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Annotated Bibliography

How do absent-father homes contribute to a childs long-term social, mental, and behavioral
development?

Kayla Greene
Professor Malcolm Campbell
UWRT 1103
March 17, 2016

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Annotated Bibliography
Carlson, Marcia J. "Family structure, father involvement, and adolescent behavioral outcomes."
Journal of Marriage and Family. 68.1 (2006): 137-154. Web. 15 March 2016.
This scholarly article begins by addressing the issue of absent-father involvement in the
lives of many children and summarizes some of the main concerns pertaining to the issue.
Substantial research has proven that indeed children living apart from their biological
fathers are more likely to act out harshly in school, more likely to participate in criminal
activity, more likely to experience various mental illnesses, and more likely to display
negative behavioral problems. This article focuses primarily on the economic and time
factors and how they contribute to these negative effects. As mentioned in the article, the
more time parents, specifically fathers, can spend and interact with their children the
more warmth, discipline, and support they can offer, so naturally when the father is not
present and not spending considerable time with their child the child is left without
getting these securities to promote positive development. From an economic standpoint
when something like a divorce happens time, and specifically money, is greatly reduced,
therefore children who grow up in single-parent homes are more likely to grow up poor,
which leads to the acting out in school, criminal activity, depression, homelessness, and
so forth. The remainder of the article focuses on a research study done regarding father
involvement and family structure, and illustrates the different specific aspects of the
study. This academic article was peer-reviewed, so the author was checked behind for the
validity of the information presented, so this source is a reliable source of information.
This specific journal was published by the National Council on Family Relations, which
for sixty years has been a leading journal in the family field. The different contributors to

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The Journal of Family and Marriage represent a variety of different backgrounds, such as
sociology, demography, history, etc., which offers different perspectives to make the
research even more in-depth and reliable. This source fits into my research almost
perfectly, because it addresses the behavioral, mental, and social developmental effects
on children of absent-father homes. This source shapes my understanding of the topic,
because it displays how in-depth and complicated the issue of father-absence is when
looking at the long-term effects it has on a childs development. I will be using this
source to aid in answering my initial inquiry question.
Edwards, Paul. Interview by Michel Martin. The father factor in kids lives. Around the
Nation. Natl. Public Radio, 4 March 2014. Web. 14 March 2016.
This source is taken from a transcript of an interview that was published on National
Public Radio regarding the issue of fatherhood and the growing absence and concerns of
it. Michel Martin hosts the interview and asks Paul Edwards his thoughts and research
concerning the rising issue. Edwards states in the interview that 24 million children are
growing up in homes across America without their biological fathers present, and this is a
rapidly growing concern. Because economic factors play such a huge role in this issue,
research is showing that fathers are being seen more and more as wallets where social
programs are solely concerned about getting their money and less concerned about
getting them emotionally and socially involved with the children. Edwards, along with
many others, see this as a problem that needs to be brought to light. Edwards strongly
advocates for the idea that a strong, positive male role model is vital in the emotional and
economic stability of a childs development. National Public Radio is a highly respected
broadcast show, so this source is trustworthy, although it has the potential to be a little

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biased. Paul Edwards represents the Deseret News as the editor. The Deseret News is a
newspaper that is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so although
it is a well-known news source, it is possible for pre-determined biases. This interview
serves for multiple purposes, but mainly to shed light on an increasing matter that many
people are ignoring or oblivious to. This interview from NPR is extremely insightful and
resourceful for my extended inquiry project and initial inquiry question. Edwards
discusses exactly what I am researching when talking about the susceptibility children of
absent-father homes are to drug use and other negative influences. I will be using this
source to further along my research.
Fagan, Jay, Randal Day, Michael E. Lamb, and Natasha J. Cabrera. "Should researchers
conceptualize differently the dimensions of parenting for fathers and mothers?" Journal
of Family Theory & Review. 6.4 (2014): 390-405. Web. 13 March 2016.
This peer-reviewed article takes an alternative approach to my initial inquiry question and
examines how in actuality there is not much of a division between a mother and fathers
role and their parenting styles on a childs development. In the course of the article the
authors focus on three main points and argue that mother and father parenting ideologies
actually show similarities, more research and evidence is showing that fathers parenting
behaviors have very similar outcomes on their childs development as does the mothers
parenting behaviors, and lastly, mothering and fathering roles are increasingly becoming
the same in how they interact, engage, and spend time with their children. Throughout
the article the authors are emphasizing the importance of breaking down our
conceptualizations of parenting and how fathering and mothering roles are different, and
rather seeing a more general model and how the two roles can actually integrate

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together and share similarities, thus having similar long-term effects on a childs
developmental stages. This source is a trustworthy academic journal that has been peerreviewed for any errors and falsification of information. Each author of the article
represents four different prestigious universities, and since there are four different authors
putting in their input and knowledge it helps to eliminate any possible biases that a single
author could more easily take. This article was published in 2014, so it is relevant and upto-date with the cultural changes and trends. For my initial inquiry question this article
does offer useful research and insight, but overall it does not answer nor focus on absentfather homes and how that negatively impacts a childs long-term development. Even
though I will not be using this source to answer my inquiry question, it does give me an
additional perspective as far as seeing how absent-father roles on childrens development
may not be as destructive as I thought, since fathering and mothering roles are
increasingly becoming similar.
McLanahan, Sara, Laura Tach, and Daniel Schneider. The causal effects of father absence.
Annual Review of Sociology 399 (2013): 399427. PMC. Web. 15 March 2016.
This article from NCBI focuses largely on the data and factual research concerning the
casual effects of father absence. Within the article it discusses seven different strategies,
or research models, to estimate these casual effects of father absence using factual data to
back up the findings. The seven models are: ordinary least squares model, lagged
dependent variable model, growth curve model, individual fixed effects model, sibling
fixed effects model, natural experiment, and propensity score matching. Each model
represents a different approach for measuring the effects father absence has on child
development and takes into consideration different factors such as when the father

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absence occurs (early childhood or adolescence), or the family structure at the time of the
father absence, just to name a few. The article discusses mainly the advantages versus the
disadvantages and limitations with each of these different models. Ultimately the articles
main argument is its hard to say what the determinant effects are on children who grow
up in the absence of their biological father, because there are so many different factors to
consider and so many different variables that make the effects drastically different from
child to child. Overall this article is a trustworthy, reliable source and is free from biases
since the majority of the article relies on factual information. Sara McLanahan is a
representative of Princeton University, Laura Tach is a representative of Cornell
University, and Daniel Schneider is a representative of the University of California all of
which are well-known academic colleges. Each author, or contributor to the article, has
their background and familiarity with sociology and sociological research, which is
relevant to absent father-child relationships. I found this source to be helpful in my
research and understanding of effects of father absence. This article gives me a more
statistical and factual approach, which is beneficial, because I will need solid data to back
up my arguments. This source also gives me a new perspective regarding the timing of
father-absence along with the gender and race of the child and father and how that can
affect the childs development differently. I had not really considered or even thought of
those to be important factors in the absent father-child development relationship. I will
definitely be using this source for my inquiry project.