If you have kids and a significant other with whom you have frequent arguments or general conflicts, then it's time to examine how that conflict affects the kids. Parents fight and families go through rough times, but experts say that the manner in which you handle things, coupled with the way conflict is resolved, determines how kids deal with problems and arguments. First of all, physical confrontations seem to have the most detrimental effect on children. One study of 3,000 adults who, as children, witnessed their parents fighting, found that they were more likely to be depressed adults, more than three times more likely to be involved in abusive relationships, and were almost twice as likely to abuse alcohol. It's obvious that physical abuse is detrimental, but what about regular verbal arguments? If they're approached in a respectful manner in which both sides negotiate and compromise with one another while listening to each other, then children learn valuable skills that they carry into adulthood.