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.
