Although the evolutionary history of men’s parenting lies beyond the scope of this essay, one aspect is relevant: men’s parenting is facultatively expressed. This means that men’s engagement with children is more sensitive than women’s engagement to the dynamics of the marital relationship and to broader social and economic conditions. The result is that social mores and broader conditions impact men’s engagement with children more than they impact women’s engagement, for better or worse.
The focus here is on secular declines in two-parent families in the United States and how children, adolescents, and society more broadly are impacted by the corresponding declines in men’s parenting. The issue is important because children who grow up without fathers are at higher risk of engaging in myriad delinquent and criminal behaviors that undermine their own long-term prospects in life, and disrupt the wellbeing of the communities in which they reside. …
Overall, 11 percent of US children were living in a father-absent household in 1960 as compared to 25 percent in 2020. This trend combined with population increases means that there were 11,000,000 more children and adolescents living in father-absent homes in 2020 than in 1960 (18.3 million vs. 7.1 million; see Table 1). This 2.6-fold increase in the absolute number of children and adolescents without paternal guidance has the potential to be socially disruptive, with increases in alcohol and drug abuse, criminal behavior, and poor educational and thus long-term economic outcomes.
[Of all the social changes made in the last century, this is the worst and the most damaging overall. And yet it barely gets any mention at all, let alone any real effort to restore the nuclear family as a model for child upbringing. Too many interests are arrayed against it, which speaks volumes about those interests. — Ed]
Join the conversation as a VIP Member