This paper reports the results of meta-analysis of the literature addressing the effects of father-absence on both male and female sex-role development. Considering both published and unpublished papers, the analysis involved 33 studies of males and 16 studies of females which become available between 1958 and 1982 and which studied father-absence…

Examined depression in 53 eldest children between 6 and 10 years old who were living in mother-headed one-parent families. Only gender of the child was a significant predictor of depression, with boys reporting significantly greater depressive symptomatology. Contrary to expectation, neither time since separation nor depression in the mother was…

Women have higher rates of poverty than men in almost all societies. This paper compares the difference between male and female poverty in modern nations, using data from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) to compare men's and women's poverty rates in eight Western industrialized countries in the 1990s. The LIS contains information on household…

Measured anxiety and autonomy in kibbutz father-orphaned (n=28) and nonorphaned (n=42) adolescents. Found no significant differences on levels of manifest anxiety and autonomy. When groups were broken down according to gender and age, found that older father-orphan girls manifested significantly greater anxiety than any group and significantly…

Using instruments which measured reading readiness, intelligence, reading achievement, and school attitudes, data was gathered to evaluate the hypothesis that the reading achievement of first grade boys taught by a male teacher would be significantly higher than those taught by a female teacher and, conversely, that the reading achievement of…

Father's occupation was found to be associated with significant differences in quantitative and verbal Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores. Further, significant relationships between sex, ethnic status, and father's absence and SAT scores were found. (Author/BW)

The frequent absence of adult males from the households of lowerclass blacks reportedly results in boys perceiving themselves as less worthwhile persons than boys who live with adult males or girls. Support was not found for this hypothesis in a Philadelphia study of 280 black, preadolescents which used self-attitude measures. (CS)

Used data from National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 to examine extent to which absent fathers provided assistance to their children. Results indicated that absent fathers were much more likely to make child support payments than to provide other forms of assistance. Gender of children did not influence provision of most…

Explored the feelings of 18 Jerusalem high school students about their mothers. Results showed fatherless adolescent girls perceived their mothers as significantly less benevelant than girls from two-parent families of similar backgrounds. No differences were found for boys. (JAC)

Effects of father absence on boys and girls who live in families headed by mothers were studied. Subjects were 40 Israeli children (ages 2.6 to 2.10 years of age) whose fathers had died before their birth. Strong differential effects were found in the responses of girls as compared with those of boys. (Author/MP)

Research supported by Public Health Service Predoctoral Research Fellowship 1-F1-MH-32, 808-01, from the National Institute of Mental Health.

Used data from nationally representative sample (n=2,528) to examine division of household labor in first-marriage families, stepfamilies, families headed by divorced mothers, and families headed by never-married mothers. Findings indicated that, across family types and regardless of women's employment status, women performed two to three times…

As family structures have shifted to include a high proportion of single parent households, more attention has been directed toward the characteristics of both the maternal and paternal roles. A study was conducted to identify the nurturing qualities of parenthood in a sample of 51 presently unmarried, noncustodial fathers, and to determine the…

While father absence due to divorce, desertion, or separation had the most negative influence in the initial 2 years of the child's life for boys and girls, father absence due to death was the most detrimental when it occurred in the 6 - 9 period of the boy's life. (Author)