On the heels of Father’s Day, Dr. Albert Mohler offers some good insight on the importance of fathers. Mohler cites four findings from an American Values report from Dr. Bradford Wilcox:
1. Children living with their fathers in an intact, married home are almost 50 percent less likely to be sexually abused than children living in a single-parent home.
2. Boys who grow up with their fathers in an intact, married home are 50 percent less likely to end up in prison as young adults than children living in a single-parent or step-family.
3. Girls who grow up apart from their fathers typically experience the onset of puberty at an earlier age and have sex at an earlier age than girls who grow up with their fathers in an intact, married home. They are also three times more likely to become young, unwed mothers.
4. Communities with large numbers of fatherless households are significantly more likely to experience high levels of murder and robbery.
Wilcox is the author of Soft Patriarchs, New Men: How Christianity Shapes Fathers and Husbands and is currently assistant professor of sociology at the University of Virginia.