Signs of emotional abuse may go unnoticed by adults in a child's or young person’s life.
It's difficult to measure exactly how many children in the UK experience emotional abuse. However, research with 2,275 young people aged 11-17 about their experiences of emotional abuse suggests around 1 in 15 children in the UK have been emotionally abused.1
This briefing looks at what data and statistics are available to help professionals, and the organisations they work for, make evidence-based decisions about emotional abuse.
It includes information from a number of sources such as data from services which work with children and research into children's and adults' self-reported experiences, which help build up a picture of the scale of emotional abuse.
Statistics can help people and the organisations they work for make evidence-based decisions about how best to meet the needs of children. Our series of briefings looks at what available data can tell us about child abuse and neglect.
References
Find out what data is available and what it can tell us about how many children and young people experience abuse and neglect in the UK.
Learn about the impact of emotional abuse on children and young people, what signs and indicators to look out for, how to respond to it and statutory guidance across the UK.
Our factsheet explores issues to consider when looking at service data, self-report data, trends and statistics across different areas in relation to child abuse.
