Effects of Absent Fathers on Daughters Relationship Development

According to the US Census Bureau, 36.3% of children are living absent of their biological fathers. Beginning in 1960 with 8% of children living without their biological father, that percentage has continued to increase. The issue of absent fathers has raised many questions as to what effects this has on individuals and society. Absent fathers (a term that can consist of many different things) can have a profound effect on the development of their daughter's relationships, especially when it comes to their relationships with other men. While the research on this topic may be lacking, what is out there is clear that fathers do play an important role in their development. Women can face things such as becoming sexually promiscuous, low self-esteem, trust issues, or other difficulties with sustaining relationships (Krohn& Bogan, 599). While there is some research that negates the effect an absent father has, such as having an abusive father or lesbian couples as parents the research for this field continues to grow and even though the research on these effects may be limited, the amount continues to increase with promise. A father can be absent in many different ways. An absent father is defined as "those who do not interact with their children on a regular basis and consequently do not play a significant role in their development. Divorce, death, and abandonment are all forms of absence" (Krohn & Bogan, 599). Death of a female's father is simply their father dying before or during the age of development. Divorce is when parents separate and the child does not live with the father. Abandonment can be either through the father leaving and not returning, imprisonment, a continually working father (or a workaholic) and/or the father not being there emotionally. All of these situations of absent fathers can lead to different effects of a child's development. When divorce and abandonment cause absent fathers, the effects can be much more crippling than if the loss

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