Father Absence and Child Wellbeing: A Critical Review

1
Father Absence and Child Well-being A Critical
Review

• Reviewed and Presented by
• Angelique Figueroa
• Elaine Morgan

2
Family formation has changed in the US

• Cohabitation has replaced marriage
• Pre-marital sex increasingly acceptable
• Non-marital childbearing
• Alters family experience of children
• 1 in 3 children are born outside marriage
• 2x higher among African American Children
• Divorce rates are high
• 54 of American children will spend sometime
  apart from 1 of their parents.
• Usually their father
• Single mothers in US have high rates of poverty.

3
Children who grow up with 1 biological parent are
disadvantaged to other children who grow up with
2 biological parents.
4
Prevalence of single-parent families 1960-2000

• 1960 9 under 18 living w/single parent
• 2000 27 under 18 living w/single parent
• Largest growth 1970-1985
• 12?23
• 1960 22 of African Americans w/ 1 parent
• 7 of White children w/ 1 parent
• 2000 53 of African Americans w/ 1 parent
• 22 of White children w/ 1 parent
• 1970 largest increase for White
  children-increased 75
• 1985 leveled off for both Black and White
  Children.

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How do children enter single-parent families?

• Child born to married parents whose relationship
  ends in death or divorce.
• Non-marital childbearing.
• 2000 40 of all US children in single-mother
  family were living w/a never married mother.

6
Children living w/a single mother family fare
poorly across a wide range of adolescents and
adult outcomes.

• Children living w/both biological parents.
• Score highest on academic self-concept?measures
  students assessment of his/her own academic
  performance potential.
• Remain in school longer

• Children in single-mother families.
• Lower on academic achievement tests.
• 1/3 lower in math science.
• 1/4 lower for children in step parent families.

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Each additional year spent w/a single mother
reduces a childs educational attainment by ½
year on average.
8
Childhood behavioral Psychological problems.

• Father Absence
• Feelings of abandonment stress.
• Higher prevalence of behavior psychological
  problems.
• Scored highest on shyness aggression.
• Scored lowest on sociability initiative.
• Larger negative effect on boys.

9
Substance abuse contact w/ police

• Living apart from biological father
• More likely to use illegal substance
• Early contact w/ police
• The of years spent w/ a biological father
  decreases the chance that an adolescent will use
  drugs or have contact w/police.
• Substance use delinquency can both have
  long-term consequences that affect educational
  achievement future employment.

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Life Transitions

• Children in single-mother family.
• More likely to have sex at an early age.
• Daughters develop relationships and have children
  earlier.
• Leave home earlier.
• Leaving home early and early childbearing may
  interfere w/ educational attainment.
• Early partnerships tend to be less stable more
  likely to dissolve than relationships formed
  later in life.

11
Adult physical health psychological wellbeing

• Growing up w/ father absence
• Women have poorer health
• Men report lower satisfaction w/ health
• Higher rates of death among men.
• Less self esteem
• Higher use of mental health services

12
Partnership satisfaction dissolution

• Children whose parents divorced may be more
  likely to have unhappy marriages
• Describe their own marriage as unstable
• More likely to divorce

13
Economic well-being in adulthood

• Strong link between growing up in single mother
  family adult earnings income.
• Women living w/both biological parents at the age
  of 16 on average achieve higher occupational
  status as adults.
• Single mother families
• More likely to experience unemployment
• More likely to rely on public assistance

14
Adults raised apart from 1 parent averaged
5015.00 less per year in labor force.7 of 2
parent family below poverty line.14 of 1 parent
family below poverty line.
15
Explanations for the effects.

• Socialization deficits.
• Detrimental to childrens development
• Same sex parent teaches appropriate gender
  behavior-problematic for boys.
• Interaction between 2 parents teaches children
  interpersonal skills.
• Communication
• Cooperation
• Conflict resolution

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Evidence of parental loss

• In general death of a parent is associated w/ an
  increased risk of poor outcomes.
• Lower on academic achievement tests
• Males less likely to finish high school
• More behavioral problems
• Men less likely to marry
• Effect of parental death is usually smaller than
  the effect of divorce or separation.
• Children whose fathers leave voluntarily feel
  abandoned.

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Verifying whether or not children brought up by
never-married-mothers (or by mothers who divorced
early) fare worse than children from divorced or
separated later is not straightforward.Regardles
s of the cause, the loss of a parent is
associated w/poor outcomes for children.