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The money quote:

> The findings highlight the variety of ways the multiple father figures may have been helping the mom support her baby, whether it was providing food, housing, childcare or financial benefits," Bullock said. "For the women with only one partner who abused them, the infant's father, the father may not have provided any physical or financial support or played an active role in the child's life. It can be difficult for busy, single moms struggling to make ends meet to provide the toys and stimulation their infants need to reach crucial developmental

This really has nothing to do with domestic violence. It’s just a question of whether the woman is well-supported, or not. An absent father would probably have exactly the same outcomes as an abusive one, at least per this study.

> After administering neurodevelopmental tests during home visits three, six and 12 months after birth, she was surprised to find the infants of women who had only one male partner who abused them had worse cognitive outcomes compared to infants of women with multiple male partners, only some of whom were abusive.

What an interesting data set for nature-vs-nurture! Slice the data by biological-father-is-abusive please.

I’m sure the outcomes would look exactly the same if the child had lots of stimulation but the father beat his wife everyday.