They may be at a disadvantage, but again, what are you going to do - force parents to stay together? Because having unhappy parents who fight is the #1 indicator of delinquency and substance abuse. All I said is that boys like this can and often do just fine. You should be happy to hear that, because in the world we live in, lots of boys have been abandoned by their dads and I'm much happier to know that at least some of them can still succeed. Of course having a bad mother would cause the same issues, but this story is about boys and dads. You seem to care more about the importance of men than you do about the outcomes for children - and that's a problem.
And how many times do I have to say it - those numbers you quoted are not necessarily correlated for not having a dad - they are correlated for other things that often come with that like poverty and not otherwise having adequate support as well. And that's pretty much what all recent research that actually looks at the entire situation says. The real culprit is poverty and inadequate social support. The paper you are citing from is from 1998 FFS!! It's completely outdated methodology for looking at this issue!!
"(University of Cambridge fatherhood expert Michael) Lamb says that decades ago, researchers were concerned about risks to children, and “their concerns were driven by a lot of cultural assumptions, which led them to propose kids are better off in the traditional family.”
“The evidence, on the whole, hasn’t supported that, but the beliefs have persisted in society,” he says.
Another expert on fatherhood, sociologist Tim Biblarz of the University of Southern California-Los Angeles, says the evidence shows economics plays a significant role in the risk for negative outcomes, such as poorer grades and lower educational attainment, substance abuse or poor social adjustment.
“Those who grow up with single mothers with adequate socioeconomic resources tend to do well. The children of poor single mothers are more at risk,” Biblarz says. “Many of the results that say that kids are at increased risk for negative outcomes have to do with economics.”
“What’s important is not whether they are raised by one or two parents. It’s how good is the relationship with the parent, how much support they’re getting from that parent and how harmonious is the environment."
Single Moms’ Sons Can Succeed, New Research Shows
I'm done talking about this with you. I doubt I'm going to change your mind and you sure aren't going to change mine but in the future when someone is talking about new research, don't bolster your position with outdated stuff from 25 years ago.
