Sep 22, 2014 12:37 AM EDT By J Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

Children who witness verbal and physical aggression between parents may have trouble recognizing and regulating their emotions later in life, according to a recent study.

Researchers from New York University found 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," C. Cybele Raver, lead author of the study, said in a statement. "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."

For the study, researchers followed more than 1,000 children and their families living in eastern North Carolina and central Pennsylvania, two geographical areas with high poverty rates.

Raver and her colleagues 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.

Based on the findings, 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.

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.

The findings were published in the journal Development and Psychopathology.

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