A recent research paper has found that verbal abuse of children, including shouting at them and calling them names, is linked to low mood, drug abuse and delinquency (antisocial behaviour).
The authors of the new study argue that because verbal abuse is considered as a part of emotional abuse (a category which includes many different types of harmful behaviour towards children, such as manipulating them, humiliating them and giving them the silent treatment) it is overlooked and a “hidden problem”. They state that childhood verbal abuse should be recognised as its own category of child maltreatment.
