Research by Helen Reinherz of the Simmons College of Social Work in Boston has found that frequent arguments among family members can drastically increase the children's risk of developing psychiatric disorders later in life.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, followed 346 five year old boys and girls over a period of 30 years. By the age of 15 nearly 50 percent of the children were experiencing significantly more arguments with their parents and between their parents. The study found that 15 years later these same children were three times more likely to suffer from Major Depression, alcohol or drug abuse and antisocial behavior. They were twice as likely to be unemployed.
Parents who stay in a heavily conflictual relationship "for the sake of the children" may be doing more harm than good. If the couple wants to stay together it is important to get couples therapy to learn how to resolve conflict in healthy ways, without constant bickering and arguing. Children act out what they see, they learn what is modeled for them. If they are raised around constant arguing, they will grow up to argue. And this is reflected in the study.
The same can be said of children who grow up in households where there is a lot of yelling and hitting. For more on this topic see my article, "Hitting and Yelling at Children Increases Risk of Mental Health Problems.