A Father’s Impact on Child Development

Children with active, involved fathers during childhood and adolescence experience significant advantages. The Fatherhood Project has researched the impacts of father engagement during childhood development stages. Both The Fatherhood Project and our Father Engagement Program are dedicated to improving children’s and families’ health and well-being by empowering fathers to be knowledgeable, active, and emotionally engaged.

Here Are 10 Important Facts From Their Research:

10 Facts About Father Engagement

1. Attachment: Fathers and infants can be as attached as mothers and infants. When both parents are involved, infants form attachments to both from birth.
2. Health Outcomes: Father involvement is linked to positive child health outcomes in babies, like improved weight gain in preterm infants and higher breastfeeding rates.
3. Authoritative Parenting: Father involvement using authoritative parenting (loving with clear boundaries and expectations) leads to better emotional, academic, social, and behavioral outcomes for children.
4. Future Success: Children close to their father are twice as likely to enter college or find stable employment after high school, 75% less likely to have a teen birth, 80% less likely to go to jail, and half as likely to experience multiple depression symptoms.
5. Critical Role: Fathers are crucial in child development. Father’s absence hinders development from infancy to adulthood, with psychological harm persisting throughout life.
6. Quality Over Quantity: The quality of the father-child relationship matters more than the hours spent together. Non-resident fathers can positively affect children’s social and emotional well-being, academic achievement, and behavioral adjustment.
7. Sociability and Self-Control: High levels of father involvement correlate with higher levels of sociability, confidence, and self-control in children. They are less likely to act out in school or engage in risky behaviors in adolescence.
8. Academic Achievement: Children with actively involved fathers are 43% more likely to earn A’s and 33% less likely to repeat a grade than those without engaged dads.
9. Behavioral and Economic Benefits: Father engagement reduces behavioral problems in boys and decreases delinquency and economic disadvantage in low-income families.
10. Psychological Benefits: Father engagement reduces psychological problems and depression rates in young women.

The impact of fathers and father figures is substantial. While father involvement has many positive aspects, the effects of their absence can be detrimental.

Father Absence

According to the 2007 UNICEF report on child well-being in advanced nations, kids in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. rank extremely low in social and emotional well-being. A largely ignored factor among child and family policymakers is the prevalence and devastating effects of father’s absence in children’s lives.

Studies show that children without fathers at home suffer greatly. Even before birth, a father’s attitudes regarding the pregnancy, prenatal behaviors, and the father-mother relationship may indirectly influence risk for adverse birth outcomes. School-aged children with good relationships with their fathers are less likely to experience depression, disruptive behavior, or lying and more likely to exhibit prosocial behavior.

Fatherless homes significantly impact adolescents. These children are more likely to experience the effects of poverty. Former President George W. Bush stated, “Over the past four decades, fatherlessness has emerged as one of our greatest social problems. We know that children who grow up with absent fathers can suffer lasting damage. They are more likely to end up in poverty or drop out of school, become addicted to drugs, have a child out of wedlock, or end up in prison. Fatherlessness is not the only cause of these things, but our nation must recognize it is an important factor.”

Many individuals recognize the lasting impact of a father’s presence in a child’s life. Many admit to struggling with feelings of abandonment and low self-esteem due to a lack of a father’s love. Some have turned to drugs, alcohol, risky sexual activities, unhealthy relationships, or other destructive behaviors to numb the pains of fatherlessness.

The absence of their father is not an isolated risk factor, but it can affect children’s development. It’s important to consider, as many would argue, that one parental role is more significant than the other. That is not true.

According to Psychology Today, researchers have found these narratives to be true. The effects of a father’s absence on children are incredibly negative:

• Diminished Self-Concept and Security: When fathers are uninvolved, children report feeling abandoned, struggling with their emotions, and experiencing self-loathing.
• Behavioral Problems: Fatherless children have more difficulties with social adjustment, are more likely to report problems with friendships, and manifest behavior problems. Many develop a swaggering, intimidating persona to hide underlying fears, resentments, anxieties, and unhappiness.
• Poor Academic Performance: Fatherless children struggle academically, scoring poorly on reading, mathematics, and thinking skills tests. They are more likely to skip school, be excluded, leave early, and less likely to attain academic and professional qualifications in adulthood.
• Delinquency and Youth Crime: 85% of imprisoned youth have an absent father. Fatherless children are more likely to offend and go to jail as adults.
• Promiscuity and Teen Pregnancy: Fatherless children are more likely to experience problems with sexual health issues, including a greater likelihood of having intercourse before the age of 16, foregoing contraception during first intercourse, becoming teenage parents, and contracting sexually transmitted infections. Girls manifest an object hunger for male attention and, feeling the emotional absence of their fathers as a personal rejection, become vulnerable to exploitation by adult men.
• Drug and Alcohol Abuse: Fatherless children are more likely to smoke, drink, and abuse drugs in childhood and adulthood.
• Homelessness: 90% of runaway children have an absent father.
• Exploitation and Abuse: Fatherless children are at greater risk of suffering physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. They’re five times more likely to experience physical abuse and emotional maltreatment, with a 100 times higher risk of fatal abuse. Preschoolers not living with both biological parents are 40 times more likely to be sexually abused.
• Physical Health Problems: Fatherless children report significantly more psychosomatic health symptoms and illnesses like acute and chronic pain, asthma, headaches, and stomach aches.
• Mental Health Disorders: Children without fathers are consistently overrepresented in a wide range of mental health problems, especially anxiety, depression, and suicide.
• Life Chances: As adults, fatherless children are more likely to face unemployment, low incomes, remain on social assistance, and experience homelessness.
• Future Relationships: Children who grow up without a father tend to enter partnerships earlier, are more likely to divorce or dissolve their cohabiting unions, and are more likely to have children outside marriage or partnerships.
• Mortality: Fatherless children are more likely to die as children and live four years less on average.

Tips for Dads

Dads! It’s vital to be actively involved in your child’s life – whether you live together or not. Here are great ways to create healthy, positive engagement with your children (adapted from the Modern Dad Dilemma):

1. Speak Positively to and About Their Mother: It is essential to be on the same page as their mother about your role. Be clear and respectful, emphasizing your desire to be an involved father. Speak positively about her in front of your children to show respect and maintain a healthy relationship.
2. Create a Vision for Fatherhood Engagement: Think about what you hope your children will say about you as a father in the future. This will help you clarify your purpose and guide your decisions.
3. Be the Bridge Between Your Father and Your Children: Reflect on your relationship with your father and decide what positive aspects to pass on to your children and what negative aspects to avoid.
4. Establish Ritual Dad Time: Spend regular one-on-one time with your children doing activities you both enjoy. Make sure to talk and build a strong connection.
5. Know Your Children: Be interested in their lives, know their friends, and understand their stressors. Show they’re worthy of your time and attention.
6. Be Known by Your Children: Share stories about your childhood and experiences to humanize yourself and initiate meaningful dialogue.

All For Kids hopes you recognize your tremendous value as Fathers. You can make a lasting difference in your children’s lives, and we appreciate you more than you know!