The Causal Effects of Father Absence.
The literature on father absence is frequently criticized for its use of cross-sectional data and methods that fail to take account of possible omitted variable bias and reverse causality. We review studies that have responded to this critique by employing a variety of innovative research designs to identify the causal effect of father absence, including studies using lagged dependent variable models, growth curve models, individual fixed effects models, sibling fixed effects models, natural experiments, and propensity score matching models. Our assessment is that studies using more rigorous designs continue to find negative effects of father absence on offspring well-being, although the magnitude of these effects is smaller than what is found using traditional cross-sectional designs. The evidence is strongest and most consistent for outcomes such as high school graduation, children's social-emotional adjustment, and adult mental health.
Office of Population Research, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544; mclanaha@princeton.edu.
Sara
S
McLanahan
Department of Policy Analysis and Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853; lauratach@cornell.edu.
Laura
L
Tach
Department of Sociology and Robert Wood Johnson Scholars in Health Policy Research Program, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720; djschneider@berkeley.edu.
Daniel
D
Schneider
child well-being; divorce; education; labor force; mental health; single motherhood