Distinguishing Between Poor/Dysfunctional Parenting and Child Emotional Maltreatment - Appendix 4

Appendix 4

Diagnostic Criteria for Child Emotional Abuse

1. Verbal or symbolic act or acts (excluding physical abuse and sexual abuse by a parent/caregiver with the potential to cause psychological harm to the child. Such acts include, but are not limited to,
   1. Berating, disparaging, degrading, humiliating child
   2. Threatening child (including, but not limited to, indicating/implying future physical harm, abandonment, sexual assault)
   3. Harming/abandoning — or indicating that the parent/caregiver will harm/abandon — people/things that child cares about, such as pets, property, loved ones (including exposing child to criteria-meeting or subthreshold partner maltreatment)
   4. Confining child (a means of punishment involving restriction of movement, as by tying a child's arms or legs together or binding a child to a chair, bed, or other object, or confining a child to an enclosed area [such as a closet])
   5. Scapegoating child
   6. Coercing the child to inflict pain on him/herself (including, but not limited to, ordering child to kneel on hard objects such as split peas or rice for long periods; ordering the child to ingest a highