The more unpredictable an environment is for children, the more likely they are to exhibit mental and physical health issues when they hit their teenage and early adulthood years, according to new University of Georgia research.

The study linked impulsive behaviors from parents, frequent partner changes, child care instability and overall chaos in households to poor behavior and mental instability in children as they grew up. The youth reported higher levels of depression and anxiety, and had higher body mass index, or BMI, likely due to stress.

“We don’t have to have really strict, predictable, stable environments always,” said Kalsea Koss, corresponding author of the study and an associate professor in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences ’ Department of Human Development and Family Science. “Small amounts of changes in our lives are OK because they help us learn how to be flexible and practice emotional and behavioral regulation strategies. But when they start to pile up and accumulate across childhood, there’s a tipping point. It becomes more problematic and leads to more of these lifelong negative outcomes.

s also identified additional factors that were outside parents’ control that also negatively impacted their children’s development, such as family income and frequent moves.

Homes with consistent co-parenting and routines were associated with better youth outcomes.