Dad’s absence raises risk of delinquency in teen boys but leaves girls unaffected: Study

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDNov 28 2011

Teenage boys are more likely to turn to delinquency if they do not have a father figure in their lives finds a latest study. The absence however does not affect girls.

The study found the presence of a father figure during adolescence was most likely to have a preventive effect on whether male youths engage in risk-taking and deviant behavior. “The sense of security generated by the presence of a male role model in a youth's life has protective effects for a child,” said Melbourne University professor Deborah Cobb-Clark, who led the study. “Fathers provide children with male role models and can influence children's preferences, values and attitudes while giving them a sense of security and boosting their self-esteem,” said Cobb-Clark, according to a Melbourne statement. “They also increase the degree of adult supervision at home which may lead to a direct reduction of delinquent behavior,” added Cobb-Clark, also director at the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research.

For the study the researchers used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, US. The gender difference was not surprising said authors. “Females may be less sensitive to the increasing trend towards non-marital childbearing, divorce and remarriage,” said the report, co-authored with Erdal Tekin from Georgia State University.

“Our study included residential and non-residential, biological fathers and residential stepfathers and their influence on adolescent behaviors,” Cobb-Clark said. “We find that adolescent boys engage in more delinquency without a father figure in their lives. Adolescent girls’ behaviors are less closely linked to this, which may be attributed to the inherent levels of risk-taking that vary between males and females,” she said.

Additionally, higher family incomes were found to have little effect on solving the problems associated with youth delinquency. The report said other research had found that a father's emotional rather than behavioral involvement was important in reducing delinquency in poorer families.