2003 longitudal study - Roots of Teen Pregnancy is Fatherlessness

http://mensnewsdaily.com/2008/06/29/...atherlessness/

Rinaldo Del Gallo, III

Roots of Teen Pregnancy is Fatherlessness
June 29, 2008

It's often odd what people focus on. Was there a "pact" in Gloucester,
Massachusetts for young girls to become pregnant or were these girls simply
individually irresponsible? While the perversely salacious idea of simply
using men as sperm donors literally made headlines around the world, what is
more important is the fact that Gloucester is seeing a spike in teen
pregnancy, pact or no pact.


Teenagers know what causes pregnancy. They know how to prevent pregnancies.
It does little to assume that these teenagers have the IQ of grapefruits and
the worldly sophistication of a toddler. What we don't need is yet another
government program. Teenagers become pregnant because they that lack values.
So too with teenage boys that impregnate them. They lack values because they
lack fathers.


The high correlation between father absence and early teenage sexual
activity and pregnancy has long been noted and is a conceded point.
According to divorce magazine.com, "Fatherless homes account for . . . well
over 50% of teen mothers." US Department of Health and Human Services
summarizes the risks of sole custody, single parent families: "More than a
quarter of American children-nearly 17 million-do not live with their
father. Girls without a father in their life are two and a half times as
likely to get pregnant." They may have understated the case.



Despite the data, anti-fathers' rights groups have been trying to dismiss
this data as misleading by arguing that while there is a high correlation
between fatherlessness and teen pregnancy, there was no cause and effect
relationship. But a relatively recent longitudinal study (2003) shows that
the cause-and-effect relationship between teen pregnancy and fatherlessness
may be much stronger than people thought.


Bruce J. Ellis of the Department of Psychology at the University of
Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand performed a study in conjunction
with the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute of
Child Health and Human Development in the United States. 242 girls living in
one of three U.S. cities and 520 girls living in Christchurch, New Zealand
were studied-a huge sampling body. The participant girls were interviewed
annually from age 5 to 18, as well as their mothers. These longitudinal
studies are exceedingly laborious but produce data that are hard if not
impossible to obtain by a study done at one particular moment of time. This
is the type of quality study that must be taken seriously.


Fatherlessness was hardly the only measure being taken. The multiple
interviews and questionnaires administered over the years to both parents
and children yielded data that covered everything from family demographics
to parenting styles and child behavioral problems to childhood academic
performance.


"A widely held assumption is that it is not father absence per se that is
harmful to children, but the stress associated with divorce, family
conflict, loss of a second parent, loss of an adult male income, and so on,"
Ellis stated. What Ellis does not mention (and rightfully so since his was a
scientific work) was that the not-so-hidden political agenda was to stop the
compelling argument for shared parenting legislation so that fathers could
be more involved in their children's lives, but rather to advance arguments
in favor of greater child support awards and enforcement, plus domestic
violence legislation.


The study found that girls who grew up in otherwise socially and
economically privileged homes were not protected. "Father absence was so
fundamentally linked to teenage pregnancy that its effects were largely
undiminished by such factors as whether girls were rich or poor, black or
white, New Zealand Maori or European, cooperative or defiant in temperament,
born to adult or teenage mothers, raised in safe or violent neighborhoods,
subjected to few or many stressful life events, reared by supportive or
rejecting parents, exposed to functional or dysfunctional marriages, or
closely or loosely monitored by parents," Ellis reported. Wow!


Ellis concluded, "The current research suggests that, in relation to
daughters' sexual development, the social address of father absence is
important in its own right and not just as a proxy for its many correlates."
It was found that "father absence was an overriding risk factor for early
sexual activity and adolescent pregnancy." Conversely, father presence was a
major protective factor against early sexual outcomes, amazingly, even if
other risk factors were present.


The city of Gloucester, Massachusetts, America, and frankly the nations
across the world need to wake up. The problem of teen pregnancy is one of
fatherlessness.


Rinaldo Del Gallo, III


The author is a practicing family law attorney, spokesperson of the
Berkshire Fatherhood Coalition, and a columnist regarding legal issues. To
read his other columns, go to BerkshireFatherhood.com.


This column first ran in the Berkshire Eagle as "Roots of Fatherlessness" on
Saturday, June 28, 2008.


To read the study itself, click here.

"Dusty" wrote in message
...
http://mensnewsdaily.com/2008/06/29/...atherlessness/

Rinaldo Del Gallo, III

Roots of Teen Pregnancy is Fatherlessness
June 29, 2008

It's often odd what people focus on. Was there a "pact" in Gloucester,
Massachusetts for young girls to become pregnant or were these girls
simply individually irresponsible? While the perversely salacious idea of
simply using men as sperm donors literally made headlines around the
world, what is more important is the fact that Gloucester is seeing a
spike in teen pregnancy, pact or no pact.


