As a little girl, I was diagnosed with polio. Doctors predicted I would never walk again. My mother said, ‘Not only will you walk, you will run!’ I believed my mother!” — Wilma Rudolph, 1960 Olympic Gold Medalist in the 100-yard dash

A great deal has been written about the mother-daughter relationship and its impact upon adolescent girl development (Straussner & Brown (Eds.), 2002; Ackerman, 1999; Sanders, 2001). One Hawaiian study that followed children from birth to age 18, revealed a profound negative impact from maternal alcoholism. Writers also have chronicled the impact of fatherlessness on sons and its link to addiction (Reel, 1997; Sanders, 2006). Less has been written about the father-daughter relationship and how it impacts substance use among adolescent girls.

This article focuses on adolescent girls with regard to: 1) the influence of involved, responsible and committed fathers as a protective factor against substance use disorders; and 2) the impact of the absence of fathers as a risk factor for substance use disorders and other problems, on their daughters. Intervention strategies also are discussed.

What involved, responsible and committed fathers provide for their daughters

Research reveals that involved fathers can have a positive impact on adolescent girls, thus decreasing their risk of heavy drug use (Ackerman, 1999; Barras, 2000; Sanders, 2001; Coma, 2000; Bisnaire, 1990). According to these authors, some of the positive benefits include:

• Positive impact in utero — The involvement of fathers decreases overall stress on mothers during pregnancy and decreases the risk of miscarriage.
• Greater birth weight — Involvement of fathers during pregnancy leads to higher birth weights for newborns. There is a relationship between lower birth rate, learning challenges and premature death.
• Nurturing and affirmations — This increases the chances of healthy self-esteem, which serves as a protective factor against heavy substance use.
• Decreased risk of sexual abuse — Research indicates a relationship between the absence of fathers and an increase in sexual abuse among adolescent girls. The great majority of women who become chemically dependent were exposed to sexual trauma as teens.
• Confidence 
• Increased probability of healthy relationships — A pattern of unhealthy relationships increases the risk of substance use disorders among adolescent girls.
• Attention
• Increase in financial security
• Increased probability of academic success
• Healthy attachments
• Decreased risk of substance use disorders

The impact of fatherlessness on adolescent girls

There are myriad ways in which fathers can be absent from the lives of their daughters. The three most common forms are death, divorce and abandonment. Of these three primary forms, abandonment and divorce have a more devastating impact (Barras, 2000; Griffin, 1998). When the father dies, many girls are able to deal with this without blaming themselves for his death. With divorce and abandonment, girls are more likely to see these losses as reflections of something being wrong with them (i.e., “I must not be smart enough, pretty enough; my hair must not be long enough; perhaps I am unlovable”).

These internalizations can lead to a great deal of self-abuse, heavy substance use and other problems (Sanders, 2008; Coma, 2000; Barras, 2000; Sanders, 2001; Griffin, 1998). Collectively, these authors make the following points about the impact of abandonment by their fathers on adolescent girls:

• Increased risk of substance use disorders
• Increased risk of teen pregnancy
• Depression — Increased risk of
self-medication through illicit drugs
• Decreased feelings of security —  Some teen girls will turn to delinquent males for pseudo security. As these males have a high risk of being involved in delinquency and drug use, adolescent girls who migrate toward them are at increased risk for involvement in the criminal justice system and drug use.
• Increase in violence — Girls abandoned by their fathers experience a great deal of anger, and some will strike out aggressively toward younger siblings and peers in order to express that anger.
• Toxic shame and abandonment issues — People often medicate these painful emotions with the use of alcohol and other drugs.
• Father hunger — Girls who are abandoned by their fathers often yearn for male attention. Some will date older males in response to the absence of their fathers. Others will spend a lifetime emotionally yearning for their fathers; for them, Father’s Day is not a day of celebration, it is a national day of mourning.
• Rift with the mother — Many children blame their mothers for the absence of their fathers. This tension in the mother-daughter relationship can further exacerbate the adolescent girl’s problems, leading her away from home and increasing the risk of negative environmental influences and drug use.
• Promiscuity — “So many people want me; why can’t my father see how desirable I am?”
• Increased risk of gang affiliation — The absence of fathers can lead to feelings of needing protection. Gang affiliation can provide such an outlet.
• Decrease in emotional intelligence — Emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to separate thinking from feelings. Abandonment impacts emotional intelligence, leaving daughters more vulnerable to destructive relationship patterns and abuse.
• Unresolved grief — One’s way to numb oneself from grief is the use of drugs.
• Difficulty trusting men
• Self-abuse — Suicide attempts, cutting, substance use
• Spiritual distress — “God, how have you let me suffer so much without my father?”

