How absentee fathers affect teen pregnancy in daughters
Introduction
The family is the basic unit of society. From this structure, individuals learn the tenets of how to integrate into society and cope with other members. Most mammal species live in the family unit, be it nuclear or extended. Within the family, members learn to bond, share and assist each other with difficulties. The human species shows the most sophisticated form of human organization. When children get born, they only get taught how to survive as adults, but there are certain values that parents must pass on to their children. Each family and society have different values and beliefs. For this reason, varied cultures arise all over the world.
Despite the differences in culture, certain unique attributes get exhibited by each gender. Most scientists and psychologists have come to the agreement that men and women are wired differently. Therefore, they might think and act in divergent ways. This phenomenon has its unique role in the family structure. Parents of the different sexes each have a unique impact on the growth and development of a child. Some scientists attribute this occurrence to genetics while others have correlated it with the environment.
In the modern world, cases of single parenting are rapidly increasing by the day. Since the advent of "generation-X" in the 50s, popular culture has adopted a more liberal stance on life and social behavior. People no longer adhere to previous social norms that placed a heavy focus on responsibility. Such cultures are deemed archaic and restrictive. In most cases, single parented families involve mothers and children who live without the biological fathers. Research has indicated that children raised in such homes exhibit different characteristics from those who were raised in homes that had both parents present.
Such children show a higher likelihood of drug abuse during adolescence. Daughters in such families are more prone to teenage pregnancy and early sexual activity among other ills. Different scholars and scientist have come up with various theories that try to explain the causes of these variations. Some of their views converge on some issues while others slightly diverge on other areas. This paper, therefore, is a literature review of articles by various scholars on the effects of absentee fathers on teenage pregnancies.
Literature review
Comings, Muhleman, Johnson & Macmurray (2002), relate the phenomenon of teenage pregnancy in daughters with absentee fathers to genetics. In their theses, they discuss an androgen receptor gene that gets transmitted to daughters by their parents. Basing their argument on the evolutionary theory of socialization, they postulate that girls who experienced stressful childhoods before the age of 7 and had no fathers around, exhibited early signs of puberty. The effect of this situation is that the girl begins to experience changes in her body without fully understanding what is happening. For this reason, she becomes prone to start indulging in premature sexuality. Furthermore, most of these girls become highly promiscuous and engage in unprotected sex.
Some male adults, on the other hand, usually take advantage, such young adolescent girls. These men exploit the naiveté of the girls. This event takes place because the male is more mature mentally and can easily manipulate the girl. In most cases, the males do have unprotected sex with such minors leading to teenage pregnancies. Children born to teenage parents, as shown by research have a low probability of receiving adequate pre and post-natal care. Most do not get proper nutrition, and the chances are high that they might die while still infants.
When these children survive beyond infancy, they still face the problem of growing without fathers. The reason for this situation is that most of the males who impregnate teenage girls abandon them soon after they conceive. The cycle of impaired social behavior thus continues once the children reach adolescence. This issue affects not only girls but also teenage boys too. In fact, such adolescents who grew up without fathers might get involved in teenage sex with each other. Boys, as well as girls, show increased rates of drug abuse and alcohol use. The males are more than three times likely to get involved in crime compared to their counterparts from stable families.
Back to the genetic aspect, Comings, Chen, & Muhleman (1999), investigated an alternative explanation that a different X-linked androgen receptor gene, exposing the father to mannerisms that include abandonment of family, can get passed to daughters causing early puberty and behavioral anomalies. These researchers studied 164 white females and 121 white males. Their results exhibited a strong association of the short alleles belonging to the GGC repeat polymorphism of the AR gene with a myriad of measures of impulsivity and aggression. Also included in the behaviors are sexual compulsivity, more sexual partners including lifetime number of partners in men. Among the females, the phenomena included increased rates of parental divorce, early age of menarche and father absence. The authors, therefore, argue that fathers who are carriers of the AR alleles have high chances of deserting a family. Furthermore, they also pass these traits to their daughters who in turn start experiencing early menarche and other personality problems.
Darper and Harpending (1982), also offer an evolutionary approach to the effect of absentee fathers on teenage daughters. However, their methods slightly diverge in that they use a more anthropological approach as opposed to a genetic and biological approach. In their studies, they examine the families that had both parents and the families that had absentee fathers. After this examination, they made a comparison of the children raised under both conditions. Their results showed remarkable differences between the two sets of families.
