[HitmanLV]

Good point, but i think most people consistently read single as 'single, never married,' as opposed to 'divorced' which is 'once married, now unmarried via legal avenue,' and as opposed to 'widowed.'

Many standardized forms, for example, have slots for all those distinctions. To most, 'single' means 'single/never married.'

I think 'single' is becoming more all inclusive, but I don't think the original poster meant to suggest that 'sing;e' would include 'widowed,' or else they would have said 'single or widowed.'

[GovernmentShrinker]

I know, but my point is that in terms of day to day life experience, a mother-only home is a mother-only home. It will be tougher for kids who started out with a father, and had one long enough to remember it (i.e. past age 3), and then lost the father to divorce, abandonment, or death, than for those who didn't start out with a father and thus don't have that sense of loss. Apart from that distinction, the quality of the child's life is likely to track the quality of the mother pretty directly.