Wygant (2014) Paternal Deprivation Harmful Effects Child Development_4aaa

8/16/2019 Wygant (2014) Paternal Deprivation Harmful Effects Child Development_4aaa

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/wygant-2014-paternal-deprivation-harmful-effects-child-development4aaa 1/11

Paternal Deprivation and its Harmful Effects on Child Development 1

Wygant, S. A. (March, 2014)

Paternal Deprivation and its Harmful Effects on Child

Development

Shawn Wygant

Forensic Family Research

March 14, 2014





Paternal Deprivation and its Harmful Effects on Child Development

Introduction

Research into father-child relationships has revealed that fathers play a vital and

indispensable role in a child’s emotional, cognitive, social, and physical development(Lamb & Kelly, 2009; Allen & Daly, 2007; Cashmore, Parkinson, & Taylor, 2008; Sarkadi,

Kristiansson, Oberklaid, & Bremberg, 2008) and that their absence is associated with

causing significant harm (Bloch, Peleg, Koren, Aner, & Klein, 2007; M. Lamb & J. Lamb,

1976; Luecken & Appelhans, 2006) in the form of brain damage (Bambico, Lacoste,

Hattan, & Gobbi, 2007; Helmeke et al., 2009; Sobrinho et al., 2012), depressive disorders

(Cuplin, Heron, Araya, & Joinson, 2013; Jia, Tai, An, Zhang, & Broders, 2009), identity

problems (Lohr, Legg, Mendell, & Riemer, 1989; Lynn & Sawrey, 1959; Meerum Terwogt

et al., 2002), teenage pregnancy (Ellis et al., 2003), and aggression (Nichols, 2013).

Brain Damage from Neglect of a Child’s Paternal Attachment Needs

From a child developmental perspective, the act of depriving a child of their

father is a form of child neglect (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child,

2012) since it ignores and rejects the child’s basic paternal attachment needs for proper

growth and development (Cicchetti & Toth, 2005). One of these critical basic needs

comes in the form of sensory brain stimulation that is uniquely provided for by fathers

(Grossman et al., 2002). Several studies have shown that offspring who are deprived of

their father will suffer damage to the areas of the brain most responsible for making

important decisions (Bambico et al., 2013; Helmeke et al., 2009; Pinkernelle et al., 2009)

and regulating emotional reactions to ordinary stresses of daily life (Tyrka et al., 2008;

Luecken & Appelhans, 2006).

a. Bambico et al. 2013

In the Bambico et al. (2013) study, researchers demonstrated that parental

deprivation (PD) “leads to … abnormalities in social and reward-related behaviors that

are associated with disturbances in cortical dopamine … and glutamate … transmission”

within the prefrontal cortex (p. 3). These neurobiological abnormalities occurred “during

critical developmental periods” and led to “impaired social and behavioral functions in

adults” (p. 16). The impairments were more pronounced in the females who exhibited a

“decrease in social interaction and an increase in aggressive behavior” (p. 17). The

authors believe that these observed anti-social behaviors are the result of “a lack of

social play stimulation in the absence of the father” (p. 17).

The import from these conclusions suggests that fathers are uniquely qualified to

teach their offspring important pro-social behaviors and that it is through the pro-social





father-child behaviors (play stimulation) that children develop a sufficiency of dopamine

receptors in the prefrontal cortex necessary for learning how to socialize in wide variety

of contexts. The authors also point out that the females, more than males, who were

deprived of a father developed “functionally hypoactive” prefrontal cortexes because of

the lack of dopamine receptors which they argue undermines both “prefrontal

facilitation of prosocial behavior and inhibitory control over drug-seeking behavior” (p.

19).

b. Helmeke et al. 2009

Like the Bambico et al. (2013) study, Helmeke et al. (2009) performed a set of

experiments involved with depriving rodent pups of their father and then comparing

their adult behavior with pups raised with their father. The major results of the Helmeke

et al. (2009) study showed that paternal deprivation causes “delays” and suppression in

the “development of the orbitofrontal circuits” of the forebrain as confirmed by brain

imaging analysis (p. 790). The brain imaging analysis showed “retarded dendritic and

synaptic development of the apical dendrites of layer II/III pyramidal neurons in the

orbitofrontal cortex of adult fatherless animals” (p. 790). The orbitofrontal cortex,

according to the authors, plays an “essential role in social behaviors, choice behaviors,

decision making and impulse control” in both rodents and humans (Helmeke et al.,

2009, p. 791). Another important finding from this study was the observation that the

single mothers did not “compensate for the lack of paternal care” and that “paternal

deprivation does not increase the frequency of pup-initiated maternal contacts”

