Children With Absentee Father's Identity

Parents are the foundation of life for children, molding their child with each action they take or word they say into a unique individual. Half of marriages today end in separation or divorce leading to one of the parents, most commonly the father, leaving the home. Social interactions, confidence, morals, and a sense of self are all things people learn and develop from the relationships with their parents. A father’s absence can be profoundly influential on a child’s life, performance in school, mental and physical health, and social development can all be affected. Emotional health and development is central to all of the previously mentioned aspects, of an individual’s identity. Children with absentee fathers grow up at a disadvantage and

According to a research study following 63 case families with absent fathers, children who maintained contact with their fathers showed higher levels of success in life which led to the assertion that healthy relationships between father and child enhance the child’s ability to adapt to situations better than children who have had little guidance from a father figure: “When children feel loved and cared for by parents, their sense of emotional security is strengthened” (Edwards). It has been argued that having an absentee father impacts most adult outcomes, including success in educational achievements, which leads to success in the job market and ultimately building one’s family unit (Sutherland). Many literary works draw from real world experiences while developing characters as seen in the protagonist, Rachel, in Since We Fell. Without a paternal figure present during her childhood Rachel developed a void she seeks to fill as an adult and while traveling on the road of self-discovery battles inner demons and self-doubt. “Then she’d look out the window and fear the world and remember that ninety percent of herself was still at least forty percent more than she liked” (Lehane 137). Numerous studies have concluded that children are more prone to be secure in themselves with higher levels of confidence in their abilities

The manner in which a father interacts with their children profoundly influences social development. For example, one type of activity the father engages in more than the mother is rough housing, this interplay establishes behavior and teaches the child how to cope with their feelings, control their impulses and gain self-confidence (Rosenberg and Wilcox 13). When a father is present children’s initiative to socialize is increased along with high levels of social maturity and overall social capability (Allen and Daly 4). “Children of involved fathers are more likely to have positive peer relations and be popular and well liked. Their peer relations are typified by less negativity, less aggression, less conflict, more reciprocity, more generosity, and more positive friendship qualities” (Allen and Daly 4). Fatherless children tend to struggle with future relationships and enter domestic unions earlier that are prone to dissolution (Edwards). Children growing up with an absentee father have self-control issues, discomfort engaging with their environment, and exhibit anti-social tendencies (Rosenberg and Wilcox 13). In Since We Fell when Rachel’s life begins to crumble she begins to question her self-worth and imagine the worst things about herself, “She’d be left the laughing stock never-was, the failed print reporter who’d become a pill-addicted