Westheimer befriended the boy, who had no father, and began to urge his close friends to get involved as "big brothers" with other young boys from fatherless homes.

Five of the six young filmmakers grew up in fatherless homes.

Ms. Friday herself was brought up in a fatherless home, as she says repeatedly.

While, obviously, not all fatherless families produce troubled children, a high percentage of delinquent boys do come from fatherless homes, she added.

To assume that boys from fatherless homes have less need for role models is also sexist.

Most of the youngsters getting into trouble and preying on others come from fatherless homes, as Mr. Rose pointed out.

Is it because these mothers-in-waiting are relatively well off and mainly white that we foster the delusion that they can raise children without the scars of a fatherless home?

Boys from single-parent households are many times more likely to be involved in serious crime; 72 percent of adolescent murderers come from fatherless homes.

His tale - of a fatherless home, of bravado and despair combined, of pre-performance addiction to Dexamyl and of physical breakdown - rings true.

Born into poor, often fatherless homes, many of these children grow up in gang-ridden neighborhoods where the arbiters of street culture disdain academic achievement.