How important are Fathers?

Exactly how important are fathers?  

Ask teachers or coaches and they will be able to generalize some key differences with students and athletes from fatherless homes. Fathers that are involved and positive role models play a huge part in the behavior and motivation as well as motivations of a child.

The Father's effect on Spirituality or Lack thereof

Vitz is a psychologist who was an atheist himself until his late thirties. He began to wonder if psychology played a role in one’s belief in God. After all, secular psychologists have been saying that a belief in God is really nothing more than infantile wish fulfillment. Dr. Vitz wondered if the shoe was on the other foot. Could it be that atheists are engaged in unconscious wish fulfillment?

After studying the lives of more than a dozen of the world’s most influential atheists, Dr. Vitz discovered that they all had one thing in common: defective relationships with their fathers. The relationship was defective because the father was either dead, abusive, weak, or had abandoned the children. When he studied the lives of influential theists during those same historical time periods, he found they enjoyed a strong, loving relationship with a father (or a father substitute if the father was dead).

• When both parents attend Bible study in addition to the Sunday service, 72% of their children attend Sunday school when grown.
• When only the father attends Sunday school, 55% of the children attend when grown.
• When only the mother attends Sunday school, 15% of the children attend when grown.
• When neither parent attends Sunday school, only 6% of the children attend when grown.
• if a father does not go to church, even if his wife does, only 1 child in 50 will become a regular worshiper
• If a mother does not go to church, but a father does, a minimum of two-thirds of their children will end up attending church. In contrast, if a father does not go to church, but the mother does, on average two-thirds of their children will not attend church. 
• When both parents attend Bible study in addition to the Sunday service, 72% of their children attend Sunday school when grown.
• When only the father attends Sunday school, 55% of the children attend when grown.
• When only the mother attends Sunday school, 15% of the children attend when grown.
• When neither parent attends Sunday school, only 6% of the children attend when grown.
• If the mother is the first to become a Christian, there is a 17% probability everyone else in the household will follow. However, when the father is first, there is a 93% probability everyone else in the household will follow. 

 Statistics in Fatherless Homes

#1. 85% of prisoners grew up in a fatherless home. (Texas Department of Corrections) And 7 out of every 10 youth that is housed in state-operated correctional facilities, including detention and residential treatment, come from a fatherless home. (U.S. Department of Justice)

 2. Children from fatherless homes are twice as likely to drop out from school before graduating than children who have a father in their lives. (National Public Radio) 

3. Girls who live in a fatherless home have a 100% higher risk of suffering from obesity than girls who have their father present. Teen girls from fatherless homes are also 4 times more likely to become mothers before the age of 20. (National Public Radio)

4. In 2011, 44% of children in homes headed by a single mother were living in poverty. Just 12% of children in married-couple families were living in poverty. (U.S. Census Bureau)

5. Children who live in a single-parent home are more than 2 times more likely to commit suicide than children in a two-parent home. (The Lancet)

6. 75% of rapists are motivated by displaced anger that is associated with feelings of abandonment that involve their father. (U.S. Department of Justice)

7. Living in a fatherless home is a contributing factor to substance abuse, with children from such homes accounting for 75% of adolescent patients being treated in substance abuse centers. (U.S. Department of Justice)

8.  85% of all children who exhibit some type of behavioral disorder come from a fatherless home. (U.S. Department of Justice)

9.  90% of the youth in the United States who decide to run away from home, or become homeless for any reason, originally come from a fatherless home. (U.S. Department of Justice)

10. Children who live in a single-parent or step-family home report less schoolwork monitoring, less social supervision, and lower educational expectations than children who come from two-parent homes. (American Sociological Review) Even when poverty levels are equal, children who come from a two-parent home outperform children who come from a one-parent home. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)

11. The median income for a household with a single mother is $35,400. The median income for a home with a married couple raising their children is $85,300 in the United States. Two-thirds of low-income working families with children are in the African-American community. (U.S. Census Bureau)

12. Children who live in a fatherless home are 279% more likely to deal drugs or carry firearms for offensive purposes compared to children who live with their fathers. (Allen and Lo)

13. Pregnant women who do not have the support of the father experience pregnancy loss at a 48% rate. When the father is present, the prevalence of pregnancy loss falls to 22%. (Shah, Gee, and Theall)

There is plenty of research that healthy marriage positively impacts children and society. The research is clear. The spiritual, social, economic, health and emotional benefits of marriage extend to everyone but are especially crucial for children. 

https://nickcady.org/2016/06/20/the-impact-on-kids-of-dads-faith-and-church-attendance/

https://lifeisbeautiful.org/statistics-on-fatherless-homes/

https://probe.org/atheists-and-their-fathers/