Kids living with single dads

A new study says, children living in the custody of single fathers are less likely to have access to affordable health care and visit the doctor less often compared to children living in families with a single mother or both parents.

Although single fathers are less likely to be poor and generally earn more money than single mothers, their children are more likely to visit the doctor only when sick. The number of single-father families in the United States quintupled between 1970 and 2003 to approximately 6 percent of all families, and single-father families are one of the types of families that are growing fastest.

Until recently, most research on single-parent families focused on single mothers and the effects of an absent father on children.