The Dads’ Resource Center recently completed an analysis of the most recent data available from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, which looked at outcomes for the children from households with both biological parents compared to those without a biological father in the household.
Participants in the survey are now age 36 to 41 and have completed their early adult years.
In every metric that was analyzed children raised in a home without their father have struggled in life much more than those who were raised in homes with both of their parents. This was true regardless of race or gender.
For instance:
Participants who grew up without their fathers in their home were:
11% more likely to have smoked.
13% more likely to need mental health treatment.
20% more likely to have used hard drugs.
33% more likely to have had intercourse before the age of 17 .
and 71% more likely to have been convicted of a crime.
They were less engaged as citizens:
11% less likely to volunteer their time to the community.
13% less likely to donate to a charity.
26% less likely to vote.
They struggled to be more successful in life:
7% less likely to graduate from high school.
43% less likely to have graduated from college.
94% more likely to have used governmental programs such as WIC, SNAP and Workers Compensation.
And made 26% less annually in salary and wages.
To provide some context as to how detrimental father absence is to our society, the Dads’ Resource Center projected the impact of children growing up without their father to the total number of adults in the United States. Based on the results from this analysis:
2.7 million adults in the united have needed mental health treatment.
5.8 million adults did not graduate from highs school.
6.2 million adults have not volunteered their time to the community.
7.1 million adults have used hard drugs.
7.4 million adults have not donated to a charity.
9.3 million became smokers.
10.6 million were convicted of a crime.
10.6 million do not vote.
14.1 million had intercourse before the age of 17.
15.8 million have used government programs such as WIC and SNAP.
18.3 million have not graduated from college.

Established in 2015 by AccuWeather Founder and CEO Dr. Joel N. Myers, the Dads’ Resource Center believes that the courts, government and social agency have a solemn obligation to do all that they can to ensure that dads are given a fair chance to provide the time, emotional and financial support that their children require and deserve. They believe that there needs to systemic reform that rapidly transforms and modernizes the attitudes and practices of the courts, governmental and social agencies to ensure that both parents are given an equal opportunity to be active in the lives of their children.
For more information contact Executive Director Jeffrey Scott Steiner at jef@dadsrc.org or 833-323-7748. You can also visit www.dadsrc.org and follow the DRC at facebook.com/dadsrc.org.