In present society, there are many social ills that people face on a daily basis. In turn, it is vital to understand the various issues faced by different individuals with regard to the situation at hand. One of the issues that can be classified by both a domestic and global issue is that of verbal abuse. Verbal abuse continues to be a concern in schools, homes, and the work place. This is because the action is not given the same priority as that of physical and sexual abuse. As such, people who undergo verbal abuse are forced to deal with the issue on their own. The paper introduces the notion which states that verbal abuse has a much deeper effect than physical abuse. This is then followed by a counter argument which mentions that verbal abuse is not considered abuse if it does not have elements of physical abuse (Adults Surviving Child Abuse 1).
Verbal abuse is the use of words to discipline, confront, reprehend, and disagree with a person on a pending issue of concern. This form of abuse involves the use of words which in this case can be aggressive, passive aggressive, down putting, judgmental, and abusive. In most cases, the recipient developed a low self esteem which is representative of the image that is painted by the abuser (Hussey et al, 76).
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"Sometimes Words Hit Harder".
There are many forms of child abuse depending on the way in which it is enforced. The forms of child abuse can be categorized as emotional, verbal, physical, and sexual abuse. All these elements contribute to the abuse of a developing child and can have negative repercussions on the child in the long run (Adults Surviving Child Abuse 1).
According to a report conducted by the Child Protective Services (CPS), psychological maltreatment represents 8.1 percent of the cases recorded in the country. Additionally, sexual abuse and physical abuse represent 9.2 and 17.6 percent of the child abuse systematically. Despite the claim that child abuse is known to affect the emotional state of the child, the most damaging form abuse in the national data is credited to child neglect which is represented by 78.3 percent (Hussey et al, 119).
Across the globe, 20-50 percent of children are prone to physical abuse. With regard to girls, 20 percent of girls across the globe suffer from child maltreatment. On the other hand, 2-5 percent of boys are exposed to the same form of abuse. The performance of research has proved to be affective in countries that applied the results into their government policy. For example, the Zimbabwean government has improved the dynamic in the country whereby the prevalence rates of child abuse was considerably high. In eastern and southern countries in Africa, the percentage of physical abuse is higher than the percentage of emotional abuse with figures rising till 70 percent and 30 percent. This shows that verbal and emotional abuse has a higher impact in African and Latin countries compared to western countries (Hussey et al, 69).
Verbal child abuse occurs because of lack of proper parenting, lack of proper employment, reduced social welfare, and ignorance in society. Most societies are not well educated on how to treat children when raising children. Abuse is often mistaken for punishment in that a child is exposed to negative situations in the pretext that they are being disciplined (International Congress on Child abuse and Neglect 1).
As children grow up they develop new personalities and characteristics which reflect on their upbringing. In this case, victims of child abuse are raised to have a low self esteem. In some cases, such children end up having trust issues because of their previous surrounding. Additionally, children who experience early forms of verbal abuse may become social deviants which in most cases are harmful to the society (Adults Surviving Child Abuse 1).
This problem can be controlled through the creation of awareness of the negative effects that various forms of abuse has on children and society as a whole. One of the ways of stopping this culture is by holding conferences which addresses the national and global perspective of the causes and effects of child abuse (Vardigan 1).
Child verbal abuse is currently classified as one of the worst forms of abuse. Despite this, statistics reveal that physical and sexual abuse represents some of the highest forms of abuse. Notably, most people can argue that verbal abuse cannot be considered abuse if one is not harming a child. This means that children who face verbal abuse are not prone to emotional drainage and torture (Hussey et al, 42).
Additionally, verbal abuse cannot be considered to be worse than other forms of abuse because most of the cases which record verbal abuse are associated with some form of physical abuse. Thus, physical abuse is more prevalent in families and schools. People who are exposed to physical abuse showcase long term effects which in most cases are attached to emotional abuse (Vardigan 1).
The above counter argument is misleading because it does not give a name for people who are victims of verbal abuse. To state that verbal abuse is not abuse unless physical abuse is inflicted on a child is wrong because victims of verbal abuse are often emotionally and mentally affected by such circumstances. In fact, verbal abuse is the worst kind of abuse because it initiates physical or sexual abuse which represents separate forms of abuse of a child (International Congress on Child abuse and Neglect 1).
To summarize, it is difficult to determine whether verbal abuse, sexual abuse or physical abuse affects a child the most. As such, child maltreatment should be condemned as a whole. If not taken seriously, children from all walks of life will have a lower quality of life in various parts of the global society.
