Parental Conflict Results in Children's Behavioral Problems

Husband-wife fights are very common. But, experiencing constant parental conflicts and other unhealthy situations in the family is a well-known factor affecting the children's mental health. This is one of the sole reasons that make many couples to opt divorce.

However, according to a new study, like parental conflicts, divorce and the sudden changes in the family structure can bring in many emotional problems among children and can lead to long-term behavioral problems in children, particularly those under age five.

Rebecca M. Ryan, co-author of the study and colleagues analyzed the impact of divorce, remarriage or separation of parents on children aged 12 years and below.

"We found that not only does an early divorce, before the age of five, relate to short-run behavior problems, but that those increased behavior problems last into pre-adolescence, through age 12," Claessens, who was involved in the study,  said in a statement. "We just don't see the same patterns with kids born to unmarried parents."

For the study, the researchers looked at data from the Maternal and Child Supplement of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.  The data is based on surveys of youth and children.

Results showed children who experience their parents' split before five to develop long-term behavioral problems.

"Our results point to the importance of family structure change in the first five years for children's behavior trajectories throughout childhood," the authors concluded. "[It suggests] that public and policy concern about family instability should focus on instability in the years following childbirth rather than instability more generally."

Findings of the study will be published in Developmental Psychology.

This is not the first study to link the negative impact of exposing to parental divorce at a young age. Recently, a team of researchers from the University of Toronto found experiencing parental divorce before 18 making boys three times higher risk of having a stroke as an adult than their peers from intact families. However, the findings published in the International Journal of Stroke couldn't find any such risks among girls.