has seen a surge in the number of prime-age men who are not currently working or looking for work: prior to the pandemic, nearly 7 million men between the ages of 25 and 54 were not working at all. As Nicholas Eberstadt and Evan Abramsky have reported, the U.S. Unfortunately, more and more young men today are floundering without purpose and without work. In fact, getting at least a high school degree and then a full-time job are two key steps toward avoiding poverty as adults. Even after controlling for race, family income growing up, maternal education, age, and an AFQT score ( a measure of general knowledge), we still see that hailing from a home with his own biological father doubles the likelihood that a young man will graduate from college.įather-Present Families Discourage IdlenessĪ college degree is not the only measure of success. Young men who grew up with their biological father are more than twice as likely to graduate college by their late-20s, compared to those raised in families without their biological father (35% vs. As the figure below shows, when it comes to higher education for young men, family structure seems to matter. In this brief, we examine how the presence of a biological father in the home is linked to a young man’s chances of earning a college degree. But as MIT economist David Autor has found, the gender gap in high school, including suspensions and graduation, is larger for boys who did not grow up in married families compared to boys who did. When we think about the many factors behind this gender gap, family structure is often not the first cause to come to mind. Young men are also less likely than young women to attend or graduate from college. 3 Here is what we found.įather-Present Families Help Keep Their Sons on the College Trackīoys today are struggling at all levels of school, falling behind girls in reading and math skills, and are less likely than girls to graduate high school on time.
We do so by exploring the links between family structure and college completion, idleness ( defined here as twenty-somethings not in school or working), and involvement with the criminal justice system ( measured by arrests and incarceration) for young men in the 2000s and 2010s, using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 (NLSY97). We specifically examine how young men who were raised in a home with their biological father compare on these outcomes to their peers in families without their biological father. This Institute for Family Studies research brief details the connections between fatherlessness, family structure, and the increasing number of young men who are floundering in life and pose a threat to themselves and their communities. Even though not all fathers play a positive role in their children’s lives, on average, boys benefit from having a present and involved father.
Lacking the day-to-day involvement, guidance, and positive example of their father in the home, and the financial advantages associated with having him in the household, these boys are more likely to act up, lash out, flounder in school, and fail at work as they move into adolescence and adulthood. 1 Specifically, approximately 62.5% of boys under 18 are living in an intact-biological family, 1.7% are living in a step-family with their biological father and step- or adoptive mother, 4.2% are living with their single, biological father, and 31.5% are living in a home without their biological father. The percentage of boys living apart from their biological father has almost doubled since 1960-from about 17% to 32% today now, an estimated 12 million boys are growing up in families without their biological father. The predicament of the American male is of particular importance here. The decline of marriage and the rise of fatherlessness in America remain at the center of some of the biggest problems facing the nation: crime and violence, school failure, deaths of despair, and children in poverty. Popenoe wrote these words more than 25 years ago, but his assessment remains as relevant in 2022 as it was in 1996.
“And according to a growing body of evidence, this massive erosion of fatherhood contributes mightily to many of the major social problems of our time.” “American fathers are today more removed from family life than ever before in our history,” wrote sociologist David Popenoe in his pathbreaking book, Life Without Father.