My thoughts ... Children's response to mom and dad turning into cutthroat competitors rather than nesting cooperators will probably have an effect, but it is not easy one to predict. It varies a lot depending on the child, because children will interpret what is going on differently and what it means about how the world works and what they can depend on. Certainly a lot of kids will at least come away with a deep cynical (and realistic ?) sense of the unreliability of love relationships. They largely build their sense of the "story of relationships" in their toddler period based on what they see and feel. Beyond that, though, if they feel safe and cared for, I think the damage of feuding parents is usually somewhat contained to a reasonably normal range of human development. A nasty divorce won't neccessarily turn a kid into a sociopath or an emotional cripple. On the other hand, if they constantly feel in danger because mom and dad come to blows or resources are continually scarce and they don't feel that it is being handled with any sense of consistency or control (yes, toddlers are very good at drawing causal conclusions, far better than Freud or Piaget realized !), they may adapt in some rather extreme ways that will take them outside the usual developmental range and potentially lead to pathology. The development of their sense of self and sense of the world is a complex but fairly rugged process because it has to be. However, given an extreme enough environment, it can end up outside the range of "good enough" parenting. And some kids are temperamentally much more extreme than others in their responses to the same things.
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