Research on 20,000 Brits suggests one in three children experience verbal abuse, primarily from family members and caregivers
Shouting at children in an abusive way can be as bad for them as physical abuse, new research suggests.
A study of more than 20,000 adults in England and Wales found that people exposed to verbal abuse in childhood were likely to feel disconnected, pessimistic, and emotionally unwell in later life. The data suggests that while physical abuse of children is happening less, rates of verbal abuse have almost doubled in the last 50 years. It found one in three now experience it while growing up.
Lead author Professor Mark Bellis, research director at Liverpool John Moores University, said: “Our research shows that verbal abuse in childhood may inflict mental health scars as deep and enduring as those caused by physical abuse.
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“Important progress has been made in reducing physical abuse, but verbal abuse is often overlooked.”
Adults who were physically abused as children had a 52% higher chance of experiencing low mental wellbeing, and this stood at around 64% for those who had been subjected to solely verbal abuse. Researchers said the difference was not statistically significant.
Children who had experienced both physical and verbal abuse were 115% more likely to have low wellbeing in adulthood.
Researchers said an estimated one in six children endure physical abuse, primarily from family members and caregivers, but one in three are subjected to verbal abuse.
Jessica Bondy, founder of Words Matter, an organisation focused on ending childhood verbal abuse by adults said: “This study confirms what survivors and professionals have long known: words can wound deeply and have a lasting impact on a child’s mental health and development. We all get overloaded sometimes, but too many adults are turning to harsh words without realising the lasting damage they cause to children.”
The children’s charity the NSPCC lists the following forms of emotional abuse:
- threatening, shouting at a child or calling them names
- making the child the subject of jokes
- using sarcasm to hurt a child
The authors worked alongside Bangor University and Public Health Wales to pool data from seven relevant studies, involving 20,687 adults from England and Wales and looking at birth cohorts from the 1950s onwards.
The study, published in the BMJ Open, concluded that the prevalence of verbal abuse has risen in recent decades “eroding the long-term mental health benefits we should see from reducing physical abuse”.
Jessica Bondy added: “Any gains made in reducing physical abuse risk being undone by rising rates of verbal abuse. We must act now to confront the lasting harm caused by cruel, critical or controlling language.
“We need to build children up – not knock them down. The mental health of the next generation and our shared future depend on it.”
You can contact the NSPCC helpline by calling 0808 800 5000 or emailing [email protected]
Childline offers free, confidential advice and support for under-19s on 0800 1111.