This plethora of problems accompanies girls with substance use disorders into chemical dependence treatment. These issues, if left unaddressed, have the ability to extend and haunt her even into adulthood (Sanders, 2008; Barras, 2000). Clearly, intervention strategies are needed.

Intervention strategies

There are a number of strategies that are helpful with fatherless girls with regard to prevention and interventions as they enter chemical dependence treatment (White, Kurtz, & Sanders, 2006; Corey, 1996; Sanders, 2008).

Talk therapy is one strategy used to address issues of abandonment, which can contribute to the development of substance use. The experiential exercises in Gestalt therapy also have been effective in helping girls to verbalize the pain of fatherlessness and lead them toward a path of healing and recovery. Grief work also is an important component of therapeutic treatment for fatherless girls.

Another interesting strategy for coping with fatherlessness comes from reading biographies and stories about other remarkable girls and women who, despite being fatherless, have achieved successful and fulfilling lives. These stories of survival and strength can be quite empowering for fatherless girls, to help them relate to role models, who have coped with the same issues they are dealing with.

Forming connections with grandfathers and uncles may also help adolescent girls to deal with absent fathers. Although they are no substitute for a father, a supportive, loving relationship with them can certainly help encourage more positive behaviors and a better outlook on life.

It is also important to address and treat the acting out behaviors associated with fatherless girls, such as gang activity, promiscuity, substance use disorders and other negative behaviors. Involvement in sports is a good way to stave off some of the negative activities and consequences associated with fatherless girls. Being involved in sports has been shown to increase self-confidence and feelings of belonging, as well as decrease the risk of teen pregnancy.

Mentorship is a protective factor for girls abandoned by their fathers. Programs such as Big Brothers/Big Sisters have been found to decrease truancy, violence and substance use among teens.

As mentioned earlier, adolescent girls abandoned by their fathers are at increased risk for becoming pregnant in their teens. The fathers of babies born to teen mothers are likely to abandon their children, thus creating future generations of children who have been abandoned by their fathers. Outreach to young fathers may help decrease the stress on teen mothers, and also, may impact future generations.

Finally, it is important to note that adolescent girls often face a number of challenges even after treatment. Recovery coaching in her natural environment can be helpful, particularly in early recovery.

The adolescent girl can suffer from father hunger as a result of being abandoned by her father. This injury/wound can lead to self-abuse and heavy substance use. It is clear that she does not deserve to be abandoned, and it is equally clear that, as she enters chemical dependence treatment, she deserves the best treatment possible, including that which focuses on the impact of fatherlessness.

Mark Sanders, LCSW, CADC, is a member of the faculty of the Addictions Studies Program at Governors State University. He is an international speaker and consultant in the addictions field who has provided training and consultation throughout the United States, Europe, Canada and the Caribbean Islands. He has had two stories published in Chicken Soup for the Recovering Soul and is co-author of Recovery Management with William White and Ernest Kurtz.

