Father Absence as a Risk Factor for Substance Use and Illegal Behavior by the Adolescent Sons

Abstract

It is a common belief that growing up without a father, and in the poverty that is related to fatherlessness, are “root causes” of crime and drug trafficking, and possibly also of substance use for adolescent males. This popular belief or assumption is most often applied to adolescent sons in families in this inner city African-American community. To test the hypothesis, the following two groups of subjects were compared on their illegal behavior, drug trafficking, and on drug and alcohol use/abuse: (1) subjects who grew up with both biological parents, and (2) subjects who grew up living with only their mother and siblings, and with very little contact with a father figure. Differences on 25 family history variables and on the relationship with mother, were controlled for in the analyses. African-American subjects who had been in one-parent (mother only) households, reported significantly less, rather than more, (p = .01) illegal offenses. Thus, the findings are contrary to the common attitude regarding the effects of fatherlessness.