There are children in America who are five times more likely to be poor, engage in substance abuse and be diagnosed with asthma.

What exactly puts these children at risk? Is it their school? Their neighborhood? Their social status?

Actually, it's none of the above.

According to the studies quoted by author Andre Harrison in his new book From a Fatherless Father to his Sons, the answer is fatherlessness.

Harrison, the 32-year-old father and youth advocate from New York City, releases his first book From a Fatherless Father to his Sons on June 17, 2012.

His memoir-manual is written in a refreshingly honest first-person perspective and is aimed at sharing the hard lessons he learned while growing up in one of the toughest cities in the U.S. - all without a father there to guide him.

"I longed for a father to sit me down and explain to me what it meant to be a man. I longed for a father to teach me what acceptable behavior was for a young man. I longed for a father to show me how to interact with girls and what acceptable conduct was in a relationship with a woman. I longed for a father to talk to me about sex." - From a Fatherless Father to His Sons

In the case of Harrison, the last memory he had of his father is detailed in his book. As his mother held him in her arms standing atop the staircase of their Brooklyn apartment building, he looked down at his father who was at the bottom of the flight of stairs.

Growing up, he desperately looked to whomever he could find for an example of maleness: his mother's boyfriends, his uncle, the local drug dealers, his child-molesting school principal, even television.

While some offered good, healthy examples of manliness, others would become stumbling blocks then eventually building blocks for a boy struggling to find himself on the mean streets of New York.

Harrison would eventually find himself, find love, become a youth pastor and begin raising three boys of his own.

From mini-tutorials about personal grooming and how to tie a tie to lessons about chivalry and discipline, Harrison instructs young men - the sons of the world - to step up, "look the part and be the part," "act on their word," "appreciate the WoMan," etc.

"Statistics say I should have become an absentee father just as my father was," said Harrison, who is the father of three boys. "Regardless of the odds against me, I determined in myself never to turn my back on my children."

On a bit of a soapbox at times, Harrison claims that a father can be absent for a variety of reasons: his demanding work schedule, his criminal behavior or his own cowardice. None of these are excuses, Harrison says.

"What makes a father different than a sperm donor is that a father "acts." Fathers need to take the time to help with homework, teach their children how to ride a bike, play sports with them, talk about the emotional issues children face, and even lovingly enforce the boundaries established in the home." - From a Fatherless Father to His Sons

Through these poignant life lessons and an apparent intimacy with God, he offers readers practical proof that you can become a man even in the absence of a father. 

Meet Andre Harrison at his official book signing and release party at 6 p.m. on Thursday, June 14, 2012 at the Open House Lounge, 244 E Houston St. in New York City.

For more information and to purchase tickets to the book signing, visit Andre Harrison's Event Brite Page.