Family Facts: Social Science Research on Family, Society & Religion

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This finding looks at the relationship between family structure and adolescents’ reports of closeness to their fathers.

Adolescents living in intact families reported, on average, having closer relationships with their fathers compared to peers living in blended families or in divorced or never-married single-parent families, controlling for adolescents’ age, race, gender, and family income. This was true among youth in their early adolescence. Among youth in their middle adolescence, those living in intact families reported, on average, feeling closer to their fathers than peers in never-married or divorced single-parent families, but no more so than peers in blended families.

Sample or Data Description
Data came from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), using the 1992 sample. The analytical sample consisted of 1,443 adolescents, aged 10 to 18, who were children of the original NLSY79 respondents. Mothers in the 1992 NLSY sample are not nationally representative; they were more likely to be black, young, and have lower levels of education.

Source
"Family Structure, Closeness to Residential and Nonresidential Parents, and Psychological Distress in Early and Middle Adolescence"
Falci, Christina
The Sociological Quarterly Vol. 47, Number . , 2006. Page(s) 123-146.

FindingID: 9004