Family stresses may come in the form of divorce, change in family composition, exposure to arguing or violence, or dealing with personal loss. Adapting to anger or tension in the home may be especially difficult for young children under the age of six, who are less capable of understanding a situation in its entirety and comprehending an event separately from their own feelings.
Emotional Abuse
An emotionally abusive home life is difficult to define. When parents are constantly yelling, criticizing or threatening each other or their children, emotional abuse may be occurring. Emotional abuse can damage a child's self esteem and cause long-term damage similar to that of physical abuse.
Stress Reactions
Children try to cope with tension in the home in many different ways. Children often react to stress in physical ways -- by crying, running away or with aggressive outbursts. The child may also do self-soothing behaviors, such as thumb-sucking, excessive hand-washing, hair twirling or nail biting.
Coping Behavior
Chronic anger and stress in the home can lead to regressive behavior, such as sleep problems or accidents on the toilet. Kids may exhibit depression and avoidance -- freezing up in social situations, acting overly shy, or by showing hyper-vigilance or obsessive interest in certain objects or routines.
When Anger Turns Physical
Children are particularly traumatized by domestic violence. A home with physical violence creates an environment where children live in constant fear. They may be unable to properly bond with parents. Children exposed to family violence have a higher incidence of long-term social, emotional, psychological and behavioral problems. In addition, children from violent homes exhibit more anxiety, low self esteem, depression, anger and temperament problems than children in non-violent homes.
