A new study supported the worry that many
parents have long suffered with: that fighting between parents can have a decidedly
bad impact on your children. Specifically, the survey found that arguments
between parents could change the way children respond to stress, eventually
even hampering the way some children develop problem-solving skills.
The study, which was published in the
journal Child Development, devoted
time to tracking a group of second and third-graders who were followed by researchers
for three years. The researchers spent time talking to the children and asking
them about their parents’ fights and then analyzing how that correlated with
the kids’ ability to handle stress.
The study’s authors rigged up an elaborate
diagnostic test that could monitor physical changes in the children, such as
increased heart rate, pupil dilation and other signs that they were suffering
from stress. The children would come into a lab and answer questions about
their parents’ fighting while scientists would monitor the children for signs
of a stressed out response and then monitor how they performed on a series of mental
examinations.
The research discovered that kids who had
a preexisting low tolerance for stress were especially vulnerable to being
placed in a combative home. The results showed that children with a tendency to
become stressed actually had their stress systems exhausted by angry parents,
while those with a greater natural tolerance for stress appeared to suffer less
stress burnout.
The study’s authors compared the children’s
stress systems to overworked muscles. The author said that while working out is
good for everyone because it strengthens muscles and improves health, if people
were forced to run on a treadmill 24 hours a day it would eventually destroy
the muscles from overuse, much like the kids’ stress response systems were
being used and abused.
Beyond damaging their stress response
system, the children with the highest degrees of burnout from argumentative
homes also suffered in cognitive areas such as a decreased ability to problem
solve. These children were found to lag their peers in problem-solving skills
over the three-year span of the research. Researchers said they believe this
shows that stress has a way of getting under your skin and impacting other
areas of your life that you may not have anticipated.
If you find yourself facing the prospect
of complicated divorce and have questions about your rights and options,
contact an experienced Ohio family law attorney who can help guide you through the
difficult process. Count on the expertise of Twinsburg family law
attorney Carol L. Stephan.
Source:
“Is
Arguing Really Bad for the Children?,” by Terri Apter,
published at PsychologyToday.com.
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