Having No Dad Affects Black Boys' Self-Esteem

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Having No Dad Affects Black Boys' Self-Esteem
Life with father translates to stronger kids
By Julia McNamee Neenan
HealthSCOUT Reporter

MONDAY, Sept. 18 [2000] (HealthSCOUT) -- Living in a fatherless family damages a black boy's self-esteem, says a study released today.
"In the black community, there's a slogan, 'Black mothers raise their daughters and love their sons,' " says one of the study's authors, Carolyn B. Murray, an associate professor at the University of California, Riverside.
"It's the father who holds that boy accountable.
He has that boy toe the line; he holds the rules and responsibilities."

But when fathers aren't present in black families, regardless of such things as family income and education, young boys' self-esteem drops, the study says. That doesn't appear to happen with young girls in these families, it says.

What this means for the boys, experts say, can range from their
having problems in school to participating in gangs as part of their search for male role models in fatherless homes with INDEPENDENT mothers.

"Black children are only half as likely as white children to be living in a two-parent household, and are eight times more likely than white children to live with an unwed mother.

For black children under six, 'the most common arrangement -- applying to 42 percent of them -- was to live with a never-married mother.'"

citing Andrew J. Cherlin,

Are Black Women