Why do people abandon, rather than resigning, a losing game.

When I achieve a significant advantage, say capture op's Queen, more than 50% of op's "abandon" the game.

If I lose a queen without any clear chance of making a come-back, I will resign  What is the advantage in abandoning the game?

Sometimes something comes up that you have to go to, can't be helped.

That happens very rarely. Usually the person leaving posts a "gtg" chat massage. I am talking about all the people who abandon the game immediately after losing their queen, or an equivalent loss.

You're right actually yeah that's not good.

A lot of them are children. Some adults behave like children.

Why do you imagine they are cowards? Nothing terrible happens when you resign - I have resigned many times with no ill effect.

I've just slammed my laptop closed out of disgust a few times

I've had someone "fake abandon" against me in a Rapid game. Didn't move for about 3 minutes after making a blunder and I had a winning position, then came back and made a move. Thankfully, I was still waiting and finished the game.

I think some people rage-quit, which is not the best practice. I'll resign and give my opponent a GG, even if I'm mad at myself for missing a tactic.