Did you or a close friend have a parent who was a frequent source of yelling or threatening language when you were a child? For people who experience it, even at the hands of non-parental caregivers or teachers, the effects of childhood verbal abuse can continue into adulthood and are associated with an increased risk of anger, depression, substance abuse, self-harm, and obesity.
Because of the immediate and long-term effects, verbal abuse needs to be considered and studied as a distinct form of childhood maltreatment, according to a systematic review published in the October-December issue of Child Abuse & Neglect: The International Journal. This change could ensure targeted prevention and address the lasting harm that words can cause, the authors write.
“Looking across studies, it is clear that verbal abuse by adults during childhood has an immediate impact, leaving children feeling unloved, abandoned, and humiliated, which extends across the lifespan and leads to depression, anxiety, and suicidality,” said lead study author Shanta Dube, PhD, a researcher and director of the Master of Public Health program at Wingate University in North Carolina. This “hidden problem” can lead to a host of problems in adulthood and needs to be on the radar of detection, she adds.
The study underscores the need for attention to verbal abuse because the consequences are as significant as physical or sexual abuse, says Hilit Kletter, PhD, a Stanford Medicine Children’s Health psychiatrist and director of the Stanford Stress and Resilience Clinic in California. “It’s not really recognized as being as serious as some of the other forms of maltreatment-these findings provide strong support for why that needs to change,” she says.