Because of their vulnerabilities and social circumstances, certain groups of children and young people are susceptible to emotional abuse.
Children with Disabilities
One of the most prominent high-risk groups includes children with disabilities. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW, 2020), children with disabilities are significantly more likely to experience maltreatment, including emotional abuse, compared to their non-disabled peers. What causes this greater risk is that they rely highly on caretakers for basic needs, have reduced ability to communicate abusive events, and the nature that they are isolated from society. Children with cognitive or intellectual disabilities may struggle to identify or report emotional abuse, allowing perpetrators to go unnoticed.
Children from Low-Income Families
Because they are more likely to be exposed to monetary factors, children who come from low-income families are more likely to experience emotional abuse. Due to financial difficulties, homework, or unexpected cover, how parents interact with their kids can hurt the house. Caregivers do use extreme verbal abuse, refusal, or personal abuse as a reaction to their anger or powerlessness. This emotional volatility in the home environment impacts children’s well-being and social growth. Children are more likely to struggle with emotional and social development in these circumstances, frequently related to a lack of nurturing care in the early years (Green et al., 2018).
Children in Out-of-Home Care
Also, children who are receiving outside-of-home care, such as foster care, network attention, or personal care, are particularly vulnerable to emotional abuse. Children from low-income people experience abuse as a result of family stress and energy imbalances. In contrast, children in out-of-home maintenance suffer from a different but equally devastating problem: the loss of regular, long-term caretaker relationships. (Armfield et al., 2021) These kids frequently change their caregiver relationships emotionally (Armfield et al., 2021). Without robust relationships, kids might feel abandoned and uncomfortable. Emotional abuse may occur when caregivers or team members of these companies fail to meet the father’s personal needs, either because of a mistake or a lack of proper knowledge. As with children from low-income families, the absence of stable relationships and continuous emotional support in out-of-home care settings can severely affect their personal development and cultural well-being.
Children from CALD Communities
In addition to the above-mentioned elements, children from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities are also more susceptible to emotional abuse. According to speech impediments, young children frequently find expressing themselves harder and less willing to engage in conversation. Yet when they encourage students to speak up, teachers keep silent out of fear of embarrassment or knowledge. Similar to this, kids raised in people with frequent conflicts or misuse may develop the practice of keeping quiet as a coping mechanism to prevent issues. The practice of loneliness can continue to be practised at university when students refrain from speaking in quiet or challenging ways. Both organizations experience loneliness, personal detachment, and a curbing sense of belonging in the classroom because of their email difficulties. Teachers may create secure, supportive environments where students may show themselves because they must know that this quiet may lead to deeper psychological issues.