Why Dads Matter
A wealth of research confirms that fathers play a unique and important role in their children’s lives. Nevertheless, powerful forces in our society try to marginalize fathers. Unfortunately, these misguided individuals can be difficult to educate. With Father’s Day upon us, it’s worth another try.
The rates of the four major youth pathologies–teen pregnancy, teen drug abuse, school dropouts and juvenile crime–are tightly correlated with fatherlessness, often more so than with any other socioeconomic factor.
For example, according to a long-term study conducted in the United States and in New Zealand and published in Child Development, a father’s absence greatly increases the risk of teen pregnancy. The study found that it mattered little whether the child was rich or poor, black or white, born to a teen mother or an adult mother, or raised by parents with functional or dysfunctional marriages. What mattered was dad.
A Journal of Marriage and Family study found that the presence of a father was five times more important in predicting teen drug use than any other sociological factor, including income and race. A published Harvard review of four major studies found that, accounting for all major socioeconomic factors, children without a father in the home are twice as likely to drop out of high school or repeat a grade as children who live with their fathers. A Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency study concluded that fatherlessness is so predictive of juvenile crime that, as long as there was a father in the home, children of poor and wealthy families had similar juvenile crime rates.
Adult children of divorce realize dads are important. A published Arizona State University study found that more than two-thirds believed that, after divorce, “living equal amounts of time with each parent is the best arrangement for children.”
Nevertheless, fathers are often under attack by misguided women’s advocates. While fatherlessness is almost always blamed on irresponsible males, these advocates’ powerful influence over family law is also at fault. All family law and legislative battles over child custody issues involve the same fight–fathers want more time with their children, and their opponents fight to limit their role.
For example, several major branches of the National Organization for Women, including New York and Michigan, have recently issued Action Alerts against Shared Parenting bills. These Alerts rallied NOW’s supporters against moderate legislative attempts to help dads remain a part of their children’s lives after divorce or separation. NOW’s playbook is simple—portray divorced dads as a threat to their children’s well-being.
In this there is great irony—according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ new report Child Maltreatment 2004, when one parent is acting without the involvement of the other parent, mothers are almost three times as likely to kill their children as fathers are, and are more than twice as likely to abuse them. Nevertheless, in both New York and Michigan NOW’s scare tactics succeeded.
The media’s fascination with cutting down dads is another part of the problem. For example, last fall former Stanford University gender scholar Peggy Drexler was acclaimed in many circles for her highly-publicized book Raising Boys Without Men: How Maverick Moms Are Creating the Next Generation of Exceptional Men. Drexler asserts that father-absent homes are often the best environments for boys.Â
Through her interviews with single mother and lesbian families Drexler concludes there’s no need to fear fatherlessness, because fatherless boys play sports and scrape their knees like other boys, and don’t turn out to be effeminate or gay. On that she’s probably correct. However, fatherless boys do often turn out to be juvenile delinquents, drug abusers and school dropouts. Yet few hailing Drexler’s research looked close enough to see that her assurances that fatherless boys “do fine†was based on the ludicrous notion that all that really concerns us is that these boys might turn out to be sissies.
Our society spends billions of dollars attempting to combat crime, drug abuse, teen pregnancy and dropouts, without meaningfully addressing fatherlessness, which plays a central role in creating them. There is no easy solution to these problems. There is also no solution possible without dads.
Â
This article first appeared in the Houston Chronicle (6/18/06).
Mike McCormick is the Executive Director of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children, the world’s largest shared parenting organization. Their website is www.acfc.org.
Glenn Sacks’ columns on men’s and fathers’ issues have appeared in dozens of America’s largest newspapers. Glenn can be reached via his website at www.GlennSacks.com or via email at Glenn@GlennSacks.com.
| More from Mike McCormick and Glenn Sacks
Stumble It!
July 13th, 2006 at 2:59 pm
I don’t think people realize how institutionalized the NOW agenda has become. Most people assume the nutbars from NOW are usually out protesting men-only golf associations.
The NOW folks and the feminists dominate the schools of social work, psychology, medicine and law. The courts, the state and local governments, etc. are all in lock-step with feminism. In other words, the entire establishment is built around pleasing the worst elements of the political spectrum. This is why we have fathers demonized in courts, visitations limited, etc.
