Statistics

The fatherless and the Fatherless

the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states that fatherless children are at a dramatically greater risk of drug and alcohol abuse.

gender is the best predictor of criminal behavior. Males commit more, females less. This distinction holds throughout history, for all societies, for all groups, and for nearly every crime category.

A study of children age 3 and older living with a residential father or father figure found that children living with married biological parents had significantly fewer externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems than children living with at least one non-biological parent. - Source: Hofferth, S. L. (2006). Residential father family type and child well-being: investment versus selection. Demography, 43, 53-78.

1,977

x4

Children in father-absent homes are almost four times more likely to be poor. In 2011, 12 percent of children in married-couple families were living in poverty, compared to 44 percent of children in mother-only families. - U.S. Census Bureau, Children’s Living Arrangements and Characteristics: March 2011, Table C8. Washington D.C.: 2011.

of US children (17.4 million) lived in father absent homes in 2014.

23.6%

of juveniles in state-operated institutions come from fatherless homes.according to the U.S. Department of Justice

70%

85%

of all youths sitting in prisons grew up in a fatherless home.

- Source: Fulton Co. Georgia jail populations, Texas Dept. of Corrections

A study of infants in Florida evaluated how a lack of father involvement impacts infant mortality. A lack of father involvement was linked to earlier births as well as lower birth weights. Researchers also found that father absence increases the risk of infant mortality, and that the mortality rate for infants within the first 28 days of life is four times higher for those with absent fathers than those with involved fathers. Paternal absence is also found to increase black/white infant mortality almost four-fold. - Source: Alio, A. P., Mbah, A. K., Kornosky, J. L., Wathington, D., Marty, P. J., & Salihu, H. M. (2011). Assessing the impact of paternal involvement on Racial/Ethnic disparities in infant mortality rates. Journal of Community Health, 36(1), 63-68.]

1,397,801

A study of 263 to year-old adolescent women seeking

psychological services found that the adolescents from father-absent homes were

more likely to experience pregnancy than were adolescents from father-present homes. Moreover, the rate of pregnancy among adolescents from father absent homes was

compared to a four (4) percent rate in the general adolescent population.

13 3.5x

18 17.4%

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the number of children with an incarcerated father grew 79% between 1991 and 2007. Black fathers accounted for nearly half (46%) of all children with an incarcerated father.

of murders are committed by men.

90%

of robberies are committed by men.

87%

of people arrested are men.

74%

- Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Criminal Justice Information Services Division 2012

71%

of all high school dropout come from fatherless homes.

- Source: National Principles Association Report on the State of High Schools

Researchers using secondary data from the Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research examined gun carrying and drug trafficking in young men, linking father absence to the likelihood of engaging in these behaviors. Results from a sample of 835 juvenile male inmates found that father absence was the only disadvantage on the individual level with significant effects on gun carrying, drug trafficking, and co-occurring behavior. Individuals from father absent homes were found to be

more likely to carry guns and deal drugs than peers living with their fathers.

279%

A study of the relationship between father absence and lower educational attainment for African American females found that a longer duration of father absence is a predictive factor for lower educational success. Researchers discovered that longer duration of father absence often leads to lower income and family economic stress, which puts young women at risk for lower educational achievement.

- Source: Gillette, M. T., & Gudmunson, C. G. (2014). Processes linking father absence to educational attainment among african american females. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 24(2), 309-321.]

41%

percent of all children in our country are born to unmarried mothers. The significance of that is that 84 percent of women who have abortions are unmarried,

- Source: African American Pro-Life Radiance spokesman Ryan Bomberger

80%

out of about 12 million single parent families in 2015 were headed by single mothers. Today 1 in 4 children under the age of 18 — a total of about 17.4 million — are being raised without a father and nearly half (45%) live below the poverty line.

of youth suicides are from fatherless homes according to the U.S. D.H.H.S., Bureau of the Census

63%

of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes

90%

85%

of all rapists motivated with displaced anger come from fatherless homes, according to Criminal Justice & Behavior journal.