Impact Of Father Absence Research Articles

Perception of Teachers and Mothers about Impact of Father Absence and Presence on the Truancy Behavior of Secondary School Students

A child is born innocent and if nurtured with tender care and attention, then grows in positive way. Physical, mental, moral and spiritual development of the children makes them capable of realizing fullest potential. On the contrary, harmful surroundings, negligence of basic needs, wrong company and other abuses may turn a child to a negative action like truancy. The present study was designed to analyze the impact of father’s absence on truancy behavior of secondary school students. The major objectives of the present study were: i) to find out the views of teachers about the truancy behavior of secondary school students in father’s absence. ii) to find out the views of teachers about the truancy behavior of secondary school students in father’s presence. iii) to investigate the mother’s views about the truancy of their children in father’s absence. iv) to investigate the mother’s views about the truancy of their children in father’s presence. A sample of four hundred students was selected through convenient sampling. This group was further divided equally on the students whose fathers were present and absent from home. Data was collected from sample student’s mothers and teachers through questionnaire. Data was analyzed through Chi-Square. Teachers and mothers opined that students showed more truancy behavior in the absence of father. The study may be helpful both for teachers and students to overcome the anti-social behavior to increase the academic performance at secondary level. The study may also beneficial to prepare positive members of the society. It is recommended that proper programs and campaigns be launched for mothers to highlight and realize the difficulties of truancy behaviors through media and social media. In-service training for teachers may be conducted to recognize and solve the truancy behavior of students. In this way teacher may able to solve the truancy behavior and solve problems.

Casual Sex and College Students: Sex Differences and the Impact of Father Absence

Recently, much attention has been focused on understanding casual sex, or hooking up, among college students. The current study uses an adaptationist approach to investigate sex differences in casual sex behavior, emotional reactions, and the influence of father absence. If males and females possess different emotional mechanisms designed to evaluate the consequences of sexual behavior, we would expect sex differences in emotional reactions following that behavior. A sub-theory of life history strategy, psychosocial acceleration theory, predicts that stressful childhood environments will result in accelerated puberty and increased adult promiscuity. This study examines the impact of one childhood stressor, father absence, on casual sex, along with the previously mentioned sex differences in college students. Results indicate that (1) while there was no significant difference in the number of overall sex partners in the last 12 months, males had significantly more casual sex than did females, (2) females had significantly more negative emotional reactions to casual sex than did males, and (3) males and females who grew up in stressful childhood environments (indexed by father absence) were more likely to engage in casual sexual behavior. These results are discussed in light of sexual strategies theory.

The Impact of Father Absence on Daughter Sexual Development and Behaviors

Our study investigated the relationship among daughters from father-absent homes, daughters’ age of menarche, and daughters’ first sexual intercourse. This study was conducted as a paper-and-pencil survey with a total of 12 questions answered by 342 undergraduate female students. Results indicated that females from father-absent homes reported experiencing menarche significantly earlier than females from father-present homes; significant correlations at the p < .001 level were found between first reported menarche and first reported consensual intercourse. There was a significant group difference found between father-present and father-absent homes in terms of the age at which participants reported the first onset of their menarche. As there was a significant correlation between onset of menarche and age of first intercourse, it could be surmised that pubertal timing could serve as a mediating factor between father absence and initial engagement in sexual activity.

Will you leave me too?: The impact of father absence on the treatment of a 10-year-old girl

This paper addresses the impact father absence has on child development and the nature of the transference between father absent, child and therapist. A review of psychoanalytic concepts and theories that relate to this topic are applied to a case study of a preadolescent girl with an incarcerated father. Specific forms of transference that occurred between the client and her male therapist are articulated in an effort to demonstrate the power of working in the transference with girls who struggle with their feelings about having an absent father.

Does father absence place daughters at special risk for early sexual activity and teenage pregnancy?

