Association between behavioral and school problems and fatherhood in a national sample of adolescent youths

The relation between fatherhood and behavioral and school problems was studied in a nationally representative sample of adolescent youths. Data were obtained from the National Longitudinal Survey of Work Experience of Youth (NLSY). Of the 6400 youths interviewed in 1980, 367 (5.7%) reported that they had fathered a child before the age of 19 years. This group was compared with 1000 non-fathers selected at random from the same data set. The groups differed by race and family socioeconomic characteristics. Academic, drug, and conduct problems were significantly more common among adolescent fathers than among non-fathers. Race and family income, and fatherhood status were independently related to various problem behaviors. These results confirm previous findings demonstrating a relation between delinquency and adolescent fatherhood.