Genuine fatherhood is crucial to the growth, development and social structure of our society. Unfortunately, there are too few fathers in our homes. How this happened could be blamed on a myriad of things. What we can do to correct it is definitely a heavy lift.
Make sure that you read Marvin Sapp’s posts in “From A Man’s Point of View”.
According to counselor Bill Glass, who has spent 25 years with men who are incarcerated, not one of the thousands of prisoners he has met has genuinely loved his dad. And Dave Simmons, author of Dad, the Family Counselor, conducted a study that said over 90% of men on death row hated their father.
Read:The Dad Chronicles: Married Dad Headed To Single Dad
And these nuggets from the Father Facts study conducted by the National Fatherhood Initiative:
- 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes (Source: U.S. D.H.H.S., Bureau of the Census)
- 90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes
- 85% of all children that exhibit behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes (Source: Center for Disease Control)
- 80% of rapists come from fatherless homes (Source: Criminal Justice & Behavior, Vol 14, p. 403-26, 1978.)
- 71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes (Source: National Principals Report on the State of High Schools .)
- 75% of all adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers come from fatherless homes (Source: Rainbows for all God`s Children.)
- 85% of all youths sitting in prisons grew up in a fatherless home (Source: Fulton Co. Georgia jail populations, Texas Dept. of Corrections 1992)
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These statistics translate to mean that children from a fatherless home are:
- 5 times more likely to commit suicide
- 32 times more likely to run away
- 20 times more likely to have behavioral disorders
- Boys are 14 times more likely to commit rape
- 9 times more likely to drop out of high school
- 10 times more likely to abuse chemical substances
- 9 times more likely to end up in a state-operated institution
- 20 times more likely to end up in prison
I’m no social scientist, but it looks to me like there’s a pretty strong correlation between social issues in children and whether their father was around to guide them and show affection. Being a present, loving father is crucial for your family, and maybe it shapes the future of our country too.
I attribute many of my great decisions to the fact that I has a strong father in my home. He willingly gave love, support and a stern word when needed. Too many of my peers suffered from the opposite affect. They engaged in dangerous self defeating behavior. This was not only true of my female friends, but my male friends as well.
What do you think? Am I off base here? I’d like to hear from you in Facebook and the comments below. I welcome your feedback.
