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Absent Fathers Essay

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The topic of absent fathers and its impact upon the African American community is not a new phenomenon. Over the past four decades there has been an enormous increase of children who have grown up in fatherless homes, with current statistics showing 69% of African American children being raised primarily by mothers and grandmothers (Cartwright & Henriksen, 2012). Research has shown that the failure of African American fathers playing an active role in their son’s lives has often been linked to poor educational and employment outcomes combined with higher incidences of incarceration and death rates (Lawson, 2012). Absent fathers often trigger psychological problems—especially with boys—which lead to varying effects on a child such as low …show more content…

Some researchers use this term to signify a family that has no biological father living in the same household during the rearing of the child (Sieber, 2008). Other researchers have used this term to signify the emotional absence of a father even if he is living in the same home with his children (Sieber, 2008). Considering the acuity that a father can be absent in several different ways, yet another definition of an absent father is one who does not interact with his children on a regular basis and who, consequently, does not play a significant role in his development (Lemay, Cashman, Elfenbein, & Felice, 2010). Abandonment, another form of absentee fathering, can be enacted either through the father leaving and failing to return, imprisonment, an incessantly working father, or the father’s failure to be emotionally available (Lemay et. al, 2010). Lastly, death of a father has been found to have effects similar to other forms of father absence and may require specialized attention; however, negative consequences are not as common (Shenk, Starkweather, Kress & Alam, 2013). Each of these instances of absent fathers can lead to detrimental academic effects on a son’s life; nonetheless, the support from fathers who are not present in their child’s primary residence can tremendously impact academic

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