Sure fathers are important, but the entire establishment doesn’t agree – and half the culture is on the side of the feminists.
So, “no solution possible without dads”?? Go and suggest this idea to the women at NOW. They seem to be setting the agenda for families and children.
July 13th, 2006 at 7:26 pm
Yeah, dads matter, and???? They are still being pushed out of families. When I look at my advantages if I choose to divorce, it seems like a good financial deal. Even with low alimony payments plus child support, I could get $3500 tax-free from my husband if I was to divorce him.
I’m not about to do this, but I can see women who are mildly dissatisfied jumping on the opportunity. In the old days, it was too easy for men to walk away from wives and children, now it’s too painful for them financially.
I know both men and women can get trapped in bad marriages, but it all seemed to work out with less pain and crazy stuff happening before no-fault divorce.
July 13th, 2006 at 7:27 pm
Oops, typo. I meant $3500 monthly…
July 13th, 2006 at 8:10 pm
If dads matter, why does our friends and family dishonor them? Why does Hollywood exemplify fathers as fools?
This is not rhetorical, yet I do not have an answer. A solution, if a man does not want to be treated disrespectfully and unfair is to not be a dad. Do not marry.
A man’s energy may be used serving more respected causes than fatherhood.
July 14th, 2006 at 10:14 am
Actually, alimony payments aren’t tax free. But, child support is. Anyway, I see diedre’s point. It’s too easy for a woman who is mildly dissatisfied to walk away from her marriage.
And the media, TV, books, movies etc. all glorify the divorced woman so it’s no wonder what’s going on. For example, there’s a recent Charles Schwab commercial where a newly divorced woman is out skiing and talking about how her husband never let her have any say in financial decisions, but now she has the power over her own finances. Putting her on a ski slope sends the message that divorce isn’t really such a bad thing after all. And, the ex-husband comes away as some kind of horrible ogre that she was correct in getting away from. Multiply that by a zillion, and you can see how often this message is projected to women.
July 14th, 2006 at 6:38 pm
Schwab, eh: interesting; it’s pretty clear what
they have in mind. It tells you something.
She’s probably also shown flirting with men in the
lodge, to begin the cycle again.
We should thank Schwab for supporting our
contention that women can make money out of a
divorce.
Actually, books like BREAKING AWAY started
appearing more than twenty years ago and advising
divorce as an absolutely good thing for a woman to
do independent of overt problems in the
realtionship.
The most irksome part to me is the chapter
advising mothers not to hesitate for the sake of
the children. You can have joint custody, they
say, if that’s what it takes to assuage your
conscience, but also understand that no court will
impose it on you, and you can opt-out at any time.
July 16th, 2006 at 8:45 pm
[...] reply-to: doug@drugsense.org Why Dads Matter http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/article/mensnewsdaily4513.htm Why Dads Matter Found: Fri Jul 14 06:16:44 2006 PDT Webpage: http://mensnewsdaily.com/2006/07/13/why-dads-matter/ Author: Mike Mccormick And Glenn Sacks, Glenn@GlennSacks.com Newshawk: http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/ home | page 2 | voa | reuters | map | search | support | register | login | post The China-Driven Fuel Shortage 139 Times Bigger Than Oil… A wealth of research confirms that fathers play a unique and importantA role in their children’s lives. Nevertheless, powerful forces in our society try toA marginalize fathers. Unfortunately, these misguided individuals can be difficult to educate. With Father’s Day upon us, it’s worth another try. The rates of the four major youth pathologies–teen pregnancy, teen drug abuse, school dropouts and juvenile crime–are tightly correlated with fatherlessness, often more so than with any other socioeconomic factor. For example, according to a long-term study conducted in the United States and in New Zealand and published in Child Development, a father’s absence greatly increases the risk of teen pregnancy. The study found that it mattered little whether the child was rich or poor, black or white, born to a teen mother or an adult mother, or raised by parents with functional or dysfunctional marriages. What mattered was dad. A Journal of Marriage and Family study found that the presence of a father was five times more important in predicting teen drug use than any other sociological factor, including income and race. A published Harvard review of four major studies found that, accounting for all major socioeconomic factors, children without a father in the home are twice as likely to drop out of high school or repeat a grade as children who live with their fathers. A Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency study concluded that fatherlessness is so predictive of juvenile crime that, as long as there was a father in the home, children of