Definition
A persistent pattern of demeaning or humiliating behavior directed at a child by a caregiver.
Description
A type of abuse in which a caregiver degrades, corrupts, berates, belittles, rejects, threatens, ignores, exploits, assaults, spurns and/or terrorizes a child in a repeated pattern [1, 2]. Psychological abuse may also consist of denial of psychological treatment, extreme verbal punishment, unreasonable expectations, and/or lack of responsiveness. This pattern of behavior from caregivers may adversely affect the child cognitively, emotionally, and socially. A caregiver may make a child feel unloved, flawed, or worthless through name calling and/or scapegoating or may be unconcerned with a child’s troubles [1, 5]. The presence of psychological abuse may adversely affect later development of the child including symptoms of aggression, depression, emotional dysregulation, eating...
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References
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Weymouth, L., Howe, T.R. (2011). Psychological Abuse. In: Goldstein, S., Naglieri, J.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_2297
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_2297
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