It is suggested in the chapter that the parental death is not a risk factor leading to poor health and early death, but parental divorce. One of my close friends’ mother died in an accident when she was 11, but she is a positive and optimistic person who I would have never think encountered such sad bereavement at a such a young age if she didn’t tell me. Her father had shifted his focus from work to her after her mother had passed away. Her father is always very patient with her, and if there is anything she doesn’t feel like to do, her father will not force her to. I think after such traumatic parental loss at a very young age, the other parent would try his or her best to diminish the damage to the children. And relatives or people who know about the situation are more likely to pay action to ensure the children’s healthy and happy development.
However, parental divorce would likely result in lack of stability, tendency to end their education earlier, and engagement in heavy drinking and smoking. Also, those who had lived through a divorce as children are more likely to get divorced themselves.But importantly, there are individual differences, some people who experienced parental divorce still lived long lives.
And the sex differences in the influence of positive family feelings is very interesting: it has a harmful effect on boys’ development but no effect on girls.
I thought your friend example was interesting on how the father is very patient with her and almost tries to compensate for the traumatic loss at a young age. Though it seems intuitive that the loss of a parent seems equally or even more detrimental to a person’s development, I agree that it is fascinating to see that there are more harmful effects seen in children from divorced families compared to children who have faced a loss in the family by ending their education earlier, engagement in dangerous activities, and getting divorced themselves.