When dads are home, boys are favored.

• Position: Research indicates white biological fathers living at home treat sons better than daughters

Boys in white families often get different treatment than girls when their biological fathers live at home, a nationwide study suggests, but that advantage disappears when the father is gone. The results showed that, when they lived with their fathers, white boys had more intellectual opportunities, had less responsibility for chores, and were less likely to receive some kinds of discipline.

"The differences are not overwhelming, but the research does suggest that boys and girls are viewed differently by parents in white families," notes Frank Mott, author of the study and a senior research scientist at Ohio State University's Canter for Human Resource Research. "When both parents are present, the father seems to have more influence, and there is evidence that fathers show favoritism to sons." Moreover:

* When a child brought back a poor report card, a boy was 10% more likely than a girl to receive extra parental help when his father lives at home. When the father was gone, girls enjoyed an eight percent advantage over boys.

* When a girl cursed or threw a tantrum, she was 10% more likely than a boy to be spanked in a home with the...