Dennis Rodman has always been known for his “emotional” visuals, as he described it in his NBA Hall of Fame acceptance speech below. Rodman talked openly about being abandoned by his father, the role of several men who mentored him (one who cried with him), and his painful regret over not being the kind of father he would like to be for his own children. It must have taken a great deal of courage for the former NBA star to say what he did on this public stage.

This stirring video should remind us that fatherlessness in our generation is tearing away at the fabric of our society. According to 72.2% of the U.S. population, fatherlessness is the most significant family or social problem facing America (National Center for Fathering). Read some of the issues related to fatherlessness below. Also get my Kindle book 13-Foot Coffins dealing with the giants of fatherlessness, abandonment, and abuse. Visit www.breakawayoutreach.com to find out more on how you can make a difference in the life of a fatherless child.

http://youtu.be/NQQu-JWzBug

Social Issues Related to Fatherlessness

1. Poverty

  • Children in father-absent homes are five times more likely to be poor. In 2002, 7.8% of children in married-couple families were living in poverty, compared to 38.4% of children in female-householder families. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Children’s Living Arrangements and Characteristics: March 2002, P20-547, Table C8. Washington, D.C.: GPO 2003.
  • In 1996, young children living with unmarried mothers were five times as likely to be poor and ten times as likely to be extremely poor. Source: “One in Four: America’s Youngest Poor.” National Center for children in Poverty. 1996.
  • Almost 75% of American children living in single-parent families will experience poverty before they turn 11 years old. Only 20 percent of children in two-parent families will do the same. Source: National Commission on Children. Just the Facts: A Summary of Recent information on America’s Children and their Families. Washington, DC, 1993.

2. Drug and Alcohol Abuse

  • The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states, “Fatherless children are at a dramatically greater risk of drug and alcohol abuse.” Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. National Center for Health Statistics. Survey on Child Health. Washington, DC, 1993.
  • Children growing up in single-parent households are at a significantly increased risk for drug abuse as teenagers. Source: Denton, Rhonda E. and Charlene M. Kampfe. “The relationship Between Family Variables and Adolescent Substance Abuse: A literature Review.” Adolescence 114 (1994): 475-495.
  • Children who live apart from their fathers are 4.3 times more likely to smoke cigarettes as teenagers than children growing up with their fathers in the home. Source: Stanton, Warren R., Tian P.S. Oci and Phil A. Silva. “Sociodemographic characteristics of Adolescent Smokers.” The International Journal of the Addictions 7 (1994): 913-925.

3. Physical and Emotional Health

  • Unmarried mothers are less likely to obtain prenatal care and more likely to have a low birthweight baby. Researchers find that these negative effects persist even when they take into account factors, such as parental education, that often distinguish single-parent from two-parent families. Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Public Health Service. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Health Statistics. Report to Congress on Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing. Hyattsville, MD (Sept. 1995): 12.
  • A study on nearly 6,000 children found that children from single parent homes had more physical and mental health problems than children who lived with two married parents. Additionally, boys in single parent homes were found to have more illnesses than girls in single parent homes. Source: Hong, Gong-Soog and Shelly L. White-Means.”Do Working Mothers Have Healthy Children?” Journal of Family and Economic Issues 14 (Summer 1993): 163-186.
  • Children in single-parent families are two to three times as likely as children in two-parent families to have emotional and behavioral problems. Source: Stanton, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. National Center for Health Statistics.”National Health Interview Survey.” Hyattsville, MD, 1988.
  • Three out of four teenage suicides occur in households where a parent has been absent. Source: Elshtain, Jean Bethke.”Family Matters: The Plight of America’s Children.” The Christian Century (July 1993): 14-21.

4. Educational Achievement

  • In studies involving over 25,000 children using nationally representative data sets, children who lived with only one parent had lower grade point averages, lower college aspirations, poor attendance records, and higher drop out rates than students who lived with both parents. Source: McLanahan, Sara and Gary Sandefur. Growing up with a Single Parent: What Hurts, What Helps. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994.
  • Fatherless children are twice as likely to drop out of school. Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. National Center for Health Statistics. Survey on Child Health. Washington, DC; GPO, 1993.
  • After taking into account race, socioeconomic status, sex, age, and ability, high school students from single-parent households were 1.7 times more likely to drop out than were their corresponding counterparts living with both biological parents. Source: McNeal, Ralph B. Jr.”Extracurricular Activities and High School Dropouts.” Sociology of Education 68(1995): 62-81.
  • School children from divorced families are absent more, and more anxious, hostile, and withdrawn, and are less popular with their peers than those from intact families. Source: One-Parent Families and Their Children: The School’s Most Significant Minority. The Consortium for the Study of School Needs of Children from One-Parent Families. National Association of elementary School Principals and the Institute for Development of Educational Activities, a division of the Charles f. Kettering Foundation. Arlington, VA 1980.

5. Crime

  • Children in single parent families are more likely to be in trouble with the law than their peers who grow up with two parents. Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. National Center for Health Statistics. National Health Interview Survey. Hyattsville, MD, 1988.
  • In a study using a national probability sample of 1,636 young men and women, it was found that older boys and girls from female headed households are more likely to commit criminal acts than their peers who lived with two parents. Source: Heimer, Karen. “Gender, Interaction, and Delinquency: Testing a Theory of Differential Social Control.” Social Psychology Quarterly 59 (1996): 39-61.
  • A study in the state of Washington using statewide data found an increased likelihood that children born out-of-wedlock would become a juvenile offender. Compared to their peers born to married parents, children born out-of-wedlock were: 1.7 times more likely to become an offender and 2.1 times more likely to become a chronic offender if male. 1.8 times more likely to become an offender and 2.8 times more likely to become a chronic offender if female. 10 times more likely to become a chronic juvenile offender if male and born to an unmarried teen mother. Source: Conseur, Amy et al. “Maternal and Perinatal Risk Factors for Later Delinquency.” Pediatrics 99 (1997): 785-790.

6. Sexual Activity and Teen Pregnancy

  • Adolescent females between the ages of 15 and 19 years reared in homes without fathers are significantly more likely to engage in premarital sex than adolescent females reared in homes with both a mother and a father. Source: Billy, John O. G., Karin L. Brewster and William R. Grady. “Contextual Effects on the Sexual Behavior of Adolescent Women.” Journal of Marriage and Family 56 (1994): 381-404.
  • A survey of 720 teenage girls found: 97% of the girls said that having parents they could talk to could help reduce teen pregnancy. 93% said having loving parents reduced the risk. 76% said that their fathers were very or somewhat influential on their decision to have sex. Source: Clements, Mark. Parade. February 2, 1997.
  • Children in single parent families are more likely to get pregnant as teenagers than their peers who grow up with two parents. Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. National Center for Health Statistics. National Health Interview Survey. Hyattsville, MD 1988.
  • A white teenage girl from an advantaged background is five times more likely to become a teen mother if she grows up in a single-mother household than if she grows up in a household with both biological parents. Source: Whitehead, Barbara Dafoe. “Facing the Challenges of Fragmented Families.” The Philanthropy Roundtable 9.1 (1995): 21.

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