Father’s absence raises chance of illness

♦ The loss of a father through death of divorce could raise the risk of serious illness in later life, research suggests.

A study of 5,000 young people found a father’s absence damages telomeres – vital pieces of DNA that protect cells. Having an absent father through divorce shortened telomeres by 14 per cent, while a death shortened them by 16 per cent. Shortened telomeres have been linked to premature ageing and cancer.

Prof Daniel Notterman, a paediatrician at Princeton University in New Jersey, who carried out the study said: “The father is being removed from the life of the child and that is plausibly associated with an increase in stress, for both economic and emotional reasons.”