Family conflict and domestic violence can deeply influence the development of teenagers in their attitudes towards school, relationships and even themselves. Studies have shown that adolescents from homes marked with physical abuse, verbal abuse, parental divorce, or high levels of conflict face a lack of motivation in school, lower self-esteem and run a higher risk of engaging in delinquency and sexual behavior at an early age. Often times divorce or separation between parents can cause a teen to grow up faster, skipping their adolescence and forcing them to take on larger responsibilities. As a result, many will experience emotional turmoil and may engage in abusive relationships fueled by past feelings of aggression and neglect in their futures.

This is not to say that all teens experiencing chaotic situations in their homes will undergo tremendous long term difficulties in their futures, but instead to acknowledge how family conflict can have a negative impact on adolescents. The following illustrates some areas of concern that researchers found to effect teens the most in their development, in hopes of helping lawyers and courts to better serve and protect these youth.

Educational Performance

• Disrupted family structures can be detrimental to the success of high school students. Teens from non-intact families are more likely to drop out of school and fail to graduate.¹
• College attendance rates are lower for kids growing up in non-intact families. Researchers explain the cause of this by the lack of parental involvement and encouragement to teens in high school.
• Family structure can influence a teenager’s school attendance and tardiness. Teens from non-intact families miss class 30 percent more often than teens from intact homes. The reason for the difference is that two-adult intact homes appear to be more capable of monitoring their children.
• Teens from homes with high levels of marital conflict are more likely to have behavioral problems in schools than teens from households with less marital conflict. Interestingly, children with parents who have high-conflict marriages tend to have even higher degrees of behavioral problems than children with divorced parents do.

Risky Behavior

• Teens from non-intact families are much more likely to develop habits of smoking, drug use, and alcohol consumption.
• Teens from dysfunctional family households tend to become more sexually active
• Teens from divorced single-mother homes are much more likely to get pregnant than in homes with single mothers who have never married. It has also been found that teens with mothers who remarry after divorce have lower rates of pregnancy that teens in single-mother homes. It is suggested that remarriage or marriage in households can deter pregnancy for teens.
• Studies show that teens may turn to sexual behavior as a way to gain acceptance and compensate for a supportive and nurturing family.²

Health Problems

• There is strong evidence that children growing up in dysfunctional households often suffer from long-term health problems including cancer, heart disease, anxiety disorders and early death.
• Some teens may develop sleeping and eating disorders and fall into depression as a consequence.³

Social Interactions

• Children who have grown up experiencing conflict in the home, through yelling and hitting, often do not learn how to solve problems with others and tend to overact to minor threats. They tend to use denial and aggression as solutions and blame others for their problems.
• Teens who have experienced domestic violence and conflict within their homes develop to become more aggressive, violent, and depressed than those who did not grow up in such an environment.
• Teens facing domestic violence in their homes often will try to keep their lives at home a secret in an attempt to fit in with their peers.⁴
• Violence in the home can result in teens being unable to make trusting, lasting relationships, and it results in a high probability of their ending up in violent relationships themselves. Studies have shown that teens who have experienced much conflict in their homes have a hard time believing in the benevolence of people and in relying on their future spouses.

Emotional Turmoil

• Domestic violence can cause a teenager to feel lonely and isolated. These feelings can lead to depression and even manifest into addictions and violent acts.
• Adolescents of divorced parents may feel pushed into adulthood at an early age and must face larger responsibilities in caring for siblings.
• Divorce can greatly decrease an adolescent's self-esteem. The quality of parent-child relationships can directly influence a child's self-confidence.⁵
• Adolescents of divorced parents often feel as if their parents have separated from them and fail to receive the parental support they need.⁶
• Many teens also experience a sense of loss and anger after their parents divorce and struggle in conflicts of loyalty toward one parent over the other. This can cause them to withdraw from both parents.
• On a more positive note, many adolescents also demonstrate more maturity and responsibility as a result of their parents divorcing. They develop a deeper understanding of finances and family roles.

Juvenile Delinquency

• Some researchers insist that a history of family violence can be the most important factor in determining whether a youth will turn to delinquency or not.⁷
• Teens who experience neglect in the home may seek attention by shoplifting or committing other crimes.
• Children whose parents are divorced are more likely to become delinquent by the age of 15 than children whose families are intact.⁸

¹"Family Structure and Children's Educational Outcomes." Research Brief No. 1. Center for Marriage and Families at the Institute for American Values. November 2005.

²"Risky Families' Suffer serious Long-Term Health Consequences, UCLA Scientists Report." March 2002.

³"Custody Preparation for Moms." Custodypreparationformoms.org 2002.

⁴"Effects of Domestic Violence on Children and Teenagers." Mental Health Journal Domestic Violence: An Overview. 2006

⁵"Divorce: How it affects your child." Health 24 2006.

⁶Kirby, Jacqueline J. & Dean, Katherine. "Teens and Divorce: What Hurts and What Helps?" The Ohio State University. Family Life Month Packet 2002.

⁷Volpe, Joseph S. "Effects of Domestic Violence on Children and Adolescents: An Overview." The American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress, Inc. 1996.

⁸Linaman, Dr. Todd E. "The Effects of Divorce on Children and Families." Family Life Communications, Incorporated. 2005.