New NFI Studies Show that Fathers Help Adolescents Make Right Choices

This March, National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI) released two groundbreaking studies on the effects of father involvement on adolescent drug abuse and delinquency. Titled Family Structure, Father Closeness, and Drug Abuse and Family Structure, Father Closeness, and Delinquency, the two studies examine how adolescents’ relationships with their fathers, and the family structures in which adolescents live, affect their decisions to engage in risky behavior.

Unlike most other studies that have attempted to measure the effects of family structure on adolescent behavior, these studies seek to explain why certain family structures tend to inhibit young people’s bad decisions. Specifically, the studies examine the role that “father closeness” plays in helping adolescents make the right choices. Rather than investigating the effects of mothers and fathers together, these two studies examine the unique effects that each parent has on their children. The studies not only measure parental involvement, but also use a series of questions posed to the adolescent to examine the quality of the overall parent-child relationship.

The findings are not surprising to anyone who has looked at research on the importance of father involvement. Simply put, the closer adolescents are to their fathers, the less likely they are to use drugs and engage in delinquent acts.

Additionally, the studies found that levels of both mother and father closeness are highest in intact families. In other words, married, two-parent families provide the best opportunities for mothers and fathers to bond with their children, and therefore the lowest levels of risk that adolescents will engage in drug use and delinquency.

The delinquency study found that mothers and fathers have a positive impact on slightly different measures of delinquent behavior. While mother and father closeness both inhibit disorderly behavior and running away, only fathers seem to inhibit violence, and only mothers seem to inhibit theft. What exactly these interesting fi ndings mean is unclear, but it does reaffirm a fundamental idea about parenting – mothers and fathers are different, they bring diverse perspectives and approaches to the table, and they have different effects on children.

Surprisingly, the drug abuse study found that there is no correlation between mother closeness and adolescent drug use. This does not mean that mothers are not important. Clearly, the presence of a mother adds something to the father-child bond, since father closeness is highest when mothers are present. Higher mother closeness also reduces the amount of negative peer infl uences that an adolescent faces, which in turn reduces their risk for drug use. But what this fi nding does mean is that efforts to reduce adolescent drug use must engage fathers, who based on the findings of this study, play a much more direct role in helping their children avoid drugs. There is something unique at work in the father-adolescent relationship that helps adolescents make the right choices in avoiding drugs.

The findings of these studies will help illuminate the importance of several of the debates taking place in Washington, D.C. Congress is looking at the next stage of welfare reform, with the prospect of providing a significant public investment in responsible fatherhood programs, and these studies strengthen the case that children need involved fathers in their lives. (Editor’s Note: see page 7 for more on welfare reform and fatherhood.) The President’s State of the Union address placed an emphasis on helping our nation’s youth make the right decisions in life, especially when it comes to drug use. Again, these timely papers make the case that all government efforts to promote child well-being must include programming to engage fathers in the lives of their children.

The studies are available in NFI’s website at www.fatherhood.org/research.htm. If you have any questions about the studies, e-mail us at info@fatherhood.org