their fathers were very or somewhat influential on their decision to have sex. Source: Mark Clements Research as cited in Parade, February 2, 1997. Teenage Sexual Activity and Father Absence "A white teenage girl from an advantaged background is five times more likely to become a teen mother if she grows up in a single-mother household than if she grows up in a household with both biological parents." Source: Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, "Facing the Challenges of Fragmented Families," The Philanthropy Roundtable 9, no. 1 (1995): 21. "Teenage girls who grow up without their fathers tend to have sex earlier than girls who grow up with both parents. A 15-year-old who has lived with her mother only, for example, is three times as likely to lose her virginity before her sixteenth birthday as one who has lived with both parents." Source: Lee Smith, "The New Wave of Illegitimacy," Fortune 18 (April 1994): 81-94. Children in single parent families are more likely to get pregnant as teenagers 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. A study using a nationally representative sample of 2,300 young people found that those who had experienced family disruption, including divorce or separation, were at a heightened risk of experiencing early intercourse. Source: Kristin A. Moore, Donna Ruane Morrison, and Dana A. Glei, "Welfare and Adolescent Sex: The Effects of Family History, Benefit Levels, and Community Context," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 16 (1995): 207-230. When compared to adolescents from two-parent families, adolescents from single-parent families are more likely to begin sexual activity at a younger age, thereby increasing the chances of having a child out-of-wedlock as a teenager. Source: Brent C. Miller and Kristen A. Moore, "Adolescent Sexual Behavior, Pregnancy and Parenting: Research Through the 1980Õs," Journal of Marriage and Family (November 1990): 43. A study on the effects of marital separation on children found children whose parents separated are more likely than their peers to engage in early sexual intercourse. Source: David M. Fergusson, John Horwood, and Michael T. Lynsky, "Parental Separation, Adolescent Psychopathology, and Problem Behaviors," Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 33 (1994): 1122-1131. Adolescent girls reared without fathers are much more likely to be sexually active compared with girls raised in two-parent families. Source: Susan Newcomer and J. Richard Udry, "Parental Marital Status Effects on Adolescent Sexual Behavior," Journal of Marriage and the Family (May 1987): 235-240. Adolescent females between the ages of 15 and 19 years reared in homes without fathers are significantly more likely to engage in premarital sex than adolescent females reared in homes with both a mother and a father. Source: John O. G. Billy, Karin L. Brewster and William R. Grady, "Contextual Effects on the Sexual Behavior of Adolescent Women," Journal of Marriage and Family 56 (1994): 381-404. In a study of 700 adolescents, researchers found that "compared to families with two natural parents living in the home, adolescents from single-parent families have been found to engage in greater and earlier sexual activity." Source: Carol W. Metzler, (et. al.), "The Social Context for Risky Sexual Behavior Among Adolescents," Journal of Behavioral Medicine 17 (1994): 419-437. A five year study on 800 African-American and Hispanic adolescents found that boys and girls who did not live with both biological parents were significantly more likely to engage in sexual intercourse than their peers who lived with both biological parents. Source: Carolyn A. Smith, "Factors Associated with Early Sexual Activity Among Urban Adolescents," Social Work, Vol. 42, no. 4 (July 1997): 334-346. A study of 200 middle-school and high school aged boys from high-crime areas found that of those who were virgins, 59% lived in intact families. In contrast, only 18% of those who had sexual intercourse by the eighth grade were from intact families. Source: Deborah M. Capaldi, Lynn Crosby, and Mike Stoolmiller, "Predicting the Timing of First Sexual Intercourse for At-Risk Adolescent Males," Child Development 67 (1996): 344-359. A study using a nationally representative sample of women found that of women reporting that their first sexual intercourse was not voluntary (rape or non-consensual), 13% had lived with a single parent and 9.8% had lived with a stepparent, whereas 6.4% had lived with both biological parents. Source: J.C. Abma, A. Chandra, W.D. Mosher, L. Peterson, and L. Piccionino; "Fertility, Family Planning, and WomenÕs Health: New Data from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth," National Center for Health Statistics. Vital Health Stat 23, 1997. [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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