- 80 percent of the children who were born in the “post-war generation” could expect to grow up with two biological parents who were married to each other.
- Today, only about 50 percent of our children will spend their entire childhood in an intact family.
- 24 million children (34 percent) in America live without their biological father.
- Nearly 20 million children (27 percent) in the United States live in single parent households
In 2006, a single parent headed 26.2 percent of Ohio’s households with minor children.
- Divorce and non-marital childbearing have become commonplace and have dramatically altered children’s lives. Approximately half of the children in the United States will live in a single parent home at some point before age 18 years.
In 2006, 40.4 percent of newborns each year were born to unmarried parents in Ohio. In several counties, this rate is even higher.
- Nationally, about 40 percent of children in father-absent homes have not seen their father at all during the past year. About 50 percent of children living absent their father have never set foot in their father’s home.
Children who live without their biological fathers are, on average, at least two to three times more likely to be poor, to use drugs, to experience health, educational, 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.
Father Absence Can Have Negative Consequences for Children
* Sources: National Fatherhood Initiative, Father Facts, Fifth Edition.
Ohio Department of Public Health, Center for Vital and Health Statistics; 2006.
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