(Helmeke et al., 2009, p. 793). These observations confirm that offspring of biparental

environments who are missing a father during critical periods of brain development donot receive any compensatory stimulation from the mother.

c. Pinkernelle et al. 2009

Pinkernelle et al. (2009) make the argument that the uniqueness of paternal care

is a critical “source of neonatal sensory stimulation … shown to be essential for” proper

brain development (p. 663). They indicate on page 671 of their report that the “father-

deprived animals” showed shrunken basal dendrites in the left somatosensory cortex

leading to a reverse hemispheric asymmetry when compared with animals raised with a

father (Pinkernelle et al., 2009). Thus, paternal deprivation “results in … retarded …synaptic development of somatosensory circuits” (Id at p. 663). This type of reduction in

left brain development has also been found in human studies involving abused children

(Teicher et al., 2003). In the Teicher et al. (2003) study, the authors reported that in “15

pediatric psychiatric inpatients with a documented history of abuse” the left hemisphere

“lagged substantially behind the left hemisphere of healthy controls” and that in a

previous study of “24 children (7-14 years of age) with a history of trauma. … the abused







Risk of Depression in Adolescence and Adulthood

Heim, Shugart, Craighead, & Nemeroff (2010) point out that heightened stress

sensitivity observed in adults who were neglected or abused as children is related to

“persistent experiences” of parental loss in childhood and leads to an “increased risk of

depression” (p. 676). Two important studies have shown that father absence inchildhood dramatically increases the risk for both adolescent depressive symptoms

(Culpin, Heron, Araya, Melotti, & Joinson, 2013) and adult onset major depressive

disorders (Noorikhajavi, Afghah, Dadkhah, Holakoyie, & Motamedi, 2007).

a. Culpin et al. 2013

In Culpin et al. (2013) study, 5631 children from the “UK-based Avon Longitudinal

Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) were assessed for depressive symptoms at 14

years of age. For those children in the study whose fathers were absent during the first

5 years of childhood there was a significant risk of depressive symptoms at age 14especially for girls (Culpin et al., 2013). The higher prevalence of depressive symptoms

found in adolescent girls is supported by previous studies that have shown that adult

women whose fathers were absent during early childhood (0-5) have a much higher

likelihood of depression in midlife (Maier & Lachman, 2000) and throughout the lifespan

(Personen & Raikkonen, 2012).

b. Noorikhajavi et al. 2007

In 2007, Noorikhajavi et al. examined the relationship between “parental loss

under 18 and developing major depressive disorder” in adulthood (p. 351). Theycompared a case group of 64 adult patients admitted to a psychiatric hospital and who

met the DSM-IV-TR criteria for major depressive disorder with a control group of “68

non-depressive patients” (Noorikhajavi et al., 2007, p. 347). Two important conclusions

were reached from this study: (1) “parental loss experienced under the age of 18 is

considered as one of the risk factors in developing Major Depressive Disorder later

during the adult life” and (2) that “in spite of the presence of extended families and their

support. … parental loss under 18 … leaves certain inert major depressive effects” in

persons paternally deprived (Noorikhajavi et al., 2007, pp. 352-353).

c. Slavich, Monroe, & Gotlib 2011

This type of adult-onset “parental-loss related depression” (Noorikhajavi et al.,

2007, p. 352) was examined in a 2011 study by Slavich, Monroe, & Gotlib (2011). They

concluded that “individuals exposed to early parental loss or separation … become

depressed following relatively lower levels of psychosocial stress” (Slavich, Monroe, &

Gotlib, 2011, p. 1151). This association was found to be “unique to stressors involving





interpersonal loss” which the authors refer to as “selective sensitization” (Slavich,

Monroe, & Gotlib, 2011, p. 1151). This selective sensitization is also associated with

higher levels of cortisol found in depressed patients (Shea, Walsh, MacMillan, & Steiner,

2004) suggesting that the dysregulating effects of parental loss on the HPA axis

predisposes a child to a life-long exaggerated physiological stress response to events

related to interpersonal loss (Tyrka et al., 2008).

Identity Problems

a. Lohr, Legg, Mendell, & Riemer 1989

Losing a parent, and specifically a father, in early childhood can also become a source of

identity problems during adolescence especially for girls (Lohr, Legg, Mendell, & Riemer,

1989). According to Lohr, Legg, Mendell, & Riemer (1989) girls who are deprived of their

father during the first 5 years of life have difficulty developing a “sense of femininity” (p.