The impact of father absence on early sexual activity and teenage pregnancy was investigated in longitudinal studies in the United States (N = 242) and New Zealand (N = 520), in which community samples of girls were followed prospectively from early in life (5 years) to approximately age 18. Greater exposure to father absence was strongly associated with elevated risk for early sexual activity and adolescent pregnancy. This elevated risk was either not explained (in the US. study) or only partly explained (in the New Zealand study) by familial, ecological, and personal disadvantages associated with father absence. After controlling for covariates, there was stronger and more consistent evidence of effects of father absence on early sexual activity and teenage pregnancy than on other behavioral or mental health problems or academic achievement. Effects of father absence are discussed in terms of life-course adversity, evolutionary psychology, social learning, and behavior genetic models.

Child adjustment in joint-custody versus sole-custody arrangements: A meta-analytic review.

The author meta-analyzed studies comparing child adjustment in joint physical or joint legal custody with sole-custody settings, including comparisons with paternal custody and intact families where possible. Children in joint physical or legal custody were better adjusted than children in sole-custody settings, but no different from those in intact families. More positive adjustment of joint-custody children held for separate comparisons of general adjustment, family relationships, self-esteem, emotional and behavioral adjustment, and divorce-specific adjustment. Joint-custody parents reported less current and past conflict than did sole-custody parents, but this did not explain the better adjustment of joint-custody children. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that joint custody can be advantageous for children in some cases, possibly by facilitating ongoing positive involvement with both parents. Research evidence has clearly demonstrated that, on average, children from divorced families are not as well adjusted as those in intact families, although this relative disadvantage does not necessarily imply clinical levels of maladjustment (Amato & Keith, 1991b; Guidubaldi & Perry, 1985). Joint custody, an arrangement that involves shared legal and/or physical custody of children following divorce of their parents, has increased in popularity as an option in divorce since the 1970s, with many states now having either a preference or presumption for joint legal custody (Bender, 1994). An ongoing debate between proponents and opponents of joint custody has continued since the 1970s as well, with different researchers and authors expressing both strong opposition (e.g., Goldstein, Freud, & Solnit, 1973; Kuehl, 1989) and strong support (e.g., Bender, 1994; Roman & Haddad, 1978). Arguments in favor of joint custody have often focused on benefits for the child of maintaining relationships with both parents. In contrast, opponents have argued that joint custody disrupts needed stability in a child’s life and can lead to harm by exposing children to ongoing parental conflict. A variety of theoretical perspectives have been proposed to explain the links between divorce and child adjustment (Hetherington, Bridges, & Insabella, 1998): individual characteristics of the child that might increase vulnerability to maladjustment; the change in family composition and the possible negative effects of father absence in the typical maternal custody situation; the increased economic stress and problems in shifting from a two-parent to a one-parent household; effects of parental distress on the child; and changes in family processes such as conflict and expression of emotion. Buchanan, Maccoby, and Dornbusch (1996) classified factors affecting children’s postdivorce adjustment into three categories: loss of a parent, interparental conflict, and diminished parenting (in which the quality of parenting from the custodial parent deteriorates, typically during the first 2 years after divorce). In an analysis of several large-scale national samples, McLanahan (1999) found that father absence due to divorce is associated with less school achievement for both boys and girls, more labor market detachment (i.e., unemployment) for boys, and early childbearing for girls. The impact of father absence seemed to be mediated by several variables, including loss of pa

The impact of father absence on moral development in females

Maslow's (1954, 1962)hierarchy of needs suggests that lower level needs (e.g., physiological needs) must be met before higher level needs (e.g., self-actualization) will be focused upon. According to Simpson (1976), one's growth in moral development seems to closely parallel the satisfaction of the needs along Maslow's hierarchy. Since father absence, either through death or divorce, may mean that children's lower level needs may not be satisfied, it follows that their subsequent moral development may also be inhibited. This notion was investigated in the present study.

Impact of father absence during childhood on the psychological adjustment of college females

In the present study, daughters who had lost fathers and whose mothers had not remarried demonstrated greater insecurity and more negative self-evaluations than daughters who had either not lost their fathers or had lost their fathers but their mothers had remarried. Contrary to the findings of Hetherington (1972), neither reason for father loss (i.e., death or divorce) nor age of daughter at time of father loss was found to affect the psychological adjustment of the college-age daughters who served as subjects in this study.