Børn, der mister deres far, har kortere telomerer, hvilket kan påvirke deres sundhed. Fædres død har størst effekt, efterfulgt af fængsling og skilsmisse. Indkomsttab forklarer primært effekten af skilsmisse, men ikke fængsling eller død. Effekten er stærkere for drenge og børn med særlige genetiske varianter.
Titel på undersøgelse:
Father Absence, Sex, and Telomere Length in Children.
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Hele abstrakt på originalsprog:
This study explores the biological impact of father loss—due to separation/divorce, death, or incarceration—on childhood cellular function, measured by telomere length, using data from the 9-year follow-up of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N=2420), a birth cohort across 20 U.S. cities. Employing salivary telomere length (sTL), maternal reports of father loss, and genetic polymorphisms in serotonergic and dopaminergic pathways, the research finds that children experiencing father loss at age 9 exhibit a 14% telomere reduction. Paternal death shows the strongest link (16%), followed by incarceration (10%) and separation/divorce (6%), with income changes mediating 95% of the separation/divorce effect, but only 30% for incarceration and 25% for death. Effects are 40% greater in boys and 90% greater in children with highly reactive serotonin transporter alleles, with no variation by age of loss or race/ethnicity, emphasizing fathers’ critical developmental role and incarceration’s profound impact.