poor and wealthy families had similar juvenile crime rates. Adult children of divorce realize dads are important. A published Arizona State University study found that more than two-thirds believed that, after divorce, “living equal amounts of time with each parent is the best arrangement for children.” Nevertheless, fathers are often under attack by misguided women’s advocates. While fatherlessness is almost always blamed on irresponsible males,A these advocates’ powerful influence overA family lawA is also at fault. All family law and legislative battles over child custody issues involve the same fight–fathers want more time with their children, and their opponents fight to limit their role. For example, several major branches of the National Organization for Women, including New York and Michigan, have recently issued Action Alerts against Shared Parenting bills. These Alerts rallied NOW’s supporters against moderate legislative attempts to help dads remain a part of their children’s lives after divorce or separation. NOW’s playbook is simpleaE”portray divorced dads as a threat to their children’s well-being. In this there is great ironyaE”according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ new report Child Maltreatment 2004, when one parent is acting without the involvement of the other parent, mothers are almost three times as likelyA to kill their children as fathers are, andA are more than twice as likely to abuse them.A Nevertheless, in both New York and Michigan NOW’s scare tacticsA succeeded. Through her interviews with single mother and lesbian families Drexler concludes there’s no need to fear fatherlessness, because fatherless boys play sports and scrape their knees like other boys, and don’t turn out to be effeminate or gay. On that she’s probably correct. However, fatherless boys do often turn out to beA juvenile delinquents, drug abusers and school dropouts. Yet few hailing Drexler’s research looked close enough to see that her assurances that fatherless boys “do fine” was based on the ludicrous notion that all that really concerns us is that these boys might turn out to be sissies. Our society spends billions of dollars attempting to combat crime, drug abuse, teen pregnancy and dropouts, without meaningfully addressing fatherlessness, which plays a central role in creating them. There is no easy solution to these problems. There is also no solution possible without dads. This article first appeared in the Houston Chronicle (6/18/06). Mike McCormick is the Executive Director of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children, the world’s largest shared parenting organization. Their website is http://www.acfc.org. Glenn Sacks’ columns on men’s and fathers’ issues have appeared in dozens of America’s largest newspapers. Glenn can be reached via his website at http://www.GlennSacks.com or via email at Glenn@GlennSacks.com. I don’t think people realize how institutionalized the NOW agenda has become. Most people assume the nutbars from NOW are usually out protesting men-only golf associations. The NOW folks and the feminists dominate the schools of social work, psychology, medicine and law. The courts, the state and local governments, etc. are all in lock-step with feminism. In other words, the entire establishment is built around pleasing the worst elements of the political spectrum. This is why we have fathers demonized in courts, visitations limited, etc. Sure fathers are important, but the entire establishment doesn’t agree – and half the culture is on the side of the feminists. So, “no solution possible without dads”?? Go and suggest this idea to the women at NOW. They seem to be setting the agenda for families and children. Yeah, dads matter, and???? They are still being pushed out of families. When I look at my advantages if I choose to divorce, it seems like a good financial deal. Even with low alimony payments plus child support, I could get $3500 tax-free from my husband if I was to divorce him. I’m not about to do this, but I can see women who are mildly dissatisfied jumping on the opportunity. In the old days, it was too easy for men to walk away from wives and children, now it’s too painful for them financially. I know both men and women can get trapped in bad marriages, but it all seemed to work out with less pain and crazy stuff happening before no-fault divorce. If dads matter, why does our friends and family dishonor them? Why does Hollywood exemplify fathers as fools? This is not rhetorical, yet I do not have an answer. A solution, if a man does not want to be treated disrespectfully and unfair is to not be a dad. Do not marry. A man’s energy may be used serving more respected causes than fatherhood. You must be logged in to post a comment. (c)2001-2006 Java King, Inc. The opinions in this article are expressly those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or values of this publication, its editorial staff or contributors. Words, graphics, audio, video, and all other content published on this domain must adhere to our Terms of Service . 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