 Nowadays, it's not that uncommon for someone's parents to not be together. It's estimated that 39% of marriages in America will end in divorce. However, not all parents who divorce will become absent. As in most cases, both parents stay in their child's life. However, for some children, the parents will become absent. An absent parent here refers to a parent who has no contact with their child. And this can have a whole host of negative consequences. These consequences could be due to a lack of role model, a lack of resources such as money, or even due to the trauma of feeling rejected by a parent. Wondering how an absent parent might affect a child? Here are six consequences of an absent parent. One, lower happiness and cognitive skills. One study by Wu and Zhang, 2017, that analyzed the effect of absent parents looked at children's scores for cognitive and non-cognitive skills. It probably does not come as a surprise that those with an absent parent were less likely to feel fulfilled and happy. It seems having present parents is vital to children's happiness, as well as the development of cognitive skills, such as mathematics. Two, changes to the brain. It's been found that absent parents can even affect a child's brain. Yang, Yan, Fu, Du, and Luy, 2015, compared the brains of children with and without absent parents. They found larger gray matter in the brains of those with absent parents, especially in brain areas related to emotion. This means that their brains were not effectively pruning neurons and may have lasting behavioral effects, though the mentioned study did not examine this. This is due to delayed maturation of the brain and shows that absent parenting can have a lasting impact on the brain. Three, worse mental health outcomes. It's probably not surprising that something as traumatic as having an absent parent can have serious effects on someone's mental health. A study by McClanahan, TAC, and Schneider, 2013, looked specifically at the consequences of absent fathers on child's development. They conducted a meta-analysis which found an absent father was negative for overall mental health. Specifically four out of six of the studies examined found a significant impact of an absent parent on general mental health. So absent parents have had long-lasting negative effects on the kids. Four, more likely to have substance use problems. As mentioned already, having an absent parent is distressing and people in distress often turn to substances, such as alcohol and illegal drugs. So is there a link between absent parents and substance misuse? Lacey, A.L. 2018, found that people with absent parents are more likely to smoke and or drink. Furthermore, the study talked about before McClanahan, TAC, and Schneider, 2013, also found a link between absent parents and substance use. Five, lower educational attainment. So we've seen the way an absent parent can affect development in a variety of ways. But what else does it affect? It seems it can also affect schooling. Meln, Myers, and Rosenthal, 1986, looked at how children from single-parent families performed in school. They looked at kids in elementary school and high school. They found overall being from a single-parent family negatively affected achievement in school. Furthermore, research by Hertz and Allen, 2001, found that resiliency of the family was important to academic achievement. So it could be that families with an absent parent are less resilient. This was dependent on other factors as well, however, like race and age. Six, forms romantic and sexual attractions quicker. One thing that may seem obvious is that our relationship with our parents informs our relationship with others. It seems having an absent parent does change how we form relationships. One study looked specifically at straight women and their fathers. They asked some woman to think of a time their father was either absent or present. They then were asked to imagine they were on a date and asked them to rate how likely they would be to have sex with them and form a relationship with them. They found overall these women were quicker to form romantic attractions and would have sex earlier if they had imagined a time their father was absent. This was particularly true in households where a divorce had happened, showing that an absent father can influence a child's relationship once they're an adult. Are any of these points relatable to you? What preventative factors do you think there are? If you enjoyed this video, please be sure to like and share it and subscribe to our channel for great relatable content.