The Impact of No Father

                                                                                                                       Vol. X, No. 9, Nov/Dec 1997

From American Journal of Public Health: Analysis of national health data for the periods 1978 through 1980 and 1989 through 1991 found a strong statistical link between fatherless homes and poorer health in children. The study found that children in single-mother homes were two to 2.6 times as likely to have fair/poor health as children in two-parent families.

Possible causes for the vulnerability to poorer health ranged from a lowered concern for proper health habits, less physical exercise, and an increased likelihood of alcohol and tobacco use. Also present was a strong correlation between fatherless homes and increased poverty rates. But even adjusting for poverty, there was still a 50% greater likelihood of having fair/poor health in children who lived in single-parent homes. [Reprinted from AFA Journal, May 1997.