Did You Know?

• Fifty to 65% of first marriages end within the first 15 years.
• Most people who divorce will remarry, usually within 5 years. Remarriages are more likely to end than first marriages are.
• When divorce occurs, mothers usually get custody of children.
• 24 million children in the United States live without their biological father.*
•  In 1970, fewer than 400,000 homes in the United States had children being raised by single fathers. By 2000, that number had risen to 2 million.*
• In 2000, there were about 1.35 million out-of-wedlock births in the United States.*
• Over 3 million children in the United States live with an unmarried parent and his/her partner.*
• About 40 % of children who do not live with their biological father have not seen him during the past 12 months; more than half of them have never been in his home and 26% of those fathers live in a different sate than their children.*
•  In 1960, only 9% of children in the United States lived with single parents. By 1995 that figure rose to 27%.*
• Ninety percent of Americans believe children should live in the same home with their mother and father.*
• Eighty-five percent of Americans feel the number of children who are born to single parents is a “serous” issue.*
• Almost 18 million children in grades 1 to 12 do not live with their biological father.*
• About 27% of White children do not live with their biological father, 35% of Hispanic children and 66% of Black children.*
• About 80% of African American can expect to spend “a significant” portion of their childhood living without their biological father.*
• In 1990, almost 5 million children lived in neighborhoods in which single mothers were head of household in more than half of all families in those neighborhoods, 80% of those children were African Americans.*
• Nationally, over 19.2 million children live with single parents.  About 3 million live with single fathers while over 16 million live with single mothers.*
• Most single mothers with children younger than 6 years old have never been married.*
• Unmarried parents accounted for over 30% of children born in 2000.*
• In 2000, among White mothers about 27% of all births were out-of-wedlock, among Hispanic mothers about 43% and Black mothers about 70%.*
• In 1996, over 9 million children under 18 years old who were born out of wedlock did not have a father who was legally identified.*
• Girls, whose mothers were teenagers at the time of their birth, are over 80% more likely to become teenage mothers as well.*
•   In 1970, there were about 4 million divorced Americans. By 1998, the figure rose to over 19 million.*
• Since 1970, men have been divorcing at a median age between 32 and 36 years old.*
•  About 60% of couples who divorce have at least one child.*
• Divorce is more common among people who marry before they are 21 years old, those who are not religious; those are of a lower socio-economic status and those who marry because of pregnancy.*
• Studies on families with a great deal of conflict suggest that children raised in those families do better if their parents stay together than if they divorced.*
• Studies suggest that boys might be more adversely affected by divorce than girls might. However, studies of college students suggest that girls whose parents divorced are more likely to develop depression, have problems in their relationships and have children out-of-wedlock.*
• Generally, people whose parents never divorced tend to feel more satisfied with their lives that others whose parents did.*
• Men who divorce are two times more likely to commit suicide than those who stay married.*
• One study suggested that children with stepfathers are three times more likely to be abused. Another indicated that 17% of female victims were sexually abused by their stepfather.*
• Biological parents are on average more loving towards their children than stepparents are. Stepparents also tend to be more hostile and indifferent towards step-children.*
• Problems associated with single parenting do not disappear when single mothers marry.*
• The fathers of over 1 million children in the United States are in prison.*
• African American children are 9 times more likely than White children are, to have an incarcerated parent.*

*Reproduced from “Father Facts,” Fourth Edition (2002), with permission from the National Fatherhood Initiative.

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“Fathers of African Descent”