NEWS
Absent fathers put teenage girls at risk.
30 July 2003, Cape Argus

Absent dads lead teen girls to sex - study
The absence of a natural father has a greater impact on the sexual behaviour of teenage girls than was previously realised, researchers claim.

Many studies have shown that girls who grow up without a father are more likely to be sexually active at an early age and fall pregnant in their teens.
The usual explanation is stress factors caused by the lack of a father, such as lower household income and higher rates of domestic violence or depression.
This is said to trigger some innate mechanism which spurs a girl on to passing her genes on earlier. But new research in the United States and New Zealand - the two Western countries with the highest teen pregnancy rates - has cast doubt on the theory.
Girls raised with stepfathers engage in sexual activity even earlier
The findings suggest that the absence of a father has an effect which is nothing to do with psychological stress.
"The study rules out that these teenage girls are at risk for early pregnancy only because absence of the father introduces stressors into the home," said psychologist Bruce Ellis, from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, who led the research.
Ellis and colleagues followed more than 700 girls from pre-school age to 17 or 18.
They monitored 10 different aspects of their lives including family income, behavioural problems, exposure to violence and parenting styles.
The researchers confirmed that teenage girls raised without fathers were more likely to suffer from depression, drop out of school and have other behavioural difficulties. But their early sexual behaviour was most strongly influenced solely by the presence or absence of a father.
Other work by Ellis's team had previously suggested that girls raised with stepfathers engage in sexual activity even earlier.
It was the lack of a natural father, rather than a father figure, which seemed to be important. One possibility was that the girls learned "dating behaviour" at an early age by mimicking their mothers.
James Chisholm, an expert on early puberty at the University of Western Australia in Perth, said: "The study certainly suggests that some Factor X triggers early sexual activity in girls who grow up without their fathers, but it is difficult to work out what the mechanism might be."
Ellis cautioned that the findings should not be seized upon by advocates of traditional families. - Sapa-DPA This article was originally published on page 15 of The Cape Argus on July 30, 2003

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