Marriage and Family: Fatherhood

Social scientists use multiple indicators to track fatherhood impact upon children and broader the culture-at-large. However, there's one indicator Wade Horn, David Blankenhorn and other fatherhood movement leaders concede is almost empirically impossible to trace: The proportion of children whose fathers responsibly love and nurture them to adulthood. This, they say, is the "ultimate vision" and "final objective" of the fatherhood movement. And while the social science focus has been on evaluating the father-children ties, new family configurations reveal that for those concerned about the decline of fatherhood should also turn greater attention to the decline of marriage. As sociologist David Popenoe states, "The decline of marriage is a disaster for fatherhood."