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Now....that IS odd...


[Linked Image from scienceblogs.com]

Wait...I thought single-motherhood was to blame for increases in violent crime in America. What's going on here???


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An Astonishing Argument for Why Violent Crime Rates Have Dropped
Less lead. It�s ridiculous -� until you see the evidence.

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/astonishing-argument-why-violent-crime-rates-have-dropped

This is a cross-national study which finds a very strong correlation between high rates of lead pollution and violent crime. Fascinating.





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There's quite a bit of research on the impact of children raised in fatherless homes. Dr Harley talks about this on his radio show. If you are interested, I would look into the book he recommended, Fatherless America. In the meantime, here is a collection of statistics:


The Fatherless Generation

Statistics
63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes (US Dept. Of Health/Census) � 5 times the average.
90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes � 32 times the average.
85% of all children who show behavior disorders come from fatherless homes � 20 times the average. (Center for Disease Control)
80% of rapists with anger problems come from fatherless homes �14 times the average. (Justice & Behavior, Vol 14, p. 403-26)
71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes � 9 times the average. (National Principals Association Report)
Father Factor in Education - Fatherless children are twice as likely to drop out of school.

Children with Fathers who are involved are 40% less likely to repeat a grade in school.
Children with Fathers who are involved are 70% less likely to drop out of school.
Children with Fathers who are involved are more likely to get A�s in school.
Children with Fathers who are involved are more likely to enjoy school and engage in extracurricular activities.
75% of all adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers come from fatherless homes � 10 times the average.
Father Factor in Drug and Alcohol Abuse - Researchers at Columbia University found that children living in two-parent household with a poor relationship with their father are 68% more likely to smoke, drink, or use drugs compared to all teens in two-parent households. Teens in single mother households are at a 30% higher risk than those in two-parent households.

70% of youths in state-operated institutions come from fatherless homes � 9 times the average. (U.S. Dept. of Justice, Sept. 1988)
85% of all youths in prison come from fatherless homes � 20 times the average. (Fulton Co. Georgia, Texas Dept. of Correction)
Father Factor in Incarceration � Even after controlling for income, youths in father-absent households still had significantly higher odds of incarceration than those in mother-father families. Youths who never had a father in the household experienced the highest odds. A 2002 Department of Justice survey of 7,000 inmates revealed that 39% of jail inmates lived in mother-only households. Approximately forty-six percent of jail inmates in 2002 had a previously incarcerated family member. One-fifth experienced a father in prison or jail.

Father Factor in Crime - A study of 109 juvenile offenders indicated that family structure significantly predicts delinquency. Adolescents, particularly boys, in single-parent families were at higher risk of status, property and person delinquencies. Moreover, students attending schools with a high proportion of children of single parents are also at risk. A study of 13,986 women in prison showed that more than half grew up without their father. Forty-two percent grew up in a single-mother household and sixteen percent lived with neither parent

Father Factor in Child Abuse � Compared to living with both parents, living in a single-parent home doubles the risk that a child will suffer physical, emotional, or educational neglect. The overall rate of child abuse and neglect in single-parent households is 27.3 children per 1,000, whereas the rate of overall maltreatment in two-parent households is 15.5 per 1,000.

Daughters of single parents without a Father involved are 53% more likely to marry as teenagers, 711% more likely to have children as teenagers, 164% more likely to have a pre-marital birth and 92% more likely to get divorced themselves.

Adolescent girls raised in a 2 parent home with involved Fathers are significantly less likely to be sexually active than girls raised without involved Fathers.

