Words as weapons: A new study on verbal abuse on children

You might think that words can't actually hurt, but it's not true - and they can actually affect your kids a lot.

A new study conducted by researchers from UCL and Wingate University emphasizes the importance of recognizing childhood verbal abuse by adults as a distinct form of child maltreatment.

Let's find out more about it.

Not just words

Currently, child maltreatment is categorized into four categories: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect, which guides interventions and monitoring efforts.

The research reviewed 150 quantitative and 17 qualitative studies on different child verbal abuse.

It found a need for a more consistent definition of kids' verbal abuse, as it varies across cultures and authorities, sometimes being normalized as a form of punishment or discipline.

Behaviors such as belittling, shouting, and using threatening language towards children are part of childhood verbal abuse.

These actions can cause lasting harm to a child's well-being, leading to higher chances of experiencing anger, depression, substance abuse, self-harm, and also obesity.

It's not the same for everyone

The experiment identified a significant gap in acknowledging childhood verbal abuse as a distinct maltreatment type and emphasized that recognizing it as such would be a crucial step for prevention.

The research also shows the ambiguity of the term "emotional abuse" and suggested that focusing on "childhood verbal abuse" would place the onus on the adult's actions, potentially facilitating prevention efforts.

The review identified parents as the primary perpetrators of childhood verbal abuse, followed by other adult caregivers in the home and teachers.

Standardized terminology and further exploration are needed in this area to better understand the effects of this behavior on different age groups.
 

• Related news:
• research
• words
• abuse
• children
• parents
• 7 October 2023

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