1 Yes indeed. Fathers are most excruciatingly important. That physically present father means kids are less likely to do drugs, drop out of school or get bad grades, cause or get an unplanned pregnancy, be a victim or perpetrator of crime, and on and on...When he's not just physically present but positively involved in the kid's life too, those statistics get even better. Way better. A misconception about the statistical backgrounds of serial killers reads that the single biggest predictor is a "domineering" or "powerful" mother. Wrong. That's the second biggest predictor, and by less than 50%. It also assumes the description is correct. I think it's often not, especially as it's self-reported by the killer, whose imprisonment is generally for expressing his fear and hatred of women by killing them. The biggest predictor in a serial killer's background, by over 50%, is the physical absence of the father. That's either by abandonment - including via divorce, adoption, or not acknowledging or being acknowledged as father - or by the death of that father. Add to that those fathers that are physically present but not emotionally there for the kid, and you go way, way up higher - into the 70's-% range. More dads, more success. Better grades, happier girls and boys both, less crime.

2 Absolutely.