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Several large-scale studies have shown that children of single-parent households fare worse in life on most measurements (happiness, achievement, self-image, etc.) than those from a dual-parent household. The studies found no difference in outcomes between dual-parent households where the parents were married vs ones where they were just co-habitating.

The root cause is simply total time (and attention) given by the parent(s) to the child. In the above studies, those homes with one parent who was able to provide significant child-rearing attention (such as being a stay-at-home parent, one who worked part-time, or who had "swing-shift" work where they were able to be at home when the child was too) also did measurably better than households with two parents who were usually out-of-the-house (i.e. worked full time and could only devote one or two hours to the child per weekday).

The aforementioned studies are generalizations, which means that there are certainly circumstances where it is better to be in a single-parent (or working dual-parent) home than a "traditional" dual-parent (single worker) family. And, of course, available outside support was also key, so a household with two working parents but a stay-at-home grandparent also living there were also measurably better than typical single-parent households.

The bottom line is that a typical single parent cannot provide to their child(ren) the total amount of attention that multiple parents can. While quality of attention is important, quantity tends to dominate - that is, the studies show that more mediocre attention is better than smaller amounts of high-quality attention.

None of the above indicates that single-parent-household children are destined to failure, or all dual-parent-household children are well-adjusted geniuses. It just says, that, on average, a child is better off in a dual-parent household.

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13y ago

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