|
Fatherlessness Statistics |
THE
FRUITS OF MOTHER-HEADED HOUSEHOLDS, or how anti-father judges and
legislators protect children=s Abest interests@:
|
90%
of homeless and runaway children 85%
of children with behavioral disorders -
Center for Disease Control 80%
of rapists motivated with displaced anger -Criminal
Justice and Behavior, vol 14, pp 403-426 1978 63%
of youth suicides 71%
of pregnant teenage -U.S.
Dept. of Health & Human Services, Bureau of the Census 75%
of adolescents in chemical abuse centers -Rainbows
for all God=s Children 71%
of high school dropouts -Natl.
Principals Assn report on the State of High Schools 70%
of juveniles in state institutions -U.S.
Dept. of Justice Special report Sept 1988
Concerning
girls: 53%
are more likely to marry as teenagers 164%
are more likely to become a single parent 92%
are more likely to divorce
if they marry -Barbara
Whitehead, ADan Quayle was Right,@ Atlantic Monthly, vol
271, no.
4. April 199 3 Compiled by CPF. 14 Bacon St., Boston MA 02108 (617)-723-DADS
|
From
the Sunday Star Times, a Weekly national
newspaper
in New Zealand:
Fathers
make better mothers (Sunday
Star-Times 10/03/96)
"Fathers make
better single parents than mothers, according to
new
research.
"Studies
in the United States suggest children brought up by only their
mother are four times more likely to drop out of school, become
delinquent or commit suicide as children brought up by their
fathers.
"Henry
Biller, professor of psychology at Rhode Island University and
author of 'The Father Factor', said delinquency was three to four
times as frequent in children in the care of only their mother.
"We
are talking about drug use, criminal behaviour, school drop out,
unmarried pregnancy,' he said.
"Paternal deprivation is much more of a problem than
maternal deprivation.'
"According
to Richard Warshak, professor of psychology at the Texas University
Southwestern Medical Centre, boys suffer 'harmful effects' of being
brought up without a father. 'Children
are more likely to avoid harmful effects of divorce if they live
with the parent of the same sex.'
"Dr
Warshak said: 'There is no reason to believe that mothers have the
monopoly on competence at bringing up children.
Fathers can do just as well, and in some cases better."
And
from the Net:
Fatherless
youth at higher risk for jail - study
Date:
10/24/98 4:37:04 PM Eastern Standard Time
From:
[email protected] (Bob Hirschfeld, JD)
SAN
FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Young men who grow up in homes without
fathers are twice as likely to end up in jail as those who come from
traditional two-parent families, according to a new study
released Thursday.
Cynthia
Harper of the University of Pennsylvania and Sara S. McLanahan of
Princeton University tracked a sample of 6,000 males aged
14-22 from 1979-93.
They
found that those boys whose fathers were absent from the household
had double the odds of being incarcerated -- even when
other factors such as race, income, parent education and urban
residence were held constant.<BR>
Surprisingly,
those boys who grow up with a step-father in the home were at
even higher risk for incarceration, roughly three times that of
children who remain with both of their natural parents, according to
a study being presented at a meeting of the American Sociological
Association Friday.
``Remarriage of parents doesn't help,'' Harper said. ``A
step-parent in the household doesn't erase the father absent
problem.''
The
sociologists launched their study in an effort to shed new light on
the increase of youth violence between the late 1980's and early
1990's.
``It
has become a lot less unusual for youth to become involved in violent
crime,'' Harper said. ``I wanted to see if there was any connection
between youth violence and major family changes that have occurred
over the last few decades.''
Overall,
the U.S. youth crime rate rose by 43 percent between 1989 and 1993.
Since then, however, the youth violent crime rate dropped by about 25
percent, according to Justice Department figures.
Officials
have credited the drop, which mirrored a wider drop in overall crime
rates, in part to new community policing initiatives and tougher
penalties for youth crime.
Still,
juveniles accounted for nearly one out of five arrests for violent
crimes in 1996. And youths aged 12 to 17 were three times as likely as
adults to be victims of a violent crime in 1994, Justice Department
figures show.
Incarceration
can lead to further crime, according to specialists. A 1997 study at
the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, found that juveniles who went to
jail were twice as likely to commit another crime than those who were
sent to a alternative programs.
The
study of 271 at-risk youths also found that the juveniles sent
to jail were three times more likely to commit a violent crime than
those sent to other programs.
Harper
and McLanahan's study found that young men whose parents part ways
during their adolescence were roughly 1-1/2 times as likely to
end up in jail as children from intact families -- faring
slightly better than boys who are born to single mothers.
It
also found that, while whites have lower rates of father absenteeism
than blacks, when families do split white youth are at a higher risk
of incarceration than their black peers.
Child support payments did not appear to make a significant difference in the odds of incarceration, but the presence of live-in grandparents in households without fathers ``appears to help improve youths' chances of avoiding incarceration,'' the study found.
Don Hank
Director,
LYNCUP
319 Brook Lane, Wrightsville PA 17368
717-252-9835
