Sorry I was rushed for time and did not link the original study. But sometimes the article linking the studies has a good commentary which can help understand things.
It is the other way around. Children show signs of behavioral problems by age 7 not no behavior problems by aged 7. Also it will depend on how you look at the stats. The study was comparing single parents to kids brought up by two natural parents rather than overall behavior stats for children. So looking at the study it shows 12% of children have behavior problems for single parents compared to 6% for the two natural parents. That's double the kids for single parents which is significant if you consider entire populations ie 100,000 children compared to 50,000 and so on.
But that's only one study and way to look at the issue. Apart from behavior they can look at development and education for example. Or they can look at stats on the effects of not having a specific parent like how young males fair without a father. Or on adolescents rather than children. There is an abundance of evidence showing that two parents are better than one, kids need their mother and father and that biological parents are best. Here are some more stats which strengthen the support that a child/adolescent having two parents especially their biological parents is best.
The following study shows that young people are three times more likely to be badly behaved if their parents have separated. Another telling stat is that children living in a new blended family after a split have an increased risk of behavioral problems as well. It mentions that there are benefits for a child growing up in a traditional family home.
Young people whose mother and father split up are also three times as likely to become aggressive or badly behaved, according to the comprehensive survey carried out by the Office for National Statistics.
Living in a "reconstituted" family containing step-children or step-parents increased the risk of developing behavioral problems still further.
The stark findings of the study, commissioned by the Department for Health and the Scottish Government, fly in the face of the Government's repeated failure to extol the benefits on children of growing up in a traditional family home.
Children in single-parent families more likely to suffer emotional problems, report finds
Link to original study
Children whose families struggle to get on are more likely to have mental disorders - Office for National Statistics
Early Mother-Child Separation, Parenting, and Child Well-Being in Early Head Start Families
We tested the associations between early mother-child separation and nine outcomes. Three of these outcomes were significantly related to mother-child separation. In particular, we found associations between early mother-child separation and child negativity at 3 years, and child aggression at both 3 and 5 years.
Early Mother-Child Separation, Parenting, and Child Well-Being in Early Head Start Families
The risk of abuse and neglect in a sole parent family is about seven to ten times greater in a sole parent family than in an intact two-parent family. Children in sole parent families are at significantly greater risk than children in two parent families of falling into delinquency and crime, with father-absence, neglect and absence of supervision identified as the major factors involved.
https://www.cis.org.au/app/uploads/2015/07/pm53.pdf
Also a major study shows that children do better with married parents than cohabitation parents as being married brings benefits such as security to children.
Cohabitation Contributes to Family Instability Across the Globe
The researchers hold that "part of the disadvantage associated with being born to a single mother may be the heighted risk of subsequent union transitions faced by children of single mothers."
Such "union transitions" — when a child's parent changes sex partners — creates further relationship instability in the families and usually occurs before children turn 12 years old. Rates of child abuse and neglect also rise when these relational dynamics are present.
Cohabitation Contributes to Family Instability Across the Globe
The studies are comparing single parenting to couple parenting so it is establishing that having two parents is better. As posted above there are many studies that show that single parenting can bring a range of problems with varying seriousness.
Actually the findings were published in a scientific journal (
Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy). Also the other links above are from well credentialed science sources.
It states as highlighted that the father plays an important role in supporting the mother as she develops the attachment and then the father gets more involved after this. As its says
his role often evolves into the safe launching point for the child's accelerated forays into the external world.
But there is plenty of evidence for the importance of a father in the life of a child. This is part of today's critique of men in making out that they are not needed. This is one of the fallout's from the feminist movement who still today try to delete the role of men and make out they are all bad. As a result we are already seeing fathers lose their rights in custody of their children by courts favoring mothers. Many men's identity has been undermined and they don't know who they are or what relevance they have in today's society.
The additional links provide further support. I am not saying that single parents especially mothers cannot do a good job in raiding their children. I am simply saying the the research seems to point to the traditional family being the optimum setup for stability of relationships and raising children. As I have shown the evidence supports this.
The Effects of Family Structure on Children
1. A solid, intact family structure can have a significantly positive impact on a child’s present and future wellbeing and offers countless benefits for both adults and children.
2. Children growing up in homes where two parents who have been married continuously are less likely to experience a wide range of problems (academic, social, emotional, cognitive), not only in childhood but later on in adulthood as well (Amato; Howard & Reeves,).
3. In two parent families, for example, children typically have access to more of the economic and community resources because parents are able to pool their time, money and energy; children tend to be more of the focus of the home.
4. Family intactness has also been shown to have a consistently positive influence on earnings for prime-age males and is one of the most important factors (or shared the place of greatest importance) for females and children in determining an area’s dependence on welfare programs that targets poverty.
5. Research also shows that family intactness has a beneficial influence on reducing out of wedlock births, increasing high school and college graduation rates, and even has long-term benefits such as higher employment rates.
6. Children living with married parents are more often involved in community activities such as soccer or other sports, take part in academic pursuits in local schools and other academic institutions that can lead to college, and eventually, a career.
7. Family intactness increases high school and college graduation rates, as well as high employment rates
8. Overall, intact families tend to be more stable; parents tend to be more involved in their children’s lives and are more highly invested in their children’s success.
9. Fathers of intact families spend, on average, more time with their children. They also enjoy greater family cohesion than peers with adopted children or stepchildren (Lansford, et al.).
In summary, children living with both biological parents in a low-conflict marriage tend to do better on a host of outcomes than those living in step-parent families.
10. Children living with both biological parents are 20 to 35 percent more physically healthy than children from broken homes (Dawson).
40 Facts About Two Parent Families | Studies and Statistics
There are 40 facts for children living with two parents and I have only included the first 10. But they mention the benefits of not only having two parents but biological parents.
