Divorced Fathers and Their Daughters: A Review of Recent Research

Abstract

After parents' divorce, a father's relationship with his daughter is often far more damaged than his relationship with his son. Why is this? In what ways does the daughter pay an ongoing price for this damaged-or destroyed-relationship with her father? More important still, what can we do to reduce the damage to so many father-daughter relationships after divorce? KEYWORDS divorced fathers and daughters, divorced parents, father-daughter relationships, fathers and daughters, shared parentingMost daughters pay an ongoing price for their parents' divorce because they receive too little-or no-fathering after their parents' marriage ends. Eighty percent of the daughters and sons in the United States only live with their fathers for a maximum of 10% to 15% of the time after their parents' divorce. Nearly half do not spend time with their father on a monthly basis and 25% do not spend any time at all with him. Only 5% to 7% live with their father for more than 25% to 30% of the year (Kelly, 2007). These statistics are alarming because those daughters whose fathers remain actively involved in their lives differ very little from girls whose parents have never been divorced. Especially those daughters who live with their dads for at least 25% of the year receive the kind of fathering that offsets the negative impact of their parents' divorce (

Die impak van afwesige vaders op adolessente dogters se psigososiale welstand

“…Die vaderlike liefde wat hulle ontsê is, soek hulle dan by ander mans (vgl. Green, 1976;Holborn & Eddy, 2011;Nielsen, 2011). Die literatuur beklemtoon dat vaderlose adolessente meisies op 'n jonger ouderdom seksueel aktief raak as meisies met betrokke vaders en dat hulle romantiese verhoudings meer geneig is om onstabiel te wees (Grainger, 2004;Nielsen, 2011).…”

“…Hulle is meer geneig om depressief te raak as dogters met hegte verhoudings met hul vaders (Holborn & Eddy, 2011;Nielsen, 2011). Gevoelens van vervreemding, woede, verwerping en minderwaardigheid is die hoofgevoelens wat uit die individuele onderhoude na vore gekom het.…”

“…Dit het vanselfsprekend 'n nadelige impak op hul selfbeeld en gevoel van eiewaarde. Vaderlose adolessente dogters is aansienlik meer geneig om verwerp en ongeliefd te voel as vaderlose adolessente seuns (Nielsen, 2011).…”

“…Hul selfbeeld word dikwels negatief geraak deur die afwesigheid van hul vader en hulle is dikwels oortuig dat hul vader 'n negatiewe opinie van hul het (Sieber, 2008). Hierdie kinders worstel dikwels met gevoelens van minderwaardigheid (Wineburgh, 2000) en voel verwerp en ongeliefd (Nielsen, 2011).…”

Fathers, adolescent daughters and gender in a low-income South African community

“…Positive father involvement has been linked to greater self-esteem and lifesatisfaction and less psychological distress in daughters (Allgood, Beckert, & Peterson, 2012;Nielsen, 2011). Fathers also have the potential to promote the academic success of daughters (Flouri & Buchanan, 2002;Lee, Kushner, & Cho, 2007), and positive paternal involvement lays the groundwork for better romantic and marital relationships later in life (Flouri & Buchanan, 2003;Madhavan & Roy, 2012).…”