351). They report that this was observed in “latency aged and adolescent girls whoseparents’ divorced during their oedipal years” resulting in the emergence of the following

four maladaptive coping behavioral patterns that complicated “the consolidation of

positive feminine identification:”

1. Intensified separation anxiety

2. Denial and avoidance of feelings associated with loss of father

3. Identification with the lost object

4. Object hunger for males (Lohr, Legg, Mendell, & Riemer, 1989, p. 357).

With regard to the second pattern, paternally deprived girls may develop an

intense and defensive type of anger toward the absent father as an oedipal object which

can present in two potentially destructive ways: (1) fear of “entering into positive oedipal

relationships with men” or (2) becoming overly “seductive” and overly “familiar” (Lohr,

Legg, Mendell, & Riemer, 1989, p. 359). Both of these patterns represent a threat to any

paternally deprived adolescent girl’s ability to establish a healthy sense of her own

feminine identity. Therefore, the authors concluded that “girls have a clear need for

ongoing involvement with their fathers … to facilitate healthy psychosexualdevelopment” (Lohr, Legg, Mendell, & Riemer, 1989, p. 364).

b. Lynn & Sawrey 1959

In an older study by Lynn and Sawrey (1959), identity problems in boys were

observed when studying how young boys and girls from Norwegian sailor families

reacted to the absence of their fathers. From a sample of 80 mother-child pairs (40





father-absent and 40 father-present), they found that the boys in the absence of their

fathers “behaved in an exaggeratedly masculine way” which was considered to

“compensatory” (Lynn & Sawrey, 1959, p. 260). These absent father boys when given a

choice between a father-doll or mother-doll more often chose to play with the father-

doll which the authors suggest “implies strong strivings for father-identification” (Lynn

& Sawrey, 1959, p. 260). This observed “father-identification” striving and compensatory

masculinity resulted in “poor peer-adjustment” behaviors (Lynn & Sawrey, 1959, p. 261).

Teenage Pregnancy & Aggression

Because of the development of identity problems observed in both boys and girls who

were paternally deprived during early childhood, some researchers have suggested that

this can lead to an increase in teenage pregnancy in girls (Ellis et al., 2003) and anti-

social aggression in boys (Nichols, 2013).

a. Ellis et al. 2003

Ellis et al. (2003) conducted a longitudinal study of 762 girls (242 US & 520 New

Zealand) who were followed f rom age 5 through 18 and showed that “father absence

was strongly associated with” an elevated risk for “early sexual activity” and “adolescent

pregnancy” (p. 801). The girls in the study were classified into three groups: (1) early

onset father absent (missing at or before age 5=33%), (2) late onset father absent

(present through age 5 = 12%), and (3) father presence (present through age 13=55%).

The results indicated that approximately 60% of girls whose fathers were absent early in

life became sexually active prior to age 16 compared with 40% for fathers absent late

and 27% for fathers present through age 13 (p. 811). Similarly, girls whose fathers were

absent early became pregnant more often (34%) than fathers present (5%) and fathers

absent late (10%).

b. Nichols 2013

In the Nichols (2013) study, the researchers discovered that when young rodents

were deprived of a parent it induced “hyperactivity of the HPA axis” in both males and

females however this led to more aggression in the males and reduced aggression in

the females. These findings tend to support the hypothesis that with families who raise

their offspring in biparental environments, parental loss is experienced differently by

males and females (Noorikhajavi et al., 2007; Pinkernelle et al., 2009; Sobrinho et al.,

2012). In this last study by Sobrinho et al. (2012), it is interesting to note that paternal

deprivation for girls prior to adolescence was found to significantly increase their risk of

developing pituitary adenomas in adulthood and that this risk was associated with

persistent and sustained HPA hyperactivity in reaction to parental loss (O’Connor,

Halloran, & Shanahan, 2000).





Forensic Application of Paternal Deprivation Research

Within the context of applying the foregoing paternal deprivation research to

legal cases that involve children who are being denied access to a father, it is important

to evaluate the developmental needs of those children using current research as a

guide. Lamb & Kelly (2009) provide some insight into this issue when they reported thefollowing:

Children benefit from supportive relationships with both of their parents, whether

or not those parents live together. … In order to ensure that both adults become

or remain parents to their children, post-divorce parenting plans need to

encourage participation by both parents in as broad as possible an array of social

contexts on a regular basis. Brief dinners and occasional weekend visits do not

provide a broad enough or extensive enough basis for such relationships to be

fostered. … at least one-third of the non-school hours should be spent with the

non-resident parent and most experts would agree that 15% (every other

weekend) is almost certainly insufficient (p. 206).

