STUDY POINTS TO FATHERLESSNESS IN RISING CRIME: The study by three researchers at the Institute for Family Studies (IFS) identifies the absence of a father in a boy’s life as a key factor driving spiraling crime, failure in school, suicides and unemployment.

“The predicament of the American male is of particular importance here. The percentage of boys living apart from their biological father has almost doubled since 1960 — from about 17 percent to 32 percent today; now, an estimated 12 million boys are growing up in families without their biological father,” the IFS researchers write.

“Specifically, approximately 62.5 percent of boys under 18 are living in an intact-biological family, 1.7 percent are living in a step-family with their biological father and step- or adoptive mother, 4.2 percent are living with their single, biological father, and 31.5 percent are living in a home without their biological father.”

As one example of the negative impact of an absent father, the researchers found boys from an intact home with a father present are twice as likely to earn a college degree as boys without fathers present.