“My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline
and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves,
as a father the son he delights in.” Proverbs 3:11-12
One way to emphasize the importance
and impact of a father is to consider the results when a father is not involved
in the life of his children.
There is no
question that children who grow up in fatherless homes have a much greater risk
of major challenges in life than those who grow up with a father at home. These
statistics are alarming and should give any father pause.
Incarceration Rates. "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...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." (Cynthia Harper of the University
of Pennsylvania and Sara S. McLanahan of Princeton University cited in
"Father Absence and Youth Incarceration." Journal of Research
on Adolescence 14 (September 2004): 369-397.)
Suicide. 63% of
youth suicides are from fatherless homes (Source: What Can the Federal
Government Do To Decrease Crime and Revitalize Communities? - see link
below)
Behavioral Disorders. 85% of
all children that exhibit behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes
(Source: What Can the Federal Government Do To Decrease Crime and
Revitalize Communities? - see link below)
High School Dropouts. 71% of
all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes (Source: What Can
the Federal Government Do To Decrease Crime and Revitalize Communities? -
see link below)
Educational Attainment. Kids
living in single-parent homes or in step-families report lower educational
expectations on the part of their parents, less parental monitoring of school
work, and less overall social supervision than children from intact families.
(N.M. Astore and S. McLanahan,American Sociological Review, No. 56
(1991)
Juvenile Detention Rates. 70% of
juveniles in state-operated institutions come from fatherless homes
(Source: What Can the Federal Government Do To Decrease Crime and
Revitalize Communities? - see link below)
Confused Identities. Boys who
grow up in father-absent homes are more likely that those in father-present
homes to have trouble establishing appropriate sex roles and gender
identity.(P.L. Adams, J.R. Milner, and N.A. Schrepf, Fatherless
Children, New York, Wiley Press, 1984).
Aggression. In a
longitudinal study of 1,197 fourth-grade students, researchers observed
"greater levels of aggression in boys from mother-only households than
from boys in mother-father households." (N. Vaden-Kierman, N. Ialongo, J.
Pearson, and S. Kellam, "Household Family Structure and Children's
Aggressive Behavior: A Longitudinal Study of Urban Elementary School
Children," Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 23, no. 5
(1995).
Achievement. Children
from low-income, two-parent families outperform students from high-income,
single-parent homes. Almost twice as many high achievers come from two-parent
homes as one-parent homes. (One-Parent Families and Their Children,
Charles F. Kettering Foundation, 1990).
Delinquency. Only
13 percent of juvenile delinquents come from families in which the biological
mother and father are married to each other. By contrast, 33 percent have
parents who are either divorced or separated and 44 percent have parents who
were never married. (Wisconsin Dept. of Health and Social Services, April
1994).
Criminal Activity. The
likelihood that a young male will engage in criminal activity doubles if he is
raised without a father and triples if he lives in a neighborhood with a high
concentration of single-parent families. Source: A. Anne Hill, June
O'Neill, Underclass Behaviors in the United States, CUNY, Baruch
College. 1993
If you had a father in your home as
you were growing up, be very thankful to him and to God, your Heavenly Father
for the distinct advantage you had!
If your father was not a positive factor in your life, I urge you to get to know your Heavenly Father at a meaningful level.
If your father was not a positive factor in your life, I urge you to get to know your Heavenly Father at a meaningful level.