As shown below, children who grow up with both biological parents
have higher cognitive ability and get more education than those who grew up in
other types of households. As adults, they are more likely to be married, earn higher
wages, have higher family incomes, and have more financial assets. Yet there is
reason to be skeptical about whether these relations are causal. Growing up with a
single parent is highly correlated with many social and economic disadvantages.
Hence, children from nontraditional households might do worse because they are
reared in a disadvantaged environment and not because they lived without both parents