43% of US children live without their father [US Department of Census]
90% of homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes. [US D.H.H.S., Bureau of the Census]
80% of rapists motivated with displaced anger come from fatherless homes. [Criminal Justice & Behaviour, Vol 14, pp. 403-26, 1978]
71% of pregnant teenagers lack a father. [U.S. Department of Health and Human Services press release, Friday, March 26, 1999]
63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes. [US D.H.H.S., Bureau of the Census]
85% of children who exhibit behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes. [Center for Disease Control]
90% of adolescent repeat arsonists live with only their mother. [Wray Herbert, �Dousing the Kindlers,� Psychology Today, January, 1985, p. 28]
71% of high school dropouts come from fatherless homes. [National Principals Association Report on the State of High Schools]
75% of adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers come from fatherless homes. [Rainbows f for all God�s Children]
70% of juveniles in state operated institutions have no father. [US Department of Justice, Special Report, Sept. 1988]
85% of youths in prisons grew up in a fatherless home. [Fulton County Georgia jail populations, Texas Department of Corrections, 1992]
Fatherless boys and girls are: twice as likely to drop out of high school; twice as likely to end up in jail; four times more likely to need help for emotional or behavioral problems. [US D.H.H.S. news release, March 26, 1999]
Census Fatherhood Statistics
64.3 million: Estimated number of fathers across the nation
26.5 million: Number of fathers who are part of married-couple families with their own children under the age of 18.

Among these fathers -
22 percent are raising three or more of their own children under 18 years old (among married-couple family households only).
2 percent live in the home of a relative or a non-relative.
2.5 million: Number of single fathers, up from 400,000 in 1970. Currently, among single parents living with their children, 18 percent are men.
Among these fathers -
8 percent are raising three or more of their own children under 18 years old.
42 percent are divorced, 38 percent have never married, 16 percent are separated and 4 percent are widowed. (The percentages of those divorced and never married are not significantly different from one another.)
16 percent live in the home of a relative or a non-relative.
27 percent have an annual family income of $50,000 or more.
85 percent: Among the 30.2 million fathers living with children younger than 18, the percentage who lived with their biological children only.
11 percent lived with step-children
4 percent with adopted children
< 1 percent with foster children
Recent policies encourage the development of programs designed to improve the economic status of low-income nonresident fathers and the financial and emotional support provided to their children. This brief provides ten key lessons from several important early responsible fatherhood initiatives that were developed and implemented during the 1990s and early 2000s. Formal evaluations of these earlier fatherhood efforts have been completed making this an opportune time to step back and assess what has been learned and how to build on the early programs� successes and challenges.While the following statistics are formidable, the Responsible Fatherhood research literature generally supports the claim that a loving and nurturing father improves outcomes for children, families and communities.

Children with involved, loving fathers are significantly more likely to do well in school, have healthy self-esteem, exhibit empathy and pro-social behavior, and avoid high-risk behaviors such as drug use, truancy, and criminal activity compared to children who have uninvolved fathers.

Studies on parent-child relationships and child wellbeing show that father love is an important factor in predicting the social, emotional, and cognitive development and functioning of children and young adults.

24 million children (34 percent) live absent their biological father.
Nearly 20 million children (27 percent) live in single-parent homes.
43 percent of first marriages dissolve within fifteen years; about 60 percent of divorcing couples have children; and approximately one million children each year experience the divorce of their parents.

Fathers who live with their children are more likely to have a close, enduring relationship with their children than those who do not.

Compared to children born within marriage, children born to cohabiting parents are three times as likely to experience father absence, and children born to unmarried, non-cohabiting parents are four times as likely to live in a father-absent home.
About 40 percent of children in father-absent homes have not seen their father at all during the past year; 26 percent of absent fathers live in a different state than their children; and 50 percent of children living absent their father have never set foot in their father�s home.

Children who live absent their biological fathers are, on average, at least two to three times more likely to be poor, to use drugs, to experience educational, health, emotional and behavioral problems, to be victims of child abuse, and to engage in criminal behavior than their peers who live with their married, biological (or adoptive) parents.
From 1995 to 2000, the proportion of children living in single-parent homes slightly declined, while the proportion of children living with two married parents remained stable. http://thefatherlessgeneration.wordpress.com/statistics/


"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.." Theodore Roosevelt

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Originally Posted by Zhamila
Now....that IS odd...


[Linked Image from scienceblogs.com]

Wait...I thought single-motherhood was to blame for increases in violent crime in America. What's going on here???

Your statistic is meaningless given that OVERALL violent crime is down in America. That doesn't mean that crimes committed by males from fatherless homes has gone down or that the majority of males in prison are not from fatherless homes. There are still sociological issues with males raised in fatherless homes. Being defensive will not erase that.


"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.." Theodore Roosevelt

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Originally Posted by Zhamila
Now....that IS odd...


