My daughter had a dead-beat dad. I can't say it would have been better if he had been around, but I know her whole life was spent wondering about him. A bit of a "grass is greener on the other side" type of thing.

But I guess if you grow up around a neglectful/abusive environment, that's what you get to know and be comfortable with. We model our behaviors after our parents and the gap of that behavior may cause some yearning for it maybe? Like a Stockholm Syndrome type of thing.