Does Growing up with a Parent Absent Really Hurt?
研究发现，在控制其他社会经济劣势后，童年期父母缺席对成年经济状况影响很小，但母亲缺席影响女孩认知表现，父亲去世降低儿子结婚概率。
It is widely recognized that children who grow up without a biological parent do worse, on average, than other children. However, because having a single parent is highly correlated with many other socioeconomic disadvantages, the negative outcomes might be caused by something beyond the parent's absence. Econometric tests using a variety of background controls and parental death as an exogenous cause of absence, show little evidence that a parent's presence during childhood affects economic well being in adulthood. The two exceptions are that living without a mother impacts girls' cognitive performance while having a father die lowers sons' chances of marriage.