Father Involvement also plays a unique and irreplaceable role in the older child's intellectual, emotional, and social development. Father involvement is related to improved quantitative and verbal skills, improved problem solving ability, and enhanced academic achievment in their children. Father presence has been found in several studies to determine proficiency in mathematics in their daughters. When compared to stepfathers, it has been found that children living with biological fathers exhibited the least delinquency, while the children with stepfathers had the most disordered behavior. The conclusions from a large body of existing research are inescapable.
Fathers are far more than just 'second adults' in the home.