How many children are emotionally abused or neglected?
One American survey found that a quarter of the sample of undergraduate students reported some form of emotional abuse by their parents. Another quarter reported other forms of emotional abuse outside the home, such as bullying (Doyle 1997). • Who is most likely to be emotionally abused?Boys and girls are equally likely to be victims of emotional abuse by their parents, and emotional maltreatment has been reported to peak in the 6- to 8- year old range and to remain at a similar level throughout adolescence (Kaplan and Labruna 1998). • What are the characteristics of emotionally abusive parents?Research findings suggest that emotionally abusive parents have negative attitudes towards children, perceive parents as unrewarding and difficult to enjoy, and that they associate their own negative feelings with the child’s difficult behaviour, particularly when the child reacts against their poor parenting methods. *Emotional abuse has increasingly been linked to parental mental health proble
