The effects absent fathers have on female development and college attendance

College Student Journal, Dec, 2001 by Franklin B. Krohn, Zoe Bogan

   Daughters of divorce sought attention from men more often, reported being
   the most active sexually and had the lowest self-esteem. The effects of
   early father separation were more profound than later separation. While she
   noted different coping patterns in girls who had lost their fathers through
   death than in those whose loss was through divorce, she proposed that for
   both groups the lack of opportunity for constructive interaction with a
   loving, attentive father resulted in apprehension and inadequate skills in
   relating to men (p.320).

Adolescent girls raised in fatherless households are far more likely to engage in promiscuous sexual activity before marriage, to cohabit, to get pregnant out of wedlock and to have an abortion (Mattox, 1999, p. 3). Many lesbian relationships result more from a daughter's outright rejection by her father rather than from her identification with his masculine role (Mattox, 1999, p. 4).

Girls with absent fathers grow up without the day-by-day experience of attentive, caring and loving interaction with a man. Without this continuous sense of being valued and loved, a young girl does not thrive, but rather is stunted in her emotional development. The coping mechanisms that adolescent girls whose parents are divorced develop in response to the absence of their father include the following (Lohr, Legg, Mendell, and Reimer, 1989, p. 352):

* Intensified separation anxiety

* Denial and avoidance of feelings associated with the loss of a father

* Identification with the lost object

* Object hunger for males

The negative effects later in life have been well documented, with numerous studies indicating that girls from fatherless families develop more promiscuous attitudes and experience difficulty in forming or maintaining romantic relations later in their development (Lohr, Legg, Mendell and Reimer, 1989, p. 354). These behavioral patterns are carried with them into womanhood and may be the cause of their unfulfilling relationships with men. But before concentrating on the behavioral effects absent fathers have on female womanhood, it is important to examine the effects fatherlessness has on the academic performance of young girls.

Academic Performance of Young Girls

Father absence affects the learning process of a child, making it difficult but not impossible for them to excel academically. Studies show that females with absent fathers often have diminished cognitive, development; poor school performance, lower achievement test scores and lower IQ scores (Grimm-Wassil, 1994). Cognitive development affects how children perceive and interpret the information they are presented, thus making it difficult for them to excel if cognitive development is impeded.

The first investigator to present data suggesting an intellectual disadvantage among father-absent children was Sutherland (1930). The study involving Scottish children discovered that those who had absent fathers scored significantly lower than did those whose fathers were present. A number of more recent controlled studies are generally consistent with the supposition that father-absent children, at least from lower class backgrounds, are less likely to function well in intelligence and aptitude tests than are father present children (United Fathers of America, 1992, p. 151). This phenomenon typically occurs as a result of the mother having to act as both breadwinner and homemaker. The duplicate role the mother plays limits the children from receiving the type of attention they need and deserve.