The effects absent fathers have on female development and college attendance

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

Maxwell (196l) reported some evidence indicating that father-absence after the age of five negatively influenced children's functioning on certain cognitive tasks by analyzing the Welchster Intelligence Test scores of a large group of eight to thirteen year old children who had been referred to a British psychiatric clinic. He found that children whose fathers had been absent since the children were five had lower test scores on tasks tapping social knowledge, perception of details, and verbal skills. Father-absence since the age of five was the only family background variable, which was consistently related to sub-test scores. Compared to father-present students, those who were father-absent performed at a lower level in terms of verbal, language and total aptitude test scores (Maxwell 961).

Santrock (1973) presented additional evidence indicating that early father-absence can have a significant debilitating effect on cognitive functioning. Among lower-class junior high and high school children, those who became father-absent before the age of two generally scored lower on measures of IQ (Otis Quick Test) and achievement (Standard Achievement Test) tests that had been administered when they were in the third and sixth grades than did those from intact homes. The most detrimental effects occurred when father-absence was due to divorce, desertion, or separation, rather than to death. Father-absent daughters via death understand that their father did not abandon them and learn to excuse his absence as a result of passing. Consequently they do not possess hatred toward their fathers, which can affect their academic performance.

Children, who experience father absence after the age of five, more often than those fatherless before five scored below the median of WISC comprehension, vocabulary, picture completion, picture arrangement and coding subject test (Adams, Milner and Schrept, 1984, p. 133). Children's adjustment to school suggests that although fatherless children adjust less well than others, fatherlessness alone does not cause poor adjustment (Adams, Milner and Schrept, 1984, p. 140). A mother's attitude and behavior toward her child is equally important because it affects the way that the child adjusts (Kopf, 1970).

Father absence due to divorce seemed particularly detrimental, and some evidence indicated that early, long term, and complete father absence was especially likely to be related negatively to intellectual competence. More consistent results were reported from studies involving lower-class individuals and among males, but much evidence suggested that the cognitive functioning of females was also negatively affected by paternal deprivation. The family instability and financial difficulty often associated with divorce and father absence may be primary factors interfering with the child's cognitive functioning. However, the major disadvantage related to father absence for children is lessened paternal attention, including fewer opportunities to model mature decision making problem solving (Lamb, 1997, p. 148).