Absent Fathers Research Paper

“Kids have a hole in their soul in the shape of their dads, and if they are unable to fill that hole, it can leave a wound that is not easily healed.”

~ Rollins Warren (President of the National Fatherhood Initiative) Protector, Provider, and a model on how to be a man; these are all of the roles that a father has in a child’s life. However, some fathers are not present in their children’s lives. It is clear that the issue of father absence has become an epidemic, according to the Census Bureau, the percentage of children living only with their mothers have increased from 8% to 24.2%. It has become so pervasive that the media thought it was necessary to make the, “Take Time to be a Dad Today” PSAs and billboards. After passing by

Their first relationship she usually has with a man is her father; he teaches her what to look for in a man, and what behavior is acceptable and for a man. In other words, she sees first-hand what standards to keep in mind, and what is normal. The father’s absenteeism also negatively impact the social skills needed to properly form a nonsexual male-female relationship in the future. Since the father also serves as the protector, she does not have a complete sense of security. It also lowers the child’s self-esteem. Behavioral problems also occur. In the article, “Beyond Absenteeism: Father Incarnation and Child Development” observed the development of 3,000 children and the documented effects were aggressiveness and an increased need for attention. This absence not only affects the mental and emotional development of the females, but the physical as well. Scholar Janet Erikson says that girls with a an absent father start puberty relatively early and are 6 to 10 times more likely to have a child out of wedlock. Fatherless children are also reported to have psychosomatic health symptoms and ailments such as chronic pain, asthma, headaches and

Daughters see their dads as a model of what to look for in man, but son look at their fathers in order to know what it is to be a man. He learns the foundation of masculinity through his father. The term “like father, like son” is said for a reason, but if the father is not present in the child’s life, he has nothing to follow. Such absence affects the male’s psychological, intellectual and behavioral development. When a father is not in the child’s life, it results in their low performance in cognitive tests. Having no paternal presence growing up leaves them with a sense of abandonment. This also spurs into questions such as “why they left, what was more important than me, and why doesn’t he love me?” If these questions go unanswered, the child will assume something is wrong with them which in turn results in low