Shannon Mayeda, PhD, LCSW, CRADC, is an Associate Professor at The University of Southern California, where she teaches mental health practice and theory courses in the Master of Social Work Program. She has 26 years of clinical experience assisting adolescents and adults in their complex struggles with addiction, severe mental illnesses and homelessness in the urban and multi-cultural environments of both Los Angeles and Chicago.

References

Ackerman, R., Ph.D., Perfect Daughters, Deerfield Beach, FL, Health Communications, 1999.
Bae, Y. (1990) Women in Mathematics and Science http://nces.ed.gov./.tubs/ce/c97005.html
Barras, J. Whatever Happened to Daddy’s Little Girl? New York: Random House 2000.
Bisnaire, et al., 1990. Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 60(1), 1990.
Coma, C. (August 2000). Personal Communication Journal, New York, NY
Corey, G. (1996). Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy. Pacific Grove, CA.: Brooks-Cole Publishing Company.
Griffin, D. Fatherless Women. Milligan Books, 1998.
Kinney, J. (2000) Loosening the Grip. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.
Mayeda, S. & Sanders, M. Counseling Difficult-to-Reach Chemically Dependent Adolescent Males: A Strength-based Approach. Counseling Magazine, Vol. 8, June 2007.
Reel, T. I Don’t Want To Talk About It: Overcoming the Secret Legacy of Male Depression. New York: Fireside, 1997.
Sanders, M., Counseling Chemically Dependent African American Women, Winds of Change, 2001.
Sanders, M. CD from Presentation on the Father-Daughter Relationship, U.S. Journal Training, 6th Annual Adolescent Conference, April 25, 2008. CD
Sanders, M. (2006) 5th Annual Conference on Anger/Trauma and Addiction Recovery, U.S. Journal Training, 4th Las Vegas Conference on Adolescents, April 27-29, 2006. Counseling the Resistant Adolescent Male, CD#756C16.
Straussner, S. & Brown, S. The Handbook of Addiction Treatment for Women: Theory and Practice. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2002.
White, W., Kurtz, E., & Sanders, M. (2006) Recovery Management. Chicago, IL: Great Lakes ATTC Monograph.

This article is published in Counselor, The Magazine for Addiction Professionals, October 2008, v.9, n.5, pp.30-34.

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dcasay  - dad's treating mom with respect   |Registered |2012-04-23 20:55:25 I would like to know more about the importance of dad's treating their daughters mom's with respect. I have a case involving a father treating his daughters's mom horribly and is psychologically abusive towards the mom. I would like to know if there is any specific research on this topic that can help support my position that the dad is doing developmental damage to his young daughter by treating her mom the way that he does Reply 0   0

lindsay  - daddy's gone   |69.171.167.xxx |2010-02-14 12:52:30 i miss mi dad he hardly is around.... i see hem lyk 1 time every two months.....when he left he never said goodbye he didnt even call i found by my mom after skool.!!! i want my daddy back. but MarQuie has him now.(his 2nd wife) he is never coming back Reply 1   0

Suzanne Marie  - Isn't that the truth !   |64.122.15.xxx |2009-08-27 14:29:07 I did it all, drugs, running away, sleeping with boys and then older men . Always looking for a father . My husband is 15 years older than me . I was a pedophiles dream. My mother told me she'd tell me about my father when I was older, which to me , was horrible to do to a child. So I searched the cars with my eyes , thinking any strange man could be my dad. I was molested at 7 and then at 11 and on up. Then I was abandoned by my mother and grew up in the streets . Double whammy. Father's day is a horrible day for me, always has been since I was little. But I am a survivor of all the above and tons more , so you just get through it. I was looking for articles on the laws regarding abandonment of children. I have heard that it is against the law to abandon a child under 18. Sadly, what happens is the child is locked up , as I was, for their parents crime. I was locked up from age 12 to 14 . Would ha... Reply 6   1

Binta  - fatherlessness   |98.204.234.xxx |2009-02-15 19:00:14 I would like to use this article to reference in a seminar paper Reply 1   0

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