The effect of the growing number of children being reared in nontraditional families
is a popular subject in the press. For example, a 1998 Wall Street Journal article
(Gallagher 1998) reports that fatherless boys grow up to be dangerous and violent
men, suggesting that missing a parent matters a great deal. A few months earlier
Newsweek's September cover story suggested that parents matter much less than
commonly perceived (Begley 1998).