Effects of Fatherlessness

Fatherlessness is a sad phenomenon that we see in today’s world. Children are growing up without a dad. It has crucial consequences. Today, I present more impacts of this problem. The church cannot turn a blind eye to this growing issue.

Fatherlessness represents a higher use of correctional facilities and personnel.

The facts:

An estimate of 85 percent of all youth in state-operated institutions grows up without a father.
Only 13 percent of juvenile delinquents came from families from married couples.
About 55 percent of men in state prisons and 63 percent in federal prisons came from solo parent homes.
58 percent reported that they had children under the age of 10.
Over half of all parents in state prison had never married.

Fatherlessness represents a higher risk of chemical abuse.

Columbia University researchers revealed that even if children live in two-parent households and have a poor relationship with their father, they are prone to problematic behavior.

About 68% are more likely to smoke, drink, or use drugs than other teens in two-parent households.

Teens in single-mother households are at a thirty percent higher risk than those in two-parent households.

Fatherlessness represents an economic and social disadvantage.

The National Fatherhood Initiative cites the U.S. Census Bureau, Children’s Living Arrangements and Characteristics. According to this study, children in father-absent homes are almost four times more likely to be poor.

In 2011, 12 percent of children in married-couple families lived in poverty. This percentage compares to the 44 percent in single-mother families.

Furthermore, another study points out that infant mortality rates are 1.8 times higher for unmarried mothers than for married mothers.

Another example is 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.”

Fatherlessness represents a high rate of suicide.

A family structure index—a composite index based on the annual rate of children involved in divorce and the percentage of families with children present that are female-headed—is a strong predictor of suicide among young adult and adolescent white males. Fatherless children are at a dramatically greater risk of suicide. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2009 statistics continue to support and confirm all previous studies and trends on suicide.

Fatherlessness fosters destructive lifestyles and identity confusion.

Consequently, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth found that obese children are more likely to live in father-absent homes than are non-obese children. Researchers claim that boys who grow up in father-absent homes are more likely than those in father-present homes to have trouble establishing appropriate sex roles and gender identity.

Fatherlessness is one of many multi-leveled social ills in sinful humanity’s brokenness. Nevertheless, let’s not let this problem of fatherlessness immobilize us. It must not cause a myopic view of ministry.

God addresses the issue of fatherlessness repeatedly to communicate principles to reach out to the whole of human brokenness.

In fact, God as our Father does not abandon His children or His church. God is present and clearly instructing us throughout Scripture with outreach principles.

Source:

Randell D. Turner, ed., Sean E. Brotherson and Joseph M. White, Why Fathers Count: The Importance of Fathers and Their Involvement with Children, (Harriman: Men’s Studies Press, 2007), 264-265.

U.S. Fatherless Statistics, Fatherless Stats, accessed November 8, 2014, http://fatherhoodfactor.com/us-fatherless-statistics.

Meg Meeker, M.D. Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know, (New York: Ballantine Books, 2007), 19-25.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Injury Prevention and Control: Division of Violence Prevention, National Suicide Statistics at a Glance, accessed January 1, 2015, http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/suicide/statistics/reporting_system.html.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Center for Health Statistics, Survey on Child Health, Washington, D.C., 1993.

Patricia L. McCall and Kenneth C. Land, “Trends in White Male Adolescent, Young-Adult and Elderly Suicide: Are There Common Underlying Structural Factors?” Social Science Research 23, 1994.