Boys raised by unmarried mothers are at greater risk, but mostly, it appears because they spend more time without a dad. Child support made no difference one way or another in the likelihood a boy will grow up to be a criminal. Apparently stepfathers and children frequently compete for the time, attention and resources of the biological mother. These are large national averages. Poverty did make it more likely that a boy will be incarcerated as an adult.
Fathers teach their sons lessons, directly and indirectly, about what it means to be a man.
When boys identify with fathers who are loving and available, the likelihood lessens that they will define their masculinity in terms of rebellion and anti-social aggression. Ms. Harper and Ms. McLanahan, for example, found that the very small number of teenage boys living with just their single fathers were no more likely to commit crimes than boys in intact families. But boys living with remarried dads faced rates of future incarceration as high as or higher than boys living with remarried mothers. Perhaps because men who don't marry but care for their children single-handedly are unusually devoted fathers. The first heart-breaking victims of this revolution in social behavior may be the children of single parents themselves.