Children who were raised by families with both parents present showed higher level of mental stability. They had significantly lower cases of behavioral problems associated with stress and drug abuse. In their paper, they argue that most of the previous research got carried out by scholars who grew up in western culture and were from higher social classes. Therefore, the previous findings did not reflect the real picture. Darper and her colleague also noted that children raised in stable families had higher self-esteem and performed much better in school. When these scholars studied the lives of adults raised by two parents, they found that such individuals had stable relationships and few lifetime partners.
Father-absent families, on the other hand, showed an increased occurrence of girls reaching early menarche. The rate of teenage pregnancy also skyrocketed among this subset of the study. The children had a general lack of self-esteem and girls were more willing to indulge in indiscriminate sexual activity. Both boys and girls showed reduced fear of contracting STIs and unwanted pregnancies. Adolescent boys had a higher involvement in crimes and drug abuse. They also had difficulty in following instructions, especially from female adults. Furthermore, these boys tended to use women. They use sex as a form of conquest and a method of validating their masculinity. When these children become adults, they experienced difficulties establishing romantic relationships. At the workplace, they had poor social relations with other workmates and found difficulty in cooperating with seniors. For this reason, they find difficulty in keeping jobs. This factor reduces their income earning capacity
Hetherington (1972) examined the effects of father absence on personality development in adolescent daughters. He remarks that the relationship between a father and a daughter is highly significant. The first love of a girl is her father and this relationship forms the basis of all other relationships with members of the opposite sex. The role of a father is to reassure his daughter of her beauty and self-worth. This act goes a long way in enhancing a girl’s self-image. The study shows that girls who got raised with fathers present had higher self-esteem, and performed better at school and in their professional lives.
Studies had also shown that girls who got abandoned by their fathers at an earlier age were more affected by the effects when they attained puberty. Such girls become sexually promiscuous due to their low self-esteem. In other words, they are trying to compensate for the lack of the father figure in their lives. For this reason, any male who shows even a slight romantic interest in her gets almost immediate acceptance. This phenomenon comes with numerous undesirable effects of unwanted pregnancies and STIs (Hetherington, 1972).
In some cases, when young girls live in an environment that lacks a father figure, they might start assuming adult roles at an early age. Such tasks might include, but not limited to assisting in taking care of the home and caring for younger siblings. This condition, as scientist claim, has the potential to accelerate the onset of menarche. With menarche, female hormones of progesterone and oxytocin get released in high amounts leading to the quick development of secondary sexual characteristics. Their bodies are thus ready for sexual activity and reproduction whereas their minds lack the requisite maturity to cope with the responsibilities.
Stressful childhoods for girls will also drive an upsurge of hormones within their bodies. In cases where the x-linked androgen receptor gene had got transmitted to the daughter through the father, the condition gets aggravated. These girls will start indulging in harmful behaviors that put them at risk of teenage pregnancy. Some might resort to the use of narcotics and alcohol. These substances impair judgment and make the user prone to sexual promiscuity (Surbey, 1990)
Furthermore, studies found that girls experiencing early menarche had high body fat content, as well as leptin deposits in their bodies. Normal secretion of leptin in requisite for the usual functions of the reproductive system and thus also serves as a signal that allows for the point of commencement and progression to puberty (Kiess et.al, 2000).
Gade, Muhlemann, MacMurray, & Comings (1998), examine the correlation between the VNTR alleles length and the X-linked MAOA gene. Their research gives an explanation linking some of the traits exhibited in teenage boys and girls to genetic conditions. They theorize that susceptibility to drug addiction might indeed turn out to a genetic condition rather than environmental factors.
Robinson, Shaver, & Wrightman (1991), however, claim that environmental factors contribute more to personality than genetics. If children get raised in an environment that lacks a father figure, they are prone to have compromised characters. Fathers are known as figures of authority. They guide and raise children to learn the virtues of respect and acceptance of authority. When fathers are absent, the children tend to go astray. Boys will get involved in sex, gangs, and drug abuse (Moffitt, Caspi, Belsky, & Silva, 1992). Girls, on the other hand, get into early sexual activity and promiscuity.
Even though absentee fathers are responsible for the early development of menarche in young girls, we also need to examine some of the factors that lead to men becoming absentee fathers.
Some researchers have hypothesized that there are factors that increase the susceptibility of a man abandoning the family. Their studies all circulate one primary hormone. This hormone is none other than testosterone.
It is also well known that Testosterone is the primary male sex hormone. Testosterone is also an anabolic steroid. Both males and females possess this hormone as it is responsible for bone strengthening, lean muscle mass and strength in both sexes. Males have a higher concentration of testosterone and as such have higher sex drives. But testosterone in men does not only play a role in sexual activity. This hormone plays a vital role even in prenatal development. First, it determines the gender of the growing embryo. It also initiates the development of the prostate gland and sex organs.
