p receiving welfare or Aid to Families with Dependent Children ([AFDC] N = 1,000 families, 27% white, 36% Hispanic, 27% black).
Data were collected at both the beginning of the program and then again five years later in order to assess children's behavioral development against demographic and familial variables. Analyses revealed that boys being raised in mother-only families were more likely to develop aggressive tendencies than boys being raised in intact families; however, this was not consistently true for girls. Moreover, while other problem behaviors exhibited by children were found to decrease over time, aggressive behavior actually got worse.
More recent research has repeatedly confirmed the finding that boys living in father-absent households are at risk for behavioral problems in the area of aggression. This research has been summarized by Saindon (1998) who reports that current studies has established that:
Boys with strong, warm, nurturing fathers, it now appears, are more socially competent, more persistent at solving problems and more self-directed. On the other hand, when the father isn't present either physically or emotionally, boys tend to be more aggressive and less compliant. They have greater problems in preschool. They don't obey their mothers as well. They have problems in peer relationships, tending either to play alone or to play with younger children. (Saindon, 1998, p. 1)
However, the existing research has somewhat narrowed the focus in terms of identifying those boys who are at maximal risk for the development of aggressive tendencies. In this regard, it has been found that those father-absent boys most likely to develop aggressive behavior are boys with several specific familial and sociodemographic characteristics. These characteristics are boys:
(1) with mothers who change their parenting style dramatically following the absence of the father (Hoffman, 1971); (2) whose fathers ...