RE: The Nuclear Family and Society's Radiation Poisoning
I wonder about some of those studies. If 85% of all children in prisons come from fatherless homes, then surely there is a correlation of some sort?
I agree that homes that are unstable or tough on their kids has a negative impact on children too, but in my opinion, and from experience, broken homes and single parents generally struggle a lot more with children than in 2 parent homes.
Some more stats that I started looking at (your post got me looking):
63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes (US Dept. Of Health/Census) – 5 times the average.
90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes – 32 times the average.
85% of all children who show behavior disorders come from fatherless homes – 20 times the average. (Center for Disease Control)
80% of rapists with anger problems come from fatherless homes –14 times the average. (Justice & Behavior, Vol 14, p. 403-26)
71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes – 9 times the average. (National Principals Association Report)
I would think quite a few of those issues would be more common with children who have abusive parents, not necessarily "fatherless". It matters a great deal though why they are "fatherless". Their statistics might be thrown off by abusive fathers that ended up out of the picture. I don't think an absentee father would necessarily cause such problems, if there were others to pick up the slack.