[Linked Image from scienceblogs.com]

Wait...I thought single-motherhood was to blame for increases in violent crime in America. What's going on here???
Originally Posted by MelodyLane
That doesn't mean that crimes committed by males from fatherless homes has gone down or that the majority of males in prison are not from fatherless homes. There are still sociological issues with males raised in fatherless homes.

Completely agree that there are "sociological issues" afoot. But (again) correlation does not prove causation. Any number of factors could be the true cause. (See the "lead poisoning" article above)

According to the Bureau of Justice survey from 2004, 55% of violent inmates grew up in single-parent homes. The survey also shows these folks have experienced high rates of poverty, homelessness, substance abuse, physical abuse, and family members� incarceration. If only 55% of this population is from non-married-parents' homes, that�s not a very strong case for an independent effect of family structure.

As importantly, the 2004 survey shows that 74% of state and federal inmates had previously been sentenced to prison or probation. By the OP article writer's logic, maybe the biggest cause of crime is incarceration? grin

If family structure is to blame for all these social ills, then how come only 19% of violent criminals in Britain came from single-parent families? (again, Bureau of Justice)

Link to Bureau of Justice Surveys:
http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/dudsfp04.pdf
http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/Walesus.pdf


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**edit**

Last edited by MBsurvivor; 11/27/13 11:10 PM. Reason: TOS disrespectful

"When you love someone, all your saved up wishes start coming out."
Elizabeth Bowen

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I agree that correlation is not causation, which I am suggesting you READ the books I suggested above. Sociologists know why males from fatherless homes do so much worse than those raised in other scenarios. You do want to understand why, don't you?


"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.." Theodore Roosevelt

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Originally Posted by Zhamila
**edit**

This was **edit** uncalled for, Zhamila. frown

Last edited by MBsurvivor; 11/28/13 12:09 PM. Reason: removing quote

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.." Theodore Roosevelt

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Originally Posted by BrainHurts
Dr. H talked about a study on the radio show about children raised in single father home's compared to single mother's.

Here it is: MATERIAL REFERENCED: Fatherless America by David Blankenhorn

Dr. Harley's Radio Clip on Fatherless America Study at 7:20 Mark



Zhamila, did you listen to this radio clip?


"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.." Theodore Roosevelt

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Originally Posted by MelodyLane
This was **edit** uncalled for, Zhamila. frown


Wow. I'm sorry you didn't like them. I just think they're funny!

Not being snotty - they just tickled my funny bone.

Last edited by MBsurvivor; 11/28/13 12:10 PM. Reason: editing quote

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Let's get back to marriage building! This thread has become a distraction.


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Originally Posted by Zhamila
Originally Posted by HoldHerHand
The second statistic that follows 1) Lack of opportunity, and 2) a rise in violent behavior in young men is... teenage pregnancy.

Where is this in the article I posted? The article was about violent behavior in Latin America, and the supposed causes thereof. Perhaps I overlooked something?

My point is that violent behavior occurs all over the world, as do social problems. Single moms have not been raising children in droves for millenia, nor in every country. So it's pretty ridiculous to say that single moms are 'ruining' their sons and causing all the social problems we see in the lower echelons of American society.

Correlation: YES
Causation: NO

There are greater forces at play.

The same information you are linking to is available in a 25-30 year old book titled Homicide. It looks not only at the incidence of violence in relation to low opportunity, but the fact that the same rate correlates exactly with teenage pregnancy, and then asks the question why?

The hypothesis posed, from an evolutionary prospective is thus; violence rises with a lack of opportunity for young men because violence is another form of competitive status-seeking behavior.

Teenage pregnancy rises, because when all the young males are dying, the chances to wait until your 40 and have a home and college degree before starting a family become next to 0.

So, the adaptation to the scenario is to become pregnant at an earlier age.

So, your greater force at play in this given scenario is survival and reproductive instinct.

Given, this is the perspective of evolutionary psychologists.


"An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field." - Niels Bohr

"Smart people believe weird things because they are skilled at defending beliefs they arrived at for non-smart reasons." - Michael Shermer

"Fair speech may hide a foul heart." - Samwise Gamgee LOTR
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