Teenagers know what causes pregnancy. They know how to prevent
pregnancies. It does little to assume that these teenagers have the IQ of
grapefruits and the worldly sophistication of a toddler. What we don't
need is yet another government program. Teenagers become pregnant because
they that lack values. So too with teenage boys that impregnate them. They
lack values because they lack fathers.

Note the PC language - "Teenagers become pregnant". Why not come right out
and say teenage GIRLS become pregnant because they lack values? And the PC
way of suggesting "teenage boys impregnate" the girls. I always resent
those kinds of statements that suggest creating pregnancies is something
boys do to girls.

If, as the femwits say it's her body and her choice, then the choice for men
and women begins long before any pregnacy whether they are married or not.
What I'd like to see is a study that looks at how sexually active these
teenage girls were before they got pregnant. I would bet the Gloucester
girls didn't just get pregnant the first time they did it.



The high correlation between father absence and early teenage sexual
activity and pregnancy has long been noted and is a conceded point.
According to divorce magazine.com, "Fatherless homes account for . . .
well over 50% of teen mothers." US Department of Health and Human Services
summarizes the risks of sole custody, single parent families: "More than a
quarter of American children-nearly 17 million-do not live with their
father. Girls without a father in their life are two and a half times as
likely to get pregnant." They may have understated the case.



Despite the data, anti-fathers' rights groups have been trying to dismiss
this data as misleading by arguing that while there is a high correlation
between fatherlessness and teen pregnancy, there was no cause and effect
relationship. But a relatively recent longitudinal study (2003) shows that
the cause-and-effect relationship between teen pregnancy and
fatherlessness may be much stronger than people thought.

The reason anti-father groups don't want to acknowlege fatherlessness as a
risk factor is because the next question becomes "why is the father not
present". It is so much easier to make a broadbrushed claim fathers run
away from pregnant girl friends instead of looking at other factors like
promiscuity, girls picking undesirable partners, and boys being pushed out
of girls lives by unilateral decisions.



Bruce J. Ellis of the Department of Psychology at the University of
Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand performed a study in conjunction
with the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute of
Child Health and Human Development in the United States. 242 girls living
in one of three U.S. cities and 520 girls living in Christchurch, New
Zealand were studied-a huge sampling body. The participant girls were
interviewed annually from age 5 to 18, as well as their mothers. These
longitudinal studies are exceedingly laborious but produce data that are
hard if not impossible to obtain by a study done at one particular moment
of time. This is the type of quality study that must be taken seriously.


Fatherlessness was hardly the only measure being taken. The multiple
interviews and questionnaires administered over the years to both parents
and children yielded data that covered everything from family demographics
to parenting styles and child behavioral problems to childhood academic
performance.


"A widely held assumption is that it is not father absence per se that is
harmful to children, but the stress associated with divorce, family
conflict, loss of a second parent, loss of an adult male income, and so
on," Ellis stated. What Ellis does not mention (and rightfully so since
his was a scientific work) was that the not-so-hidden political agenda was
to stop the compelling argument for shared parenting legislation so that
fathers could be more involved in their children's lives, but rather to
advance arguments in favor of greater child support awards and
enforcement, plus domestic violence legislation.

What an understatement. My personal experience testifying before state
committees showed me the state bureaucrats and their special interest
supports who profit from the policy decisions far outnumber the parents who
try to relate to the legislature how their proposals will impact their
constituents.



The study found that girls who grew up in otherwise socially and
economically privileged homes were not protected. "Father absence was so
fundamentally linked to teenage pregnancy that its effects were largely
undiminished by such factors as whether girls were rich or poor, black or
white, New Zealand Maori or European, cooperative or defiant in
temperament, born to adult or teenage mothers, raised in safe or violent
neighborhoods, subjected to few or many stressful life events, reared by
supportive or rejecting parents, exposed to functional or dysfunctional
marriages, or closely or loosely monitored by parents," Ellis reported.
Wow!


Ellis concluded, "The current research suggests that, in relation to
daughters' sexual development, the social address of father absence is
important in its own right and not just as a proxy for its many
correlates." It was found that "father absence was an overriding risk
factor for early sexual activity and adolescent pregnancy." Conversely,
father presence was a major protective factor against early sexual
outcomes, amazingly, even if other risk factors were present.

Children need both parents. Studies like this one consistently reach that
conclusion. So the question becomes - why do we continue to establish and
perpetuate public policy in family law that forces fathers out of children's
lives?

"Bob W" wrote in

If, as the femwits say it's her body and her choice, then the choice for
men and women begins long before any pregnacy whether they are married or
not. What I'd like to see is a study that looks at how sexually active
these teenage girls were before they got pregnant. I would bet the
Gloucester girls didn't just get pregnant the first time they did it.

It's the same for fully grown adult women when they make the choice to have
unprotected sex and then try to hold the man responsible to pay for all
expenses.

Men really do need to take more care around careless women as they have more
to lose than just there wallet!