Sons, Daughters and Fathers' Absence:

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this research examines the extent to which the presence or absence of biological fathers from the home is associated with gender differences in the presence or absence of children and gender differences in the home environment encountered by children. For a large national sample of children between the ages of 5 and 9, the results suggest that for White families: (a) fathers are more likely to be present in the home if the child is male; and (b) home environmental advantages that boys appear to have in two-parent households are not apparent in female-headed households. For White families, White single parenthood is clearly linked with a poorer quality environment; nonetheless, it is more equalitarian in terms of boys and girls being similarly socialized. The results for Black children are less systematic, although there is some suggestion that girls lose a modest relative advantage in home environment that they have over boys in father-present homes.