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NSPCC draws attention to impact of emotional abuse in childhood

© Copyright LexisNexis 2025. All rights reserved.
Date:25 MAR 2025
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The NSPCC recently commented that "most UK adults believe emotional abuse in childhood can have a lasting psychological effect but one in six cannot spot the signs."

They continued: "We want to remind people of the importance of free online resources like Listen up, Speak up.

New findings show adults across the UK struggle to identify emotional abuse.

  • The survey revealed 94% of participants believe emotional abuse in childhood can have a lasting psychological effect well into adulthood.
  • We’re releasing this data as part of our Listen up, Speak up campaign, aiming to inspire a million people to take action in keeping children safe.
  • At a recent panel talk, Anna Williamson and Michael Gunning discussed the importance of people speaking up when they have concerns.

New findings reveal that 94% of UK adults who took part in the survey believe that emotional abuse in childhood can have a lasting psychological effect well into adulthood.

We commissioned a YouGov survey that found that on average almost one in six (17%) UK adults could not correctly identify examples of emotional abuse."

 

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"Survey respondents were given a series of behaviours and asked to correctly identify what was deemed as emotional abuse. The scenarios where adults failed to identify emotional abuse correctly, included:
  • Being overly controlling of a child's life (25%).
  • Never showing any emotions in interactions with a child (26%).
  • Pushing a child too hard or not recognising their limitations (27%).

The research also found that two thirds (66%) of adults surveyed had not done any training or reading to help them recognise the signs of emotional abuse.

Emotional abuse is any type of abuse that involves the continual emotional mistreatment of a child. It can often be difficult to recognise, sometimes showing limited external signs.

Research suggests 1 in 15 children in the UK will experience emotional abuse, highlighting how prevalent the issue is and that it is a topic young people contact Childline about on a regular basis.

Last year we delivered almost 3,000 counselling sessions to children and young people where emotional abuse was the main concern, a 5% increase compared to 2022/23."

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