PARENTAL VERBAL ABUSE AND ITS IMPACT ON EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT AND PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH OF INDIVIDUALS

Abstract

Family should be the foundation on which a child should build itself, but when the foundation is not strong, the child will not be strong. Parents are the first friends and guide a child has when they enter this world; they are supposed to be the arms that will cover you from the cruelty of the world, but when those arms start to abuse you verbally, things take a different turn, and scenarios can change. Parental verbal abuse is a taboo topic that is hardly discussed as it is hard for people to believe that parents can be abusive; there have been many studies conducted that prove otherwise. Verbal abuse was not recognized as actual abuse for a very long time, due to which there is not much awareness regarding it. For this study, 105 interviews were conducted through snowball sampling from public and private universities, and a focus group discussion was conducted with 4 parents. Themes are extracted from the interviews using thematic analysis, which shows that parental abuse does affect the psychological health and the ability to attain education. The people who have been abused are changed for their entire lives and don't live normally. Therefore, it is necessary to not only recognize that parental abuse happens, but it is crucial that something needs to be done about it too. Institutions such as the government and non-governmental organizations need to take this matter seriously, or it can seriously threaten human development.