Since “women with chronically ill children generally reported more stress” and since “there was a very striking connection between stress and telomere length” (“Stressed to Death: Mental tension ages cells,” SN: 12/4/04, p. 355), isn’t it probable that there is a strong connection between telomere length and becoming the parent of a chronically ill child? I would be interested to learn whether the connection between stress and telomere length held for adoptive parents of chronically ill children and for parents of teenagers, compared with parents in general.
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