Father Absence and Adolescent Depression and Delinquency: A Comparison of Siblings Approach

• Date: 01 October 2016
• Published date: 01 October 2016
• Author: Rebecca M. Ryan,Anna J. Markowitz
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12343

A J. M  R M. R Georgetown University

Father Absence and Adolescent Depression and

Delinquency: A Comparison of Siblings Approach

Although associations between having a non-

resident father and increased internalizing and

externalizing behaviors in adolescence have

been well documented, research has yet to

establish the plausible causality of these links

or identify underlying mechanisms. Using data

from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth

1979 - Young Adult survey, this study addresses

these questions by comparing the depressive

symptoms and delinquent behavior of siblings

discordant for age at father departure. Findings

indicate that father departure later in childhood

is associated with increased adolescent delin-

quency but not depressive symptoms, whereas

early childhood father departure was not asso-

ciated with adolescent outcomes. Both ndings

suggests that parental monitoring—rather

than socialization or emotional distress—may

account for links between father departure and

adolescent delinquency.

A substantial literature has documented links

between father absence from the home and a host

of negative outcomes in adolescence, including

depressive symptoms and delinquency (Carlson

& Corcoran, 2001; D’Onofrio et al., 2005, 2006;

Hao & Xie, 2002). Because nearly one half of

all children in the United States will live apart

Georgetown University,37th and O Streets NW,

Washington, DC 20057 (ajm267@georgetown.edu).

This article was edited by Kelly Raley.

Key Words: antisocial behavior, development/outcomes,

fatherhood, National Longitudinal Study of Youth, single-

parent families.

from their father at some point (U.S. Census

Bureau, 2006; Ventura, 2009), these links, if

causal, have serious implications. Indeed, the

rise in nonresident fatherhood has garnered

substantial political attention, including the now

billion-dollar Healthy Marriage and Respon-

sible Fatherhood initiatives (Hawkins, Amato,

& Kinghorn, 2013). Although policies like

these assume father absence from the home

causes suboptimal outcomes in adolescence,

much of the research examining the association

between nonresident fatherhood and adolescent

outcomes compares adolescents from differ-

ent families, leaving open the possibility that

unmeasured family and child characteristics that

covary with nonresident fatherhood and ado-

lescent well-being may drive the associations.

Even assuming these associations are plausibly

causal, research is still needed to identify the

mechanisms linking father absence to adolescent

outcomes to identify levers for intervention.

This study uses a rigorous, quasi-

experimental method to assess whether observed

associations between father absence from the

home and adolescent internalizing and external-

izing behavior are plausibly causal, and, if so,

the mechanisms that may account for this link.

We address the issue of causality by comparing

siblings discordant in their experience of non-

resident fatherhood, reducing the inuence of

many potential unmeasured genetic and environ-

mental confounds. We investigate mechanisms

by comparing associations by child age at father

departure from the home and across internaliz-

ing versus externalizing behaviors. The study’s

ndings will help clarify the consequences of

1300 Journal of Marriage and Family 78 (October 2016): 1300–1314

DOI:10.1111/jomf.12343