TEENAGE boys with a father figure in their lives are seemingly less likely to engage in delinquent behaviour, a US study has found. But lacking a father figure does not have a similar effect on girls.

The working paper, which used data from three questionnaires between 1994 and 2008 by about 11,000 US children, found delinquent behaviour was lowest among boys living with a father figure.

Daddy's boy ... teenage boys with a father figure are less likely to engage in delinquent behaviour. Credit:Gordon Short

Fathers were particularly associated with the incidence of violent behaviour and gang fighting among boys, said the researchers from the US National Bureau of Economic Research.

But "the presence or absence of such father figures, on the other hand, appears to have little relationship with the chances that adolescent girls will engage in delinquent behaviour," they said.