Parents who ridicule, threaten or humiliate their children risk leaving them with a 64% higher chance of having poor mental health as an adult, a study has found.
The research also found physical abuse experienced among the research participants reduced over time, while verbal abuse increased.
Published in BMJ Open, the study gathered data of 20,687 adults from seven studies published between 2012 and 2024.
The studies used all involved questions on childhood physical and verbal abuse using the validated Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) tool and the Warwick-Edinburgh mental wellbeing scale to measure individual and combined components of adult mental wellbeing.
Participants were asked over a two-week period about their mental wellbeing, with responses given a score to determine whether the participant had a low or high sense of mental wellbeing.
While physical abuse was associated with a 52% increase in the likelihood of a person experiencing low mental wellbeing as an adult, verbal abuse was linked to a slightly higher likelihood at 64%, according to analysis of the results.
The analysis also found that, even when physical abuse was part of a person’s childhood experiences, participants who also experienced verbal abuse faced additional risks. The prevalence of low mental wellbeing for those who had experienced no abuse stood at 16%, rising to 22.5% for physical abuse, 24% for verbal abuse, and 29% for both physical and verbal abuse.
Furthermore, the prevalence of physical abuse halved from about 20% among those born between 1950 and 1979 to 10% among participants born in or after 2000. However, for verbal abuse, the prevalence increased from 12% among those born before 1950 to about 20% among those born in 2000 or later.
These findings add to previous research that found experiencing childhood verbal abuse was linked to a higher risk of self-harm, drug use, and ending up in jail.
“Our study reveals that degrading, humiliating and abusive language directed at children can have long-term mental health impacts at least as severe as those associated with physical abuse,” said Prof Mark Bellis of Liverpool John Moores University, the study’s lead author.
“Equally concerning is the trend observed over the study period where physical abuse declined but verbal abuse increased … potentially offsetting the mental health gains we might expect from reduced exposure to physical harm.”
The authors of the study acknowledged its limitations, namely that they were unable to measure the severity of either type of abuse, or the reasons for these trends in changing prevalence for physical and verbal abuse.
“Although this study does not examine the reasons for these trends, it is vital that we do not simply replace one form of childhood trauma with another,” Bellis added. “That’s why we must go beyond telling parents what not to do, and instead offer clear, practical support and guidance that allows them to raise their children through healthy, nurturing relationships.”
The analysis also found that participants born in 2000 or later had a higher likelihood of overall low mental wellbeing, while men were more likely to report never or rarely feeling optimistic, useful, or close to people, while women were more likely to report never or rarely feeling relaxed.
Jessica Bondy, founder of Words Matter, a charity with the aim of ending childhood verbal abuse, said the study confirmed that “words can wound deeply and have a lasting impact on a child’s mental health and development”.
She added: “Any gains made in reducing physical abuse risk being undone by rising rates of verbal abuse. We must act now to confront the lasting harm caused by cruel, critical or controlling language. We need to build children up – not knock them down. The mental health of the next generation and our shared future depend on it.”
