7 ways your dysfunctional relationship is affecting your kid's success

According to the researchers, destructive conflict can also take on more passive forms, like avoidance, walking out, sulking, withdrawing, or capitulation.

Cummings said kids pick up on when a parent is giving in to avoid a fight or refusing to communicate, and their own emotional response is not positive.

"Our studies have shown that the long-term effects of parental withdrawal are actually more disturbing to kids' adjustment than open conflict," he says. He explains the children in this instance can perceive that something is wrong, which leads to stress, but they don't understand what or why, which means it's harder for them to adjust.

Chronic stress from repeated exposure to destructive conflict can result in kids that are worried, anxious, hopeless, angry, aggressive, behaviorally-challenged, sickly, tired, and struggling academically.

If you split up with a spouse when your kids are between three and five years old, your kids are more likely to have an insecure relationship with you when they're adults, especially if you're their father, according to a University of Illinois study. However, the divorce of parents doesn't predict insecure romantic relationships when kids become adults.

Several studies have shown a correlation between traumatic childhood experiences like witnessing domestic abuse and eating disorders.

The correlation may come down to psychology and physiology.

Traumatized children may turn to overeating as a form of self-medication since food can be a comforting escape.

And chronic stress caused by repeated traumatizing events can lead to consistently elevated levels of stress hormones like cortisol, which tells the body to deposit fat and store energy.

According to a University of Illinois study review, following divorce, custodial parents (mostly mothers) generally have less income than most two-parent families. Due to limited economic resources, children in single-parent families may have more difficulties.

People who grow up in lower socioeconomic classes, for example, end up with a lower working memory — or the ability to hold multiple items in their minds — in adulthood, suggests a University of Oregon study.

Kids that grew up witnessing their parents abusing drugs or alcohol probably ended up being the parent to their parents.

Because they skipped childhood altogether, they might become super-serious and not know how to have fun as an adult. They also tend to be overly responsible, says Portland Lifestyle Counseling.

Divorce can result in multiple life changes and stressors for kids, like a change in living arrangements.

One study from Western Washington University found that the more often children in single parent families moved, the more likely they were to drop out of school or become pregnant during the teen years.