Emotional distress, delinquent behavior, academic failure, and gang membership have been associated with father absence (Esbensen, 2000; Hines, 1997; McLanahan, 1999; Pollack, 1998; Popenoe, 1996a; Sakheim & Osborn, 1986). The research does not prove a cause and effect association between the conditions of growing up in a father-absent home and these emotional and social concerns; however, it does support the hypothesis that father absence can contribute to instability on the part of a child/adolescent, and these difficulties may continue well into adulthood (Pollack).

The greater amount of time that parents are separated or divorced, the greater the possibility that the father is seen less than once a year (Amato & Booth, 1996). Father absence does not appear to be going away; the number of children residing exclusively in single-mother homes continues to rise (Popenoe, 1996a). According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the percentage of boys and girls who reside with both parents dropped from 85% to 68% during the period from 1970 to 1997 (Snyder & Sickmund, 1999). This appears especially true for the African American population. Pollack (1998) stated, “Between 1970 and 1994, 60% of African American children lived in single-parent homes” (p. 124).

The former Secretary of Health and Human Services, Louis Sullivan, described the greatest challenge of the era as father absence (Report Calls, 1992). Canfield (1992) described father absence as a catastrophe and pointed out that single-parent homes are not confined to one culture or class of people, but crosses all boundaries of culture and socioeconomic status. Garbarino (1999) described father absence as a breakdown in family rather than a breakdown of the family.

Considering that 2.3 million children were arrested in 2001, there is a high possibility that most of the children had an absent father (Harms, 2003). The apparent question to this dilemma is what has caused this incredible father absence. Lamb (2001) stated that marriages ending in divorce have doubled during the period of 1965 and 1980, rising to 45%. This has affected about 1 million children each year. Children born outside of the union of marriage has surpassed divorce as the primary antecedent of father absence.

African American males face many challenges that shape their physical, psychological, and social development. Social science literature describes the African American males as a population at risk (Weathers & Coker, 1993; Wright, 1992). Delinquent behavior of adolescent males doubles when his father is absent (Lawrence, 1997). A number of social and economic indicators suggest that African American males are in jeopardy, both developmentally and in their quality of life (Weathers & Coker, 1993; Wright, 1992). African American males face major social obstacles. Although many of these males grow up and succeed in life, the majority face challenges that force them to drop out of school, lose self-esteem, and for some, the end result is incarceration. These issues are the basis for further research to examine the effects of father absence on male delinquent behavior. Canfield (1992) argued that it is not fathers, but the stable emotional connection and consistent care-taking relationships that are important positive child adjustment predictors.

Father involvement correlates with fewer behavior problems exhibited by their children (Amato & Fernando, 1999). Snyder and Sickmund (1999) reported that African American adolescents make up approximately 15% of the U.S. population. However, African American adolescents represented 41% of juvenile delinquency cases involving detention. More than 50% of the juvenile delinquency cases waived to criminal court involved African Americans. In 1998, 47% of homicide victims between the ages of 15 to 19 were African American males (National Center for Health Statistics, 2000).

Forty-four percent of African American male high school students surveyed in 1999 reported that they had been in a physical fight in the past year and 23% reported carrying a weapon (gun, knife, or club) at least once in the past month (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2000). Delinquent behavior on school property by African American male high school students is taking place at a high rate (National Center for Education Statistics, 2000). This behavior has resulted in adverse affects on relationships between peers and teachers; resulting in disciplinary actions that were disproportionately higher in frequency for African American males; and causing persistent academic underachievement (National Center for Education Statistics). As result of these adverse affects, understanding and deterring delinquent behavior among African American males must be a priority.

Males with committed, involved, responsible, and loving fathers have a greater chance of succeeding academically, developing a healthier self-esteem, displaying empathy and productive social behaviors, and veering away from participation in risky behavior (truancy, criminal activities, and drug use) in contrast to males with absent fathers (Fukuyama, 2001). Research has shown that a boy’s biological father is the one human factor that has the greatest impact on deterring antisocial aggression (Horn & Sylvester, 2002). Johnston (1998) stated that displaced anger resulting from an absent father was a motivating factor for approximately 80% of rapists; father absence is a motivating factor for 70% of juveniles in institutions; and father absence is a motivating factor for 85% of all in incarcerated youth. The data from Phillips and Comanor (1998) were from random surveys of 15,000 children and adolescents. They noted that the household that is void of either parental figure results in one kind of pathology or another in children; however a household that is void of a father tends to have more adverse effects especially on the males.

            One of the most frequently mentioned causes of paternal absence occurs when a father is away due to career demands or divorced from the child’s mother. For those children who are dealing with a temporary loss, such as one due to career relocation, fewer negative effects have been attributed to father absence (Adams, Milner, & Schrepf, 1984; Blankenhorn, 1995; Hetherington, 1972; Horn & Sylvester, 2002; West, 1967). However, in the case of divorce or death, a more serious impact has been found on the child’s emotional development (Horn & Sylvester; Steinberg, 1989).

A report to the National Center for Health Statistics (2000) pointed out that when parents fail to marry or divorce; their children are often the victims. Children residing with their mothers are six times more likely to reside in poorer conditions than children who reside in a two-parent home (Horn & Sylvester, 2002). Children who live in a two-parent home are least likely to suffer intellectually and emotionally and are less likely to exhibit behavioral difficulties. This family structure decreases the likelihood of adolescents participating in alcohol and drug abuse, delinquent behavior, dropping out of school, or promiscuous behavior resulting in teen pregnancy and out of wedlock births (Barber, 1998, 2000; Biller, 1971, 1974, 1982, 1993; Biller & Solomon, 1986; Blankenhorn, 1995; Hetherington, 1972; Kalb et al., 2001; Popenoe, 1996a).

