Gregory Clark, "The End of Alms". Nothing else comes close.

Kosmo said " get what Malloy is trying to say, and I think he's got a point. " 
 
Agreed, but kids raised by widowed mothers not only do not show fa effects, they are extreme in the opposite direction. This suggests a real environmental effect.

Jason Malloy wrote "Yep, genes are the cause, father absence is just the correlate. How do we know? Several reasons, but here's one: sometimes dads don't run away, they just die. And when father is "absent" because he gets struck by lightning instead of because of a genetically dysfunctional personality, the kids turn out just fine." 
 
But your example, which I think is correct, does not support a genetically transmitted mechanism. It supports the old idea that kids are learning from their mothers about the importance of males. 
 
Von