When dads are present and actively engaged in raising their kids, their children, on average…
- Have better, healthier relationships
- Make wiser decisions about relationships
- Less inclined to have sexual relations too young
- Seven times less likely to get pregnant as a teenager
- Therefore, reduce the number of births, abortions and STDs among teens
- Have better emotional health and control
- More likely to be non-aggressive toward others
- Four time less likely to be prone to anxiety or depression
- Less likely to have behavioral and emotional difficulties
- Therefore, contribute to a more peaceful and safer schools and community
- Have better physical health
- Twice as likely to be physically fit
- Probably more likely to be breastfed
- Two times less likely to be a victim of sudden infant death syndrome
- Therefore, contribute to a healthier community, reducing health care costs
- Are less likely to become addicted to substances
- Less inclined to use and abuse alcohol
- Less prone to use and abuse drugs
- Less likely to become depressed, which sometimes leads to addictive behavior
- Therefore, reducing the community’s costs for treatment, recovery, and rehabilitation
- Are more likely to feel safe and more confident
- Ten times less likely to suffer physical or emotional abuse
- Six times less probable that they will suffer neglect
- Therefore, increasing children’s sense of wellbeing, and their chances of success in life
- Have better odds of academic success
- More likely to get top grades
- Two time less likely to repeat a grace
- Two times less like to drop out of high school
- Less likely to be suspended or expelled
- Therefore, their individual as well as the overall school performance improves
- More likely to stay out of trouble
- Less like to engage in risky behavior
- Less prone to commit a crime
- Less likely to prison
- Therefore, will not have a criminal record, which can make it difficult to get a good job.
- Therefore, reduces the costs of policing, criminal justice and the incarceration
- Less likely to be poor
- Four times less likely to live in poverty at some time in their youth
- Two times less likely to experience poverty as adults
- Therefore, reducing the community’s charitable and government costs of providing goods and services for the poor
If you are engaged in the raising of your children, we salute you!
If you are a mom, we encourage you to support the involvement of dad in co-parenting. Acknowledge and celebrate his role in your child’s life by nominating him for a Good Dad Award.
Learn about our resources for dads at www.urbanlight.org
For information on the impact of father absence visit: https://www.fatherhood.gov/ | https://www.fatherhood.org/father-absence-statistic