Dear Daddy is not only about the struggles to survive and navigate as a young woman of color, but at its core, it’s about the importance of a father’s role in the lives of their daughters.
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| "Knowledge is power" ~ Francis Bacon |
Our Youths & Teenagers
Being raised by a single mother raises the risk of teen
pregnancy, marrying with less than a high school degree, and forming a marriage
where both partners have less than a high school degree. Source: Teachman, Jay D. “The Childhood Living Arrangements
of Children and the Characteristics of Their Marriages.” Journal of Family
Issues 25 (January 2004): 86-111. Separation or frequent changes increase a woman’s risk of
early menarche, sexual activity and pregnancy. Women whose parents separated
between birth and six years old experienced twice the risk of early
menstruation, more than four times the risk of early sexual intercourse, and
two and a half times higher risk of early pregnancy when compared to women in
intact families. The longer a woman lived with both parents, the lower her risk
of early reproductive development. Women who experienced three or more changes
in her family environment exhibited similar risks but were five times more
likely to have an early pregnancy. Source: Quinlan, Robert J. “Father absence, parental care,
and female reproductive development.” Evolution and Human Behavior 24 (November
2003): 376-390. Click here to access additional, free research on father absence and teen pregnancy.
A study using data from the Fragile Families and Child
Wellbeing Study revealed that in many cases the absence of a biological father
contributes to increased risk of child maltreatment. The results suggest that
Child Protective Services (CPS) agencies have some justification in viewing the
presence of a social father as increasing children’s risk of abuse and neglect.
It is believed that in families with a non-biological (social) father figure,
there is a higher risk of abuse and neglect to children, despite the social
father living in the household or only dating the mother. Source: “CPS Involvement in Families with Social Fathers.”
Fragile Families Research Brief No.46. 
Source: Guterman, N.B., Yookyong, L., Lee, S. J., Waldfogel,
J., & Rathouz, P. J. (2009). Fathers and maternal risk for physical child
abuse. Child Maltreatment, 14, 277-290. Click here to access additional, free research on father absence and child abuse and neglect. 
Even after controlling for community context, there is
significantly more drug use among children who do not live with their mother
and father. Source: Hoffmann, John P. “The Community Context of Family
Structure and Adolescent Drug Use.” Journal of Marriage and Family 64 (May
2002): 314-330. In a study of 6,500 children from the ADDHEALTH database,
father closeness was negatively correlated with the number of a child’s friends
who smoke, drink, and smoke marijuana. Closeness was also correlated with a
child’s use of alcohol, cigarettes, and hard drugs and was connected to family
structure. Intact families ranked higher on father closeness than single-parent
families. Source: National Fatherhood Initiative. “Family Structure,
Father Closeness, & Drug Abuse.” 
The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth found that obese
children are more likely to live in father-absent homes than are non-obese
children. Source: National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. In a study using a sample of 2,537 boys and 2,446 girls,
researchers investigated the relationship between Body Mass Index (BMI) status
at ages 4 to 5 years and mothers’ and fathers’ parenting involvement and
parenting styles. The results showed that only fathers’ parenting behaviors and
styles were associated with increased risks of child overweight and obesity.
Mothers’ parenting behaviors and styles were not associated with a higher
likelihood of children being in a higher BMI category. In the case of fathers,
however, higher father control scores were correlated with lower chances of the
child being in a higher BMI category. Moreover, children of fathers with
permissive and disengaged parenting styles had higher odds of being in a higher
BMI category. Source: Wake, M., Nicholson, J.M., Hardy, P., & Smith,
K. (2007). Preschooler obesity and parenting styles of mothers and fathers:
Australian national population study, Pediatrics, 12, 1520-1527. Click here to access additional, free research on father absence and childhood obesity.
Father Factor in Education ~ 
