In “Fathers and Youth’s Delinquent Behavior” (NBER Working Paper No. 17507, October 2011), Deborah A. Cobb-Clark of the University of Melbourne and Erdal Tekin of Georgia State University conclude,

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we find thatadolescent boys engage in more delinquent behavior if there is no father figure in their lives. However, adolescent girls’ behavior is largely independent of the presence (or absence) of their fathers.

Curiously, neither the lack of paternal involvement nor the income differentials associated with fathers’ absence were associated with link between adolescent family structure and delinquent behavior in boys.  In other words, fathers provide something beyond involvement and money that keeps their boys in check.  The authors describe it as “protective effects,” but, as a father of two boys, that doesn’t seem to capture it.