Inter-Parental Conflict And Its Affect On Kids

Have you ever wondered what your mundane bickering—or the lack of it—can do to your child? M&B gets to the bottom of inter-parental conflict and its affect on kids...

- Priya Fonseca

Every healthy relationship has its fair share of arguments, disagreements, and fights. It’s the extremes of either no conflict or too much of it that spell trouble. A child caught in the crossfire of excessive inter-parental conflict is at increased risk of emotional and behavioral difficulties. Studies have shown that the extent to which marital conflict accounts for differences in psychological functioning in children has been estimated at four-20 percent, with the effects being more significant when the family environment includes additional stressors such as poverty or violence. Children exposed to anger or conflict have to deal with increased arousal, distress and aggression and are also prone to long-term adjustment difficulties like behavioral, emotional, social and academic problems.

Dr. Ruhaina Khan, Bengaluru-based clinical psychologist, and counselor says, “Parental conflicts can impair your child’s emotional development. The child’s emotional security is affected not just by her relationship with her parents, but by the parents’ relationship with each other. Sometimes, the conflict between you and your spouse can be just as damaging to her as physical abuse. If she is constantly hearing arguments that don’t get resolved, she will have difficulties with attachment, with adjustment and with the basic trust of other people.”