ABSTRACT
The parenting of other men's children can be interpreted as either mating effort or kin investment. The altruistic parenting of unrelated stranger children is a relatively infrequent event but deserves attention. A very small percentage of children born before 1960 ceased to live with their father before age 6, regardless of parental education. In the latest children's birth cohort 43 percent of fathers ceased to live with a child before it reaches the age of 16. Fertility benefits to deserting children between the ages of 6 and 16 were reduced to approximately one quarter. Children who are raised by men not their genetic fathers are most likely to be children of his current mate. As the returns on education in producing male adult income increased, the cost to fathers of ceasing to live with their offspring becomes increasingly differentiated between those with little education and those with more.