In addition to the issue of father absence in our society, some people are asking, “Does father absence cause social problems such as increased teen pregnancy, or higher unemployment, and poor academic performance?” (Horn & Sylvester, 2002, p. 3). McLanahan and Sandefur (1994) used regression analysis to remove the effects of all of nuisance variables except income. With culture, number of siblings, parental education, and place of residence statistically controlled, they found that girls living in a single-parent home had a 9% increased chance in becoming a statistic for teen pregnancy, they were 6% more likely not to complete high school, and there was an increased chance of about 11% for men to be unemployed. The risk of these social problems declined by approximately one half in each case when parental income was controlled.

The research by Biller (1971, 1974, 1982, 1993) and Biller and Meredith (1974) noted that the severity of the effects of growing up in a fatherless residence has a greater impact on children than adolescents. One possible explanation for this severity could be that children have an inferior intellectual ability to process the reasoning of why they are fatherless and their ability to cope with this reality is not as developed in comparison to an adolescent’s ability to cope. When coping with the realties of an absent father adolescent children have the benefit of age because they are emotionally mature and they have a network of peers that they can turn for support (Steinberg, 1989). A child who experiences father absence before age 5 suffers more devastating psychological and personal difficulties than children who experience father absence at an older age (Beaty, 1995; Biller & Baum, 1971). In a Midwest suburban community, a study of 40 boys aged 11-13 found that the boys who had an absent father had poorer interpersonal relationships and showed a poorer sense of masculinity compared to boys who did not experience father absence (Beaty).

Johnson (1970) found a significant relationship between the father-child relationship and social involvement in both girls and boys (Johnson, 1979). According to Draper and Belsky (1990), children who are raised in father-absent homes tend to see the outside world as threatening and hostile. When children observe a cooperative and stable relationship between their parents they tend to see other social relationships as mutually rewarding. When a child lacks positive interpersonal relationships, the result may be a desire to isolate from others and participate in delinquent activities (Marcus & Gray, 1998).

 Children are suffering in huge numbers from the tragic absence of their fathers from their lives (Ancona, 1998). The root of the father-absence disaster is the emotional and physical disappearance of the father (Horn & Sylvester, 2002). The increase in unwed childbearing and divorce rates are the two major trends that have contributed to the rise in father absence (Lamb, 2001). One million children will be affected by these two trends. Children born outside of marriage, from 1960 to 2000, rose by 600% after being below 5% for several years (Kalb, Farrington, & Loeber, 2001).

Father absence is damaging to the maturational process of his children and harmful for the maturation of the country itself (Ancona, 1998). Ancona postulated that father absence has “damaged the social fabric of modern-day America, stripping the nation of its maturation process” (p. 5). The United States is hurting for an adult male identity (Ancona; Biller, 1971, 1974, 1982; Biller & Solomon, 1986; Horn & Sylvester, 2002) and the subsequent inability of all its citizens to achieve maturity and independence (Ancona).

The United States is becoming a society of absent fathers (Ancona, 1998; Blankenhorn, 1995; Horn & Sylvester, 2002; Popenoe, 1996a). Father absence is one of the unanticipated and fundamental and trends of our time (Popenoe). Blankenhorn reported that father absence is the most destructive movement of this generation. The proportion of children living in father absence homes from 1960 to 1990 has more than doubled, from 17% to 36%. Due to these numbers, the average child spends a considerable segment of his or her childhood residing in a fatherless household.

            Father absence is seldom talked about; however, its impact on society and its significant effect on adolescent behavior is second to none (Blankenhorn, 1995; Popenoe, 1996a). Father absence is a key force behind many of the problems that govern the news: substance abuse, depression, juvenile delinquency, and premature sexuality that leads to out of wedlock births.

            Researchers such as Blankenhorn (1995), Horn and Sylvester (2002), and Popenoe (1996a) are not reluctant to talk about the impact of father absence on children. Horn and Sylvester noted that children who live in a fatherless home have a greater chance of engaging in delinquent behavior, experiencing emotional and behavioral difficulties, being poor, and using drugs. Their chances are 2 to 3 times greater than children who reside with their married parents (whether biological or adoptive).

            In an effort to tackle the problem of father absence, the National Fatherhood Initiative was established in 1994 (Horn & Sylvester, 2002). This organization works to educate and to inspire using campaigns, research, and other resources to promote public awareness to all Americans. Secondly, this organization also works to develop and to equip national and local leaders of the fatherhood movement with curriculum, trainings, and technical assistance. Finally, their organization works by forming strategic partnerships and alliances in every sector of society.

            The proportion of fatherless residents in a community is directly linked to the rate of violent crimes and burglary occurrence; however, the percentage of fatherless residents does not predict the poverty level of a community (Horn & Sylvester, 2002). The effects of growing up without a father cannot be ignored when it is reported that 72% of adolescent murderers, 60% of rapists, and 39% of prison inmates recall not having a father present during childhood (Horn & Sylvester). Additionally, it is likely that those inmates who did grow up with their fathers did not have a positive relationship with them. The male child who witnesses their father’s violent behavior will in turn imitate the inappropriate behavior. Research shows us that violent male children are a product of their role models—their violent fathers. However, their counterparts, the strong, loving, firm, committed, involved, and responsible fathers are more likely to raise children who tend to avoid violence. The link between violent fathers and violent children is clear. Fathers are role models; therefore, the question should be are men willing to demonstrate their love for their children by taking responsibility for their own anger and violence (Horn & Sylvester)?