The loss of a father due to death, divorce or jail is associated with children having shorter telomeres (caps on the ends of their chromosomes), according to a study in Pediatrics that points to a possible biological explanation for health problems often encountered by kids with absent dads.

DWShimoda · 2017-07-20T01:05:58+00:00

The study wasn't a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how absent dads directly contribute to shorter telomeres in kids or cause any specific health problems, the authors note. It's also possible that a variety of factors not examined in the study, such as mothers' parenting quality, might influence whether kids develop shorter telomeres after the loss of a father.

Regardless of HOW... fathers matter.

Particularly to sons:

Boys with an absent dad, however, were more vulnerable to shorter telomeres than girls, particularly if boys lost their father before age 5, the study also found.

SnapshillBot · 2017-07-19T23:17:19+00:00

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Reprogramming_Life · 2017-07-19T23:58:04+00:00

Alienated fathers is more like it. Big daddy government is right there to ensure dad either isn't around or isn't around much.

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Regardless of HOW... fathers matter.