Study Shows Moms' Lives Shortened by Sons Men who thought giving their moms flowers for Mother's Day was enough to show their appreciation might have another think coming. According to a report published in the current issue of the journal Science, having boys actually shortened the life span of mothers in preindustrial times. Raising daughters, in contrast, had a positive effect on a woman's longevity. Samuli Helle of the University of Turku in Finland and his colleagues analyzed church records from 1640 to 1870 to investigate how total family size and the number of children produced affected the longevity of...