Parents feel a special kind of affection towards their own children, different from that which they feel towards each other and other children.
Does the underlined “that” signify “affection”?
teacherJapandifferent from that which they feel ...
different from the affection that they feel ...
different from the kind of affection that they feel ...
CJ
Comments
Yes and no. Grammatically, the antecedent of "that" can't be buried in a prepositional phrase the way "affection" is, so it becomes ""kind". Logically, it's "affection", and that is the way any reader would read it first time, every time, but it limps a bit. Me, I would recast thus: "Parents feel a special kind of affection towards their own children, different from the kind they feel towards each other and other children." People avoid repetion even when it is better to repeat.
Thank you very much, CJ and anonymous.