Most states have included sections on psychological abuse or
emotional maltreatment in their child abuse statutes, however,
interest in this type of abuse has lagged in litigation, treatment, or
research. Lack of public sanctions to examine or prosecute these cases
may be a reason for this reluctance. This research project aimed at
identifying potential definitions of psychological abuse, by
submitting vignettes with adult behaviors to be rated as abuse or not
by a group of citizens and also comparing these results with a
professional social work cohort. Both groups identified nine types of
adult behavior to be abuse. There was no difference on the ratings
between respondent groups (citizen-social work; age groups, experience
with child abuse, and parenthood), except for gender. Female
respondents rated the vignettes to be child abuse, serious, and wanted
more drastic intervention than male respondents. Support existed for
intervention in these cases.