CHICAGO, Aug. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- In the war of words between Jennifer Aniston and Bill O'Reilly, the most important thing to remember is what's in the best interest and welfare of the children involved.

During a press event for the film, The Switch, Aniston plays a single woman who gets artificially inseminated.  She's quoted saying "Women are realizing it more and more, knowing that they don't have to settle with a man just to have that child."  Aniston told reporters that "times have changed" when it comes to thinking about the traditional family.

O'Reilly remarked that the actress's comments made about single motherhood are "destructive to society" and he believes she is wrongly glamorizing single parenthood. We at the Fatherhood Educational Institute agree.

In fact, the effects of father absence on society are quite sobering:

- 72% of all teenaged murderers grew up without fathers.

- 60% of rapists were raised in fatherless homes.

- 70% of the kids now incarcerated in juvenile corrections facilities grew up in a single-parent environment.

- Fatherless children are twice as likely to drop out of school as their classmates who live with two parents.

- 75% of teen suicides occur in single-parent families.

"Clearly, research demonstrates the importance of father involvement. In the celebrity-obsessed society we live in, we need to be careful and monitor the messages being presented to the public at large," says Talk Show Host and Attorney Jeffery Leving (http://fathersrightsradio.com).  "With the growing influence and sway that popular actors have today, it is imperative to present statistics supporting healthy families and responsible fatherhood. Father absence is not the answer."

For more information on the Fatherhood Educational Institute (www.fatherhood-edu.org), contact Jennifer Whiteside: 312-296-3666 or 312-795-9060.

SOURCE Fatherhood Educational Institute

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