A new research has suggested that parents should not stay in a bad marriage for the benefit of their kids.

Researchers said that in marriages with lots of problems, living together for the kids does more harm than good.

Their study scientists showed that kids of parents who fight a lot yet stay married experience more fight in their own adult relationships as compared to kids of parents who fight and do get a divorce.

Researcher Constance Gager, of Montclair State University in New Jersey stated, "The basic implication is, ''Don''t stay together for the sake of the children if you''re in a high conflict marriage."

For the research, Gager and her fellow workers examined the outcomes of a national poll involving around 7,000 married couples and their kids in US.

The study researchers discovered that kids who grew up in high conflict families fared better in their adult relationships if their parents got a divorce.

The outcomes held even after the researchers considered other factors, which could have influenced the kid's relationships when they were older, such as the whether the participants acted out as a children or had trouble getting along with others.

That isn't to say divorce doesn't affect kids in the short-term, the researchers said.

Gager added that constant exposure to their parents' conflict is likely what leads to children's future relationships to suffer.

"If they're constantly exposed to conflict, and the parents stay together, that means there's many more years they're exposed to conflict by their parents. Whereas if their parents get divorced, at least there's a chance the parents will have less conflict after the divorce," Gager said.

The research was presented in 2009 at the Annual Meetings of the Population Association of America. (With Inputs from Agencies)