Research
The economic burden of the verbal abuse of children estimated at more than $300 billion
Freya Lucas
May 01, 2024
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While awareness and prevention of child abuse has grown in recent times, understandings about the impact of verbal abuse are more limited.
Childhood verbal abuse involves behaviours that can be detrimental to a child’s wellbeing, such as belittling, shouting at a child, or using threatening language.To draw attention to the issue a new study, led by Professor Xiangming Fang (China Agricultural University and Georgia State University) has used data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Violence Against Children Surveys, in four countries: Cambodia (1212 participants), Kenya (1099 participants), Colombia (1415 participants) and Moldova (906 participants), to analyse the effects of childhood verbal abuse on selected health outcomes, including mental distress, self-harm, drug use and problem drinking.
The study then estimated the Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALY) lost (the total amount of healthy life years lost due to people dying prematurely or living with a disability caused by a common disease or health problem in the community) due to health outcomes attributed to childhood verbal abuse to estimate its economic burden.
These DALY losses were then converted into monetary value – assuming that one DALY was equal to the country’s per-capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The mean economic burden of childhood verbal abuse across the four countries was found to be 0.34 per cent of GDP. When this figure was applied to global GDP, it equated to approximately $300 billion every year.
Meanwhile, the DALY losses for outcomes attributed to childhood verbal abuse were significantly greater than corresponding estimates for breast cancer and liver cancer in the four countries studied, and similar to the Disability-Adjusted Life Years lost to hypertensive heart disease.
The findings were showcased at the first international conference on childhood verbal abuse, hosted by UCL, Words Matter and the World Health Organization (WHO).
The Words Matter: Impact and Prevention of Childhood Verbal Abuse conference marks the first time that experts from around the world have come together to focus attention on the lifetime damage of childhood verbal abuse and the need to develop solutions.
“Verbal abuse of children by adults is all too common, but is one of the most significant modifiable causes of life-long mental health disorders,” Conference Chair Professor Peter Fonagy said.
“Tackling it gives us a powerful lever to prevent mental health disorders and their enormous cost to both the UK and global economy.”
“I am delighted that with the Words Matter charity, we have an organisation finally focusing on this problem. Bringing greater awareness to childhood verbal abuse has the potential to dramatically reduce the economic and psychological burden of psychiatric disorders,” he added.
Previous research has shown that childhood verbal abuse can be as harmful as other forms of abuse and have significant adverse impacts on children’s mental and physical health and development – leading to anxiety, depression, eating disorders, self-harm, substance abuse and even suicide.
“The economic burden of childhood verbal abuse by adults that we have quantified clearly highlights the shocking hidden cost of the damage it causes to children throughout their lifetime,” Professor Xiangming Fang said.
“However, this is likely a considerable underestimate given the impact of childhood verbal abuse on several outcomes including healthcare utilisation costs and legal system expenses, which were not included in the analysis due to data unavailability.”
“There is clearly a significant opportunity for economic growth by ending childhood verbal abuse, and by revealing these figures, we hope this form of childhood maltreatment will be given the attention it deserves,” he added.
For Words Matter founder Jessica Bondy childhood verbal abuse by adults is an issue which has gone under the radar for too long.
“We hope this conference helps put the issue firmly on the map and galvanises action,” she said.
“It is possible to bring an end to childhood verbal abuse with greater awareness, understanding and collaboration across the globe to devise solutions. We must act now, given the lifelong impact on children’s mental and physical health and wellbeing and the monumental cost to society.”
The $300 billion estimated impact, researchers believe, is likely a considerable underestimate given the impact of childhood verbal abuse on several outcomes, including healthcare utilisation costs and legal system expenses, which were not included in the analysis, due to data unavailability.
Additionally, costs associated with chronic illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer were not taken into account.
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