Active fathers are absolutely essential in preventing behavioral problems
with boys and psychological problems in girls.

<http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/JaniceShawCrouse/2008/02/27/the_incontrovertible_facts_about_fathers>

Townhall.com (USA)
27 February 2008

The Incontrovertible Facts About Fathers
By Janice Shaw Crouse

This should be the final word - 24 scholarly studies covering 22,300
separate sets of data published in the 20 years between 1987 and 2007
report essentially the same finding: active fathers are absolutely
essential in preventing behavioral problems with boys and psychological
problems in girls. With such a massive body of evidence the debate ought to
be over and the findings established beyond question. Policymakers ought to
make it a priority to strengthen marriage and reestablish marriage and
family as the central building blocks of society. They should set about
establishing a father-friendly culture and all aspects of society ought to
do everything possible to promote father involvement with children and work
assiduously to prevent father absence in America's households.

In fact, the authors of the review of all that research said as much.
According to LifeSiteNews.

com, the lead researcher, Dr. Anna Sardaki of
Uppsala University's Department of Women's and Children's Health in Sweden,
said, "We hope that this review will add to the body of evidence that shows
that enlightened father-friendly policies can make a major contribution to
society in the long run by producing well-adjusted children and reducing
major problems like crime and antisocial behavior."

The review of the studies was published in the February issue of the
peer-reviewed journal Acta Paediatrica by researchers at Uppsala
University, Sweden. The majority of the studies (18 out of 24) included
analyses of the socio-economic status of the families studied. Those
analyses showed that "regular positive contact" with the father "reduces
criminal behavior among children in low income families and enhances
cognitive skills like intelligence, reasoning and language
development." In other words, when a father is around, the kids learn to
behave, obey laws and end up learning more. Having both a mother and a
father present in the home and active in the children's upbringing keeps
them in line and reaps positive behavioral and psychological benefits.

The benefits include very practical outcomes like having children who are
less likely to smoke or get in trouble at school or with the police. Such
fortunate children do better academically and develop good friendships with
other children.

Perhaps the most significant of the findings for women is that by the time
they turned 33 years of age, those girls who had a good relationship with
their father when they were 16 years of age had a "greater sense of mental
and physical well-being" and "better relationships with a partner" when
they became adults.

With all the evidence in the massive Swedish report about the importance of
having fathers present in the family, we should be very concerned about
America's children. Every year more than one million children are separated
from one or the other parent by divorce, and many more are added to that
total by unmarried biological parents, with some cohabiting for awhile and
then simply deciding to stop living together. In 2006, some 1.6 million
births (38.5 percent of all births) were to unmarried mothers. Some of
these unmarried mothers will eventually marry the father of their child,
but those who do not add to the rising number of children who are being
raised without the presence of their biological father.

In fact, the United States leads the world in the percentage of mother-only
families. In 2006, about 28 percent of all children were being raised in
single-parent families, and children being raised in a mother-only family
where the woman has never been married make up over 43 percent of all
single-parent children.

The rapidly increasing numbers of single-mother and divorced mom households
represent a tidal wave of change, all of it posing an increased risk to the
children's well being.

For centuries, we have viewed marriage as a sacred institution and the
foundation for family - a covenant between a man and a woman and God that
is honored by people across the faith traditions. It is also a legal
contract carrying both responsibilities and privileges. Marriage between a
man and a woman is the essential foundation for "family" - a group of
related individuals bound together by the marriage covenant between a man
and a women, birth, blood and/or adoption. Thus, family is a unique
relationship characterized by love and commitment, rather than convenience
and choice. It is no coincidence that as the nation has changed its
definition of marriage and family to eliminate the necessity for fathers,
it has also increased the number of vulnerable children.

Related Media:

VIDEO: Alexa Ray Joel Follows in Her Father's Footsteps
<http://www.townhall.com/content.aspx?ContentGuid=53b8688a-7a27-4cd8-bdd3-9f04183b5499>

VIDEO: Child, Mother Home After Being Reunited
<http://www.townhall.com/content.aspx?ContentGuid=36f6b6dd-bc90-4c3b-a24f-fcd9c060fa08>

---

Janice Shaw Crouse, Ph.D., Senior Fellow at the Beverly LaHaye Institute,
the think tank for Concerned Women for America, is a recognized authority
on domestic issues, the United Nations, cultural and women's concerns.