These statements from Lamb & Kelly (2009) clearly indicate that children who are

only provided contact with their father every other weekend (15% of available time) are

being substantively deprived of their developmental attachment needs for the presence

of their father. These insights are the result of over 40 years of parent-child relationship

research which shows “that children raised without a father are at nearly four times the

risk of needing treatment for emotional and behavioral problems including the

probability of drug and alcohol abuse, mental illness, poor educational performance andcriminal activity” (Helmeke et al., 2009, p. 790). Accordingly, the minimum

developmentally appropriate threshold of time spent between a non-resident parent

and his or her children should be at least 33% (Lamb & Kelly, 2009, p. 206).

References

Allen, S., & Daly, K. (2007). The effects of father involvement: An updated research

summary of the evidence. In FIRA: Father Involvement Research Alliance. Guelph, ON:

University of Guelph. Retrieved from

http://fira.ca/cms/documents/29/Effects_of_Father_Involvement.pdf

Bambico, F. R., Lacoste, B., Hattan, P. R., & Gobbi, G. (2013). Father absence in the

monogamous California mouse impairs social behavior and modifies dopamine and

glutamate synapses in the medial prefrontal cortex. Cerebral Cortex , bht310, 1-44.

Retrieved from http://cusm.ca/sites/default/files/Submitted-last.pdf



http://cusm.ca/sites/default/files/Submitted-last.pdf









Bloch, M., Peleg, I., Koren, D., Aner, H., & Klein, E. (2007). Long-term effects of early

parental loss due to divorce on the HPA axis. Hormones and Behavior, 51, 516-523.

Cashmore, J., Parkinson, P., & Taylor, A. (2008). Overnight stays and ch ildren’s

relationships with resident and nonresident parents after divorce. Journal of Family Issues,

29(6), 707-733.

Cicchetti, D., & Toth, S. L. (2005). Child maltreatment. Annual Review of Clinical

Psychology, 1, 409-438.

Cuplin, I., Heron, J., Araya, R., Melotti, R., & Joinson, C. (2013). Father absence and

depressive symptoms in adolescence: Findings from a UK cohort. Psychological Medicine,

43, 2615-2626.

De Bellis, M. D., Baum, A. S., Birmaher, B., Keshavan, M. S., Eccard, C. H., Boring, A. M.,

Jenkins, F. J., & Ryan, N. D. (1999). Developmental traumatology parts I & II: Biologicalstress systems & brain development. Biological Psychiatry, 45, 1259-1284.

Ellis, B. J., Bates, J. E., Dodge, K. A., Fergusson, D.M., Horwood, J. J., Pettit, G. S., &

Woodward, L. (2003). Does father absence place daughters at special risk for early sexual

activity and teenage pregnancy? Child Development , 74(3), 801-821.

Grossmann, K., Grossmann, K. E., Fremmer-Bombik, E., Kindler, H., Scheuerer-Englisch, J.,

& Zimmermann, P. (2002). The uniqueness of the child-father attachment relationship:

Fathers’ sensitive and challenging play as pivotal variable in a 16-year longitudinal study.

Social Development, 11(3), 301-337.

Heim, C., Shugart, M., Craighead, W. E., & Nemeroff, C. B. (2010). Neurobiological and

psychiatric consequences of child abuse and neglect. Developmental Psychobiology ,

52(7), 671-690.

Helmeke, C., Seidel, K., Poeggel, G., Bredy, T.W., Abraham, A., & Braun, K. (2009). Paternal

deprivation during infancy results in dendrite and time-specific changes of dendritic

development and spine formation in the orbitofrontal cortex of the biparental rodent

octodon degus. Neuroscience, 163, 790-798.

Jia, R., Tai, F., An, S., Zhang, X., & Broders, H. (2009). Effects of neonatal paternal

deprivation or early deprivation on anxiety and social behaviors of the adults in

mandarin voles. Behavioural Processes, 82(3), 271-278.

Kolb, B., Mychasiuk, R., Muhammad, A., Li, Y., Frost, D. O., & Gibb, R. (2012). Experience

and the developing prefrontal cortex. PNAS, 109(Suppl. 2), 17186-17193.





Lamb, M. E., & Kelly, J. B. (2009). Improving the quality of parent-child contact in

separating families with infants and young children: Empirical research foundations. In R.

M. Galazter-Levy, J. Kraus, and J. Galatzer-Levy (Eds.), The Scientific Basis of Child Custody

decisions Second Edition (pp. 187-214). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons.

