| The literature about father-absent families implies that children who grow up in these homes are at a greater risk for delinquent outcomes. Father absence has also been linked to various social problems such as poverty, high school drop-out, teen pregnancy, aggression and delinquency. However, the research under-emphasizes the protective factors that separate those who avoid or overcome the stereotypical effects of father absence from those who suffer from its risk factors. In an attempt to contribute to the understanding of resilience in males whose fathers are absent, qualitative and quantitative data was collected from 14 African-American adolescent males who had not been involved with their fathers for at least one year. This study aimed to identify differences between those individuals with high resilience scores and those with low resilience scores however, all of the explored hypotheses were statistically non-significant. Nonetheless, the data shed light onto themes such as the relationship between the length of time that the father is absent and resilience, the mitigating effect that healthy support systems and maternal support has on the negative effects of father absence, as well as the relationship between male role models and resilience. |
