Parental conflict damages children’s mental health and life chances

Parental conflict damages children's mental health and life chances. Children's exposure to conflict between their parents - whether parents are together or separated - can put children's mental health and long-term life chances at risk, new research warns today (Tuesday 22 March). A review carried out by the Early Intervention Foundation ( EIF ) and Professor Gordon Harold , of the University of Sussex, for the Department for Work and Pensions found that children's wellbeing can be affected by the quality of the parental relationship. Specifically, unresolved inter-parental conflict can affect children's long-term mental health and wellbeing while also adversely affecting wider aspects of family functioning, including parenting quality. The charity warns improving support aimed at promoting positive inter-parental relationships remains a neglected area for early intervention services with little attention paid to it by maternity, children's and family services. The EIF identified 15 interventions designed to enhance inter-parental relationships and improve outcomes for children available in the UK as part of its review. It found that overall there is limited evidence available and more work is required to build up the evidence base of the effectiveness of these programmes.