Another role of testosterone is the masculinization of brains in infant males. Testosterone triggers the development of secondary sexual characteristics. These include the appearance of pubic hair, facial hair, and axillary hair. Apart from the metabolic effects of testosterone, this hormone also causes some behavioral traits in males. Beginning at puberty, the body produces high amounts of testosterone. Large quantities lead to increased muscle mass, libido, and appetite. Boys of this age are usually physically aggressive and love risk-taking behaviors. The same hormone also leads to dominant behavior males.
Some rare cases occur in males whereby this particular hormone gets produced in excessive amounts. Excessive testosterone secretion leads to a condition known as hyper-masculinity. In this case, the effects get exaggerated, and such men regularly exhibit antisocial behavior. They indulge in violence which at times might get directed to women. Such actions include rape and battering. Some researchers have studied men who possess two y chromosomes. These men have much higher levels of testosterone than those with only one Y chromosome. They show characteristics such as the growth of hair in the ears and have a general pattern of hyper-masculinity. Such men have a high involvement in crime compared to the general population. These findings clearly show that high testosterone levels are responsible for hyper-masculinity (Mazur, & Booth, 1998).
When it comes to drugs, men with excess testosterone form a significant portion of the user base. Substance abuse leads to high crime rates and other forms of antisocial behaviors. They repeatedly get incarcerated and are more likely to die from violence. A study by showed that circulating testosterone levels in the blood stream directly influenced provoked aggressive behavior. This discovery got achieved through self-reports by the males under investigation. High testosterone levels caused an increase in readiness to react assertively and vigorously to provocations and threats. Boys with excess testosterone showed less patience and had high irritability, which in turn, increased the propensity to partake in aggressive-destructive behaviors. The same traits got discovered in male animals with high testosterone levels (Olweus, Mattsson, Schalling & Löw, 1988).
This irrational violence and overreacting to situations makes the adolescent boys reckless with their lives, and this includes sex. Once they become teenage fathers, they more often abandon the girls who then become single mothers. When girls get born out of such situations, they exhibit early menarche, and the vicious cycle continues.
As a conclusion, it is evident that fathers play a vital role in the upbringing of children, especially the girl-child. The relationship between a father and a daughter is highly significant. The first love of a girl is her father and this relationship forms the basis of all other relationships with members of the opposite sex. The role of a father is to reassure his daughter of her beauty and self-worth. This act goes a long way in enhancing a girl’s self-image.
References
Comings, D. E., Chen, C., Wu, S., & Muhleman, D. (1999).Association of the androgen receptor gene (AR) withADHD and conduct disorder. Neuroreport,10, 1589–1592.
Comings, D. E., Muhleman, D., Johnson, J. P., & Macmurray, J. P. (2002). Parent-Daughter Transmission of the Androgen Receptor Gene as an Explanation of the Effect of Father Absence on Age of Menarche. Child Development, 73(4), 1046-1051. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00456
Draper, P., & Harpending, H. (1982). Father absence and re-productive strategy: an evolutionary perspective. Jour-nal of Anthropological Research,38, 255–273.
Gade, R., Muhlemann, D., MacMurray, J., & Comings, D. E.(1998). Correlation of length of VNTR alleles at the X-linked MAOA gene and phenotypic effect in Tourette syndrome and drug abuse. Molecular Psychiatry,3, 50–60
Hetherington, E. M. (1972). Effects of father absence on personality development in adolescent daughters. Developmental Psychology, 7, 313–326.
Kiess, W., Muller, G., Galler, A., Reich, A., Deutscher, J., Klammt, J., & Kratzsch, J. (2000). Body fat mass, leptin and puberty. Journal of Pediatrics Endocrinology Metabolism, 13 (Suppl. 1), 717-722.
Mazur, A., & Booth, A. (1998). Testosterone and dominance in men. Behavioral and Brain Sciences,21 , 353–397.
Moffitt, T. E., Caspi, A., Belsky, J., & Silva, P. A. (1992). Childhood experience and the onset of menarche: A test of a sociobiological model. Child Development, 63 , 47–58.
Olweus, D., Mattsson, D., Schalling, D., & Löw, H. (1988). Circulating testosterone levels and aggression in adolescent males: A causal analysis. Psychosomatic Medicine, 50 , 261–272.
Robinson, J. P., Shaver, P. R., & Wrightman, L. S. (1991). Measures of personality and social psychological attributes. San Diego: Academic Press.
Surbey, M. K. (1990). Family composition, stress, and the timing of human menarche. In F. B. Bercovitch & T. E. Ziegler (Eds.), Socioendocrinology of primate reproduction. New York: Wiley-Liss.
