FIGHTING PARENTS HURT CHILDREN'S ABILITY TO RECOGNIZE AND REGULATE EMOTIONS
Exposure to verbal and
physical aggression between parents may hurt a child's ability to identify and
control emotions, according to a longitudinal study led by NYU's Steinhardt
School of Culture, Education, and Human Development
The findings, which
appear in the journal Development and Psychopathology, also suggest
that household chaos and prolonged periods of poverty during early childhood
may take a substantial toll on the emotional adjustment of young children.
"Our study points
to ways in which aggression between parents may powerfully shape children's
emotional adjustment," says C. Cybele Raver, professor of applied
psychology at NYU Steinhardt and the study's lead author. "Arguing and
fighting is psychologically stressful for the adults caught in conflict; this
study demonstrates the costs of that conflict for children in the household as
well."
Research has
demonstrated that exposure to conflict and violence in the home can shape
children's neurobiological, cognitive, and behavioral responses. Increased
hypervigilance may support children's safety in the short term, but can be
detrimental for their long-term emotional adjustment. For instance, children
who hear or witness their parents fighting may have trouble regulating their
emotions in less risky situations, such as a classroom.
While earlier research
established a link between parental conflict at a single point in time and children's
adjustment later in life, Raver and her colleagues saw a need to explore how
children may be adversely affected by prolonged exposure to this aggression.
"We also were
interested in other forms of adversity in the children's environment, including
poverty and household chaos, that could affect their emotional adjustment,
since few studies have considered multiple factors," says study author
Clancy Blair, professor of applied psychology at NYU Steinhardt.
In the study, the
researchers measured children's exposure to several forms of adversity, and how
they predicted their ability to recognize and regulate negative emotions, such
as fear and sadness. The researchers followed 1,025 children and their families
living in eastern North Carolina and central Pennsylvania, two geographical
areas with high poverty rates.
The researchers
evaluated the families in a series of home visits from the time a child was two
months old through 58 months of age. They gathered data through parent
questionnaires, administering tasks to the parents and children, and measuring
the level of household chaos -- including the number of times children moved,
changes in caregiver, noise levels, cleanliness, and the number of people compared
to the number of rooms -- versus stability. At approximately 58 months of age,
the researchers assessed the children's ability to correctly recognize and
identify emotions.
Verbal and physical
aggression between parents from infancy through early childhood significantly
predicted children's ability to accurately identify emotions at 58 months of
age. Higher exposure to physical aggression between parents was associated with
children's lower performance on a simple emotions labeling task. Surprisingly, higher
exposure to verbal aggression was associated with greater emotion knowledge
among the children.
Prolonged exposure to
aggression between parents was also linked to children's ability to regulate
their own feelings of sadness, withdrawal, and fear, placing them at greater
risk for symptoms of anxiety and depression later on.
Other forms of
adversity also contributed to children's emotional adjustment. The higher the
number of years spent in poverty, the lower a child's ability to accurately
identify different emotions. Increased household chaos, especially
disorganization, also lowered a child's ability to recognize emotions.
"This study
shines a bright light on the importance of supporting parents as they navigate
the ups and downs of partnership or marriage," says Raver. "Parents
need help regulating their own feelings of anger, frustration, and worry when
balancing the demands of work, family, and romantic partnership, especially
when money is tight."
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