New research shows how the loss of a father significantly affects children — at the level of their DNA, shortening the ends of their chromosomes.

Kids who were raised without a dad have much shorter telomeres, the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes that are believed to affect health and longevity, than kids with fathers in the home, Deseret News reported Tuesday.

The research was done among the approximately 5,000 children who were born between 1998 and 2000 and who are part of the federally-funded Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. The study was published in the journal "Pediatrics."

For those children whose fathers either died or were incarcerated before they were 5 years old, the effects on their telomeres were most pronounced. Father loss negatively impacted the telomeres of boys 40 percent more than it did on the telomeres of girls