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. Fathers are not substitutes for mothers. The father's physical, robust approach to the child complements and contrasts with the mother's more verbal, slow-paced style.
Fathers tend to allow children to roam farther, climb farther and take more chances.
Many young men without fathers have turned violent. For boys the crucial issue is role modeling. Boys without fathers risk growing up with low self-esteem, and becoming overly dependent on women. Well I do have a dad, but I don't know his name. In a 1987 study of college-age women and their fathers, all from intact families, found that those daughters most likely to become depressed had fathers who frequently were insensitive, unaffectionate, and unavailable.