Masumi Hayashi UCL Institute of Education University College London

1. Understanding definitions of
psychological and emotional
abuse (PEA) of children
Masumi Hayashi
UCL Institute of Education
University College London
mhayashi@ioe.ac.uk
1

2. Significance of PEA
PEA
Sexual
abuse
Physical abuse
Neglect
2

3. Aim
Comparison of
1) Professional guideline PEA definitions
 Department for Education (2013) Working together to
safeguard children.
 NICE (2009) When to suspect child maltreatment.
2) Professionals’ PEA definitions amongst
research studies (Systematic review)
3

4. Definitional conceptual framework
• Abuser
• Abusive behaviour
• Frequency
• Intention
• Abuse consequences
• Child age
• Child other characteristics
• Others
4

5. Department for Education (2013)
Working together to safeguarding children.
 The emotional maltreatment of a child such as
 It may involve
. It may include
.
Abuse consequences
Frequency
Abusive behaviour
5

6. Department for Education(2013)
Working together to safeguarding children
 These may include
, as well as and
, or
.
 It may involve
. It may involve
,
, or .
Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of
maltreatment of a child, though it may occur alone.
Abusive behaviourAbuse consequences
6

7. NICE (2009)
When to suspect child maltreatment.
• Consider emotional abuse if there is concern
that child interactions may be
. Examples include:
…
• Suspect emotional abuse when
child interactions are
observed or reported.
7
Abuse consequences
Frequency
Abusive
behaviour
Abuser

8. Systematic review
Map of
research studies about
professionals’ PEA definitions
Synthesis of
abstract definitions
Synthesis of
operational definitions
8

9. Vignette studies
Fung (1998) Portwood (1999) Pierce (2004)
Locking child
outside house
screams at
and calls her names
are screaming at
their child, calling him foul names.
Locking child in a
room
screams at her
and calls her names
threaten to give away the child
or harm the child if he does not obey.
Never hugging
child
dress their in
girls' clothing
tell the child he is
stupid and ugly.
Threatening to
abandon child
dress their
in boy's clothing.
.
refuse treatment.
criticising
child
dress their
in girls' clothing.
have kept their child locked in
. They feed and wash the child
and provide basic physical care.
Calling child
"useless"
argue in front of their
child.
ignore their child
, talking with him or listening to
him.
Telling child other
children are better
tell their child that
he or she should make better grades
in school, like his or her older
brother or sister.
ignore the child and push him
away when he comes near.
Make child study
for a long time
compare their child
with his younger sibling, sometimes implying
the child is not really their own.
The child is not allowed to play with other
children.
9
Seriousness
high
low
Abuser Frequency
Child age
Abuse
consequences?
Child
gender
Abusive
behaviour

10. Example of vignette- Beck (1994)
of tell
you that their .
During your conversation with the family, the
information emerges that the parents are
,
, and
.
Abuse consequences
Frequency
Abuser
Abusive behaviour
Child age
10

11. Example of vignette-Hansen (1997)
Theresa, the , is and
. The mother and
daughter are African American and live in a
lower-class neighbourhood. Theresa reports that
her mother
. Denise
reports that she has said such things but that she
does not really mean it.
Frequency
Child age AbuserChild gender
Abusive behaviour
11

12. Common findings amongst included studies
• PEA is less likely to be considered as serious or abusive compared to other
forms of abuse (Abstract definition)
• PEA is less likely to be reported by professionals (Operational definition)
• Effect of PEA definitional components regarding abstract definition
 Abuser –PEA by either parent (mother/father) was considered as equally
serious (Howe, 1988)
 Abuse frequency –persistent PEA situation was more likely to be
considered as abusive than single event (Burnett, 1993)
 Child –situations were considered as more suspicious with race factors
and young children (Hansen, 1997)
 Child gender – dressing a boy like a girl was seen as significantly more
serious (Giovannonni&Becerra, 1978)
• Effect of PEA definitional components regarding operational definition
 Abuse frequency – no influence on reporting (Crenshaw, 1995)
 Child race– no influence on reporting (Bjerke, 1993)
 Child gender- no influence on reporting (Bjerke, 1993; Pakieser, 1998)
12

13. Findings
Professional guideline definitions
• UK professional guideline includes explicit statements on PEA
• Significant definitional components of PEA
 Abuse consequence- “harmful”
 Frequency- “persistence”
 Abusive behaviour
Systematic review
• The majority of studies used vignettes
• Little findings on PEA definitions
 PEA is considered as less serious amongst professionals
 PEA is less likely to be reported by professionals
 Little findings on PEA definitional components
 Regardless of the explicit statement of PEA on UK
professional guidelines, research studies suggested that there is
low awareness about PEA amongst professionals.
13

14. Way forward
It is essential to develop studies
 on PEA specifically
 on examination of PEA definitional components
with a systematic method
14