Father absence

Parental separation affects a child’s development. Early parental divorce (during primary school) has been associated with greater internalising and externalising behaviour problems in the child, while divorce later in childhood or adolescence may dampen academic performance. Children of unmarried parents tend to suffer greater emotional and social difficulties than others do.

Whilst father absence mainly results from parental divorce and separation, other factors such as family poverty, developmental difficulties have been associated with father absence, the effects of which have been explained by various theoretical approaches.

Despite limited agreement among researchers regarding the exact significance of fathering, fathers are traditionally deemed a provider of protection and support for the child’s development. Through a number of pathways, father absence may influence child behaviour, especially in early and middle childhood. These include a decline in household income and ineffective parenting arising from continued conflicts and psychological distress.

In regard to the effects of father absence, a recent British study assessed child problem behaviour in over 15,000 families using the clinical cut-offs of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), controlling for household factors such as resources, parental mental health and inter-parental relationship. The study found that father absence at a given age, similar to poverty and parental psychological distress, predicted a high probability of the child scoring above the cut-off score for total difficulties two years later. Likewise, father absence predicted several specific difficulties including borderline personality disorder, severe hyperactivity and abnormal emotional problems. Reciprocally, a child’s severe externalising and social during his/her preschool years were also associated with a greater probability of the father being absent two years later. The authors concluded that father absence seemed to be more of a cause than a consequence of child problem behaviour.

Through direct interaction, fathers’ involvement in children’s development has a positive influence on their social, behavioural and psychological outcomes. In general, engagement of a fatherly figure reduces the frequency of behavioural problems and delinquency in sons and psychological problems in daughters, all the while facilitating children’s cognitive development.

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Wikipedia