The archetype of the single father is strongly overrepresented in popular media. Disney movies, in particular, have been attacked for their bias towards single fathers by feminists and scholars alike. Single-fatherhood is very uncommon in real life. In 1995, 15% of single-parent families in the U.S. were run by the father (about 4.6% of all families), although only about half of these had the father as the sole adult (the other households had cohabitating partners or other non-parent family members). The 2004 census estimated that 20% of single-parent families were headed by fathers.

It is widely believed that children living in single-parent households will do better if living with the parent of the same sex (e.g. sons living with fathers or daughters living with mothers.) This may explain why Lundberg and Rose (2003, pdf) found that women bearing sons are more likely to marry their child's biological father than women bearing daughters, although it would be a mistake to ignore the argument that a man is more likely to marry his son's mother than his daughter's mother, as in Dahl and Moretti (2004). However, proof of the "same sex benefit" is lacking. Downey and Powell's analysis of 1988 data found only 4 out of 35 measures where one sex benefited from living with a same-sex parent, and no measures that benefited both sexes.

There is also a perception that children will do better in single-mother households rather than in single-father households. Downey (1994) did not find a difference in school performance between these two groups. Flewelling and Bauman (1990) also failed to find an advantage to single mothers over single fathers in predicting substance use or sexual activity.

A popular argument in many of these studies is that the financial benefits of living with the father balance the emotional benefits of living with the mother. However, these same studies attempt to control for the financial factors, so either the controls are insufficient or the argument is flawed. Both mother's advocates and father's advocates claim that the court system is biased against them. Perhaps a gender-blind analysis of a child's "best interests" would yield better outcomes?

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I feel like my experience growing up was very atypical. Not only did I have both my biological parents raising me, but I didn't even know (or at least I was unaware) of children who were in divorced, mixed, or single-parent households until I was in my teens. The first family I knew with a single parent was headed by an out lesbian, who affected my view of homosexual parenting (in a very positive way) more than my view of single-parent households. I was struck by her devotion and involvement in her children's lives, and to this day, I've been sheltered and lucky enough not to meet any single parent who wasn't as much or more involved in their child's life than any two other custodial adults.