Sylvia Else
This is an example of why the "social sciences" are generally "junk science". The hard sciences know that when the same events are observed to lead to the same results time and time again, it's not necessary to be able to absolutely define the relationship to know what the result will be if the same series of events are again observed. This is called an "empirical" relationship...we may not know absolutely WHY something happens but we do know WHAT will happen if we do this again. In the case of family dynamics, we may not know absolutely WHY child rearing outcomes are less favourable from female headed single parent homes than from male headed single parent homes or from two parent homes, but we DO KNOW that they ARE less favourable because we observe the same result time and time again and while I agree that it would certainly be interesting and may even be very important to understand the absolute WHY, it's NOT necessary that we understand the why to know the inevitable outcome and to put public policy measures in place that seek to discourage rather than encourage it.
...Ken
