16:59
@Oddthinking The second part is where I don't think the question makes sense. You can't possibly infer too much meaningful data (positive or negative) regarding the outcomes in modern homo upbringing; by showing facts from hunter-gatherer or before environments - at least, without showing how the facts transfer despite environment change. Basically, I'm driving at "the claim is meaningless, more or less, as stated".
Looking at a typical political angle: the mechanism (plausible, I might add) of how a father figure might matter is: (1) Example of masculine role and behavior for a male offspring and (2) Example of female-to-male relationship for female offspring {{I won't try to descend into the rabbit hole of gender roles here, as it probably wouldn't be statistically important to outcome}}. ...
... In both cases, you simply can't project prehistoric circumstances (where boys hunted with older men even if not their fathers; and the gender role dynamic clearly differed from post-hunter-gatherer stages) on modernity. At least, not without whole lotta proof.
This goes both ways - you can't interpred presence of monogamic upbringing in prehistory as evidence of its need in modernity - NOR can you interpret is absence as evidence of lack of its need in modernity.
Discussion on question by Motig: Are …
Discussion on question by Motig: Are …