Adult Psychological Distress and Self-Worth Following Child Verbal Abuse

Abstract

Despite the proliferation of child maltreatment research over the last 30 years, there remains a dearth of research examining the long-term effects of child psychological maltreatment (CPM), particularly child verbal abuse (CVA). Using a college sample of 173 participants from a Southeastern university, this study examined the role of gender and perpetrator relationship in predicting psychological distress and self-worth of adults exposed to CVA. Maternal CVA emerged as a significant predictor of lower levels of self-worth in adult daughters and sons as well as greater psychological distress in adult daughters. Paternal CVA did not emerge as a significant predictor of greater psychological distress or lower levels of self-worth in either adult daughters or sons.

Keywords:

• child verbal abuse
• psychological distress
• self-worth

Notes

A special acknowledgment of gratitude is in order to the undergraduate research assistants who devoted numerous volunteer hours to this project: Alyssa Hughley and Derek-Philip Moore.