Lamb, M. E., & Lamb, J. E. (1976). The nature and importance of the father-infantrelationship. The Family Coordinator, 25(4), 379-385.

Lohr, R., Legg, C., Mendell, A. E., & Riemer, B. S. (1989). Clinical observations on

interferences of early father absence in the achievement of femininity. Clinical Social

Work Journal, 17 (4), 351-365.

Luecken, L. J., & Appelhans, B. M. (2006). Early parental loss and salivary cortisol in

young adulthood: The moderating role of family environment. Development and

Psychopathology, 18, 295-308.

Lynn, D. B., & Sawrey, W. L. (1959). The effects of father-absence on Norwegian boys

and girls. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 59(2), 258-262.

Maier, E. H., & Lachman, M. E. (2000). Consequences of early parental loss and

separation for health and well-being in midlife. International Journal of Behavioral

Development, 24(2), 183-189.

Meerum Terwogt, M., Meerum Terwogt-Reijinders, C. J., & Hekken, S. M. (2002). Identity

problems related to an absent genetic father. Zeitschrift fur Familienforschung, 14, 257-

271.

National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. (2012). The science of neglect: The

persistent absence of responsive care disrupts the developing brain: Working paper 12.

In Center for the Developing Child at Harvard University. Retrieved from

http://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/reports_and_working_papers/working_pap

ers/wp12/

Nelson, C. A., Bos, K., Gunnar, M. R., & Sonuga‐Barke, E. J. (2011). V. The neurobiological

toll of early human deprivation. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child

Development , 76 (4), 127-146.

Nichols, C. (2013). Evidence for a link between early life stress and adult aggression: The

role of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis. BioSciences Master Reviews, 1-8.

Retrieved from http://biologie.ens-lyon.fr/biologie/ressources/bibliographies/pdf/m1-

12-13-biosci-reviews-clairis-n-2c-m.pdf?lang=en

http://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/reports_and_working_papers/working_papers/wp12/



http://biologie.ens-lyon.fr/biologie/ressources/bibliographies/pdf/m1-12-13-biosci-reviews-clairis-n-2c-m.pdf?lang=en












Noorikhajavi, M., Afghah, S., Dadkhah, A., Holakoyie, K., & Motamedi, S. H. (2007). The

effect of parental loss under 18 on developing MDD in adult age. International Journal

of Psychiatry in Medicine, 37 (3), 347-355.

O’Connor, T. M., Halloran, D. J., & Shanahan, F. (2000). The stress response and the

hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis: From molecule to melancholia. The Quarterly Journal of Medicine, 93, 323-333.

Personen, A., & Raikkonen, K. (2012). The lifespan consequence of early life stress.

Physiology & Behavior, 106, 722-727.

Pinkernelle, J., Abraham, A., Seidel, K., & Braun, K. (2009). Paternal deprivation induces

dendritic and synaptic changes and hemispheric asymmetry of pyramidal neurons in the

somatosensory cortex. Developmental neurobiology , 69(10), 663-673.

Sarkadi, A., Kristiansson, R., Oberklaid, F., & Bremberg, S. (2008). Fathers’ involvementand children’s developmental outcomes: A systematic review of longitudinal studies.

Acta Paediatrica, 97, 153-158.

Shea, A., Walsh, C., MacMillan, H., & Steiner, M. (2005). Child maltreatment and HPA axis

dysregulation: Relation to major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder

in females. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 30(2), 162-178.

Slavich, G. M., Monroe, S. M., & Gotlib, I. H. (2011). Early parental loss and depression

history: Associations with recent life stress in major depressive disorder. Journal of

Psychiatric Research, 45(9), 1146-1152.

Sobrinho, L. G., Duarte, J. S., Paiva, I., Gomes, L., Vicente, V., & Aguiar, P. (2012). Paternal

deprivation prior to adolescence and vulnerability to pituitary adenomas. Pituitary , 15(2),

251-257.

Teicher, M. H., Andersen, S. L., Polcari, A., Anderson, C. M., Navalta, C. P., & Kim, D. M.

(2003). The neurobiological consequences of early stress and childhood maltreatment.

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 27 (1), 33-44.

Tyrka, A., Wier, L., Price, L. H., Ross, N., Anderson, G. M., Wilkinson, C.W., & Carpenter, L.

L. (2008). Childhood parental loss and adult hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal function.

Biological Psychiatry, 63(12) , 1147-1154.

Documents

Wygant (2014) Paternal Deprivation Harmful Effects Child Development_4aaa