Life without Father: Compelling New Evidence That Fatherhood and Marriage Are Indispensable for the Good of Children and Society

by David Popenoe

The American family is changing. Divorce, single parents, and stepfamilies are redefining the way we live together and raise our children. Is this a change for the worse? David Popenoe sets out the case for fatherhood and the two-parent family as the best arrangement for ensuring the well-being and future development of children. His argument has two critical assumptions, which he supports with evidence from a variety of disciplines, including anthropology, biology, and history. The first is that children flourish best when raised by a father and a mother with their differing psychological and behavioral traits. The second is that marriage, which serves to hold fathers to the mother-child bond, is an institution we must strengthen if the decline of fatherhood is to be reversed.

Genres: Parenting, Psychology, Nonfiction, Sociology

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[James]

10/10

[Jessica]

I had to read this book for a sociology class this semester, and it was a pretty interesting book. Lots of sad statistics and consequences of fatherlessness, but the author does try to provide suggestions on how we as a society can change them. It is VERY clear that fathers are essential to a child's well-being. I liked it.

[Leonardo]

...el 60% de los violadores estadounidenses, el 72% de los delincuentes juveniles y el 70% de los reclusos de larga duración crecieron en hogares sin padre.

Desigualdad Pág.160

Chiques... si el total de hogares estadounidenses sin padres es del 80% esto querría decir que tener dos padres es malo, no? Falta el dato poblacional, sino es lo mismo que nada.

[Semi-Academic Eric]

Someone recommended this to me, although I cannot right now remember who.

[Dr. Sankari]

Very ordinary book. Looks like a report.

[Jeremy]

Mentioned here.