.
However, the research question that we are trying to answer is whether or not boys who have little family structure outside of a father are as well adjusted as boys who may have everything but a father. The independent variable will be whether or not a boy lives with his father or with other relatives. I believe that it has been firmly established that those who come from two-parent households have the lowest rates of delinquency. So for this study, we will use boys who live with and or see their fathers regularly but do not live in a two parent household and boys who rarely or never see their father. .
The dependent variable will be statistics that measure advancement in relation to the young men. These include crime rates, high school dropout rates, unemployment, income, etc. These types of statistics are generally a good barometer of how troubled a young man might be and will serve as the independent variable in this instance.
There is a great deal of research to back up the claim that fathers are an integral part of a boy's life. Countless studies have taken place. Two scholars from Prairie View A & M University, H. Elaine Rodney and Robert Mupier, conducted a study showing that boys who did not live with their fathers were twice as likely to have been in trouble with the police and twice as likely to have been held back a grade in school. Dr. James Dobson, president of the non-profit group Focus on the Family, has concluded that boys have a much more difficult time dealing with the absence of a father and are four times as likely to need treatment for emotional problems as boys who have a father. .
A 1988 federal study illuminated not only the need for a father, but also emphasized that a stepfather is generally not a suitable replacement. In fact, according to the study, boys living with a stepfather have higher rates of anti-social behavior, anxiety and depression, and peer conflict than boys who do not live with a male figure at all.
