the importance of a father figure.

With regard to antisocial behaviors, compared with control group youths,

BBBS youths were 46 percent less likely to initiate illegal drug use.

Analyzed separately, boys were 55 percent less likely to initiate illegal drug use.

When examined by racial/ethnic group, no significant differences were found for whites, but minority boys were 68 percent less likely to start using illegal drugs.

No significant differences were found for girls as a group, or for white girls as a subgroup. Minority girls were 73 percent less likely to initiate illegal drug use, a difference that was marginally statistically significant.

BBBS youths were 27 percent less likely to initiate alcohol use, a marginally significant difference.

No significant differences were found for either boys or girls as individual groups, or for minority boys or white boys or girls.

Minority girls were 54 percent less likely to initiate alcohol use than were control group girls, a difference that was marginally significant.

BBBS youths were 32 percent less likely to hit someone.

No significant differences were found for boys as a group or for minority boys as a subgroup. However, white boys in BBBS were marginally less likely to hit someone than were white boys in the control group.

Girls overall were less likely to hit someone, a difference that was marginally significant, but no significant differences were found for either minority girls or white girls as subgroups.

No significant effects were found for the BBBS group as a whole or for any of the subgroups for theft, property damage, involvement in fights, cheating on tests, being sent to the principal's office, or smoking.

With regard to academic outcomes, compared with control group participants,

BBBS youths attained slightly higher grade point averages (GPAs), with average GPAs of 2.71 versus 2.63, a difference that was marginally significant.
No significant differences were found for boys as a whole, or for minority boys or white boys as subgroups.

Girls who participated in BBBS attained significantly higher GPAs than did the comparison girls, with an average GPA of 2.84 versus an average of 2.67.

Differences in GPAs were marginally significant for minority girls in BBBS, who had an average GPA of 2.83 compared with an average of 2.62 for control group girls.

No effects were found for white girls.

BBBS youths were 52 percent less likely to skip a day of school.

No significant differences were found for boys as a whole, or for minority boys or white boys as subgroups.

Girls who participated in BBBS skipped 84 percent fewer days of school than did control group girls.

Effects were significant for both minority girls (78 percent fewer days skipped) and white girls (90 percent fewer days skipped).

Can a transgendered male ( female-> male) be a father figure?

What if you have a powerful father figure, who you look up to and admire, without realizing that he is actually not a good person? I worry about this because of my husband's father, who to me is like this malignant force in my husband's life... He was such a screwed-up, abusive, and angry person, who my husband and his family persist in seeing as basically good.

I don't know what's worse in that sort of situation...whatever good he did in being in his children's lives seems so counter-balanced by all the hidden damage he did... I can't help but think my husband and his brothers would have been better off with no father figure than an emotionally abusive tyrant that they percieve as a good guy.

Because I had no adequate father figure in my life, I selected an author,
whom I never met or corresponded with, for my father figure. While not a
wholly satisfactory solution, it did help.

In my experience having a father figure, as being someone who you can
look up to for advice, guidance, have respect for,

and maybe a health fear of has always been lacking.
I cannot imagine having such a figure to look to, to idolise almost.

I think I fully realise, in terms of the lack of a respectable father figure,
why I am the way that I am, and for a long time I think half the reason
I perused anything was because I was looking someone else to idolise,

to respect and mimic in a sense.

And I think because of this I never persisted with anything at length,
but now I understand this, at least for myself, and I am beginning
to approach things in different ways.

There are more and more broken families in the UK today than ever before,
so this is pretty relevant. I was wondering if anyone out there is familiar with this,
the lack of a father figure, and a strong family.
For me personally, I can see the pros and the cons.