Engaging in conflict negatively is not only bad for your own relationship, but it may have a lasting impact on your children as well.
New research shows that adults, who remember seeing their parents fight when they were young, are much more likely to have attachment problems in their romantic relationships.
Watching parents engage in unconstructive conflict creates a negative family environment where children learn to associate intimacy with negative feelings. Children, who witness parental conflict, are more likely to develop an anxious or a dismissing (avoidant) style of attachment (see, attachment styles).
Children learn very early in life how to deal with issues of intimacy. Watching parents fight can have a lasting and negative impact on how this process plays out.
