Weird Psychological Science

The Daily Mail (U.K.) reports the findings of a study done in the U.K. of children in various home configurations. The question examined was does marital status of parents influence children's self-esteem?

Previous research has found that confidence and happiness in childhood has a significant impact on future life chances and is more important than factors such as income.

The latest study contradicts previous claims that children are unaffected by their parents’ marital status.

It found that children whose parents were in stable, long-term co-habiting relationships reported the same levels of self-esteem as those from single parent households.

By contrast, children whose parents were married reported higher levels of self-esteem.

Overall, boys with married parents had the highest self-esteem, while girls with co-habiting parents had the lowest.

Not mentioned is that having married parents is highly correlated with higher social class status, at least in the U.S., probably in the U.K. as well. Hat tip to Lucianne.com for the link.