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Children Living Without Their Fathers: Population Estimates and Indicators of Educational Well-being

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Abstract

This paper estimates the number of American children in grades K–12 who live without their biological fathers and examines the association of absent-father status with children’s well-being. The 2003 Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (n = 12,426) shows that 28% percent of White students, 39% of Hispanic students, 69% of Black students, and 36% overall live without their fathers. In bivariate comparisons, absent-father status is associated with reduced well-being: worse health, lower academic achievement, worse educational experiences, and less parental involvement in school activities. When socio-economic factors are controlled, father-absence is associated with small deficits of well-being. The findings suggest that the conventional wisdom may exaggerate the detrimental effects of father absence.

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Acknowledgements

This project was funded in part by the U.S. Department of Education under contracts RN95127001 and ED-05-CO-0044. The content of this article does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Education. The paper was written while the author was employed by the American Institutes for Research. A version was presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Research on Child Development, Atlanta, GA, in 2005. Acknowledgements are due to Sandy Eyster, Jerry West, and Kristin Flanagan for helpful comments on an earlier draft and to Alexa Van Brunt for research assistance.

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  1. Institute for Research in the Social Sciences, Stanford University, 450 Serra Mall, Bldg 120, Stanford, CA, 94305-2050, USA

    Matthew DeBell

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Correspondence to Matthew DeBell.

Appendix: Variables in the Analysis

Appendix: Variables in the Analysis

Resident father status. The adult respondent indicated whether there is a biological-, step-, adoptive-, or foster-father living in the child’s household.

Sex. The child’s sex.

Grade. Grade level in school from kindergarten to grade 12. Home-schooled and ungraded students are included if a grade equivalent was reported.

Race/ethnicity. Race is reported as White, Black, or other categories. Hispanic ethnicity is reported separately. The race/ethnicity variable is derived from these items and indicates whether the child is White non-Hispanic, Black non-Hispanic, other non-Hispanic, or Hispanic. Hispanics may be of any race.

Household income. Annual household income was reported in categories.

Parents’ educational attainment. This is the highest level of education achieved by any parent in the household. “Some college” includes vocational/technical programs after high school. “Graduate education” includes any education after the completion of a bachelor’s degree; it does not necessarily include a graduate degree.

Mother’s age at child’s birth. The child’s mother’s age when the child was born. This is calculated by taking the difference of the child’s age in years and the mother’s age in years at the time of the interview and is therefore subject to rounding error. Also, in some cases the mother is not the biological mother.

Child has ADHD. The respondent was asked, “Does [child] have attention deficit disorder, ADD, or ADHD?”

Child ever repeated a grade. The respondent indicated whether or not the child ever repeated a grade level (was held back) in school.

Child enjoys school. This is based on the respondent’s answer to the question, “Please tell me whether you strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree with the following statements…. [Child] enjoys school.”

Child ever suspended or expelled from school. This is derived from the respondent’s answers to three yes-or-no questions. It is coded yes if the answer to any question was affirmative, and otherwise coded no. “Has [child] had an out-of-school suspension?” “Has [child] had an in-school suspension, not counting detentions?” “Has [child] ever been expelled?”

A parent attends school meetings. This is based on the respondent’s report. It indicates whether a parent has “Attended a general school meeting, for example, an open house, a back-to-school night or a meeting of a parent-teacher organization?”

A parent attends school events. This is based on the respondent’s report. It indicates whether any parent has “Attended a school or class event, such as a play, sports event, or science fair because of (child)?”

A parent volunteers at school. The respondent’s report indicates whether any parent has “Acted as a volunteer at the school or served on a committee?”

A parent attends teacher conference. The respondent’s report indicates if a parent has “Gone to a regularly scheduled parent-teacher conference with (child’s) teacher?”

A parent has done school fundraising. The respondent’s report indicates if a parent has “Participated in fundraising for the school?”

Child’s grades. The respondent indicated whether the child receives mostly As, mostly Bs, mostly Cs, or mostly Ds or below.

Involvement index. See main text.

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DeBell, M. Children Living Without Their Fathers: Population Estimates and Indicators of Educational Well-being. Soc Indic Res 87, 427–443 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-007-9149-8

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