Definition
A persistent pattern of negative behavior directed at child by a caregiver, which diminishes a child’s integrity and well-being.
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]. Emotional 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 emotional abuse may adversely affect later development of the child including symptoms of aggression, depression, poor emotional regulation,...
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Weymouth, L., Howe, T.R. (2011). Emotional 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_984
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_984
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-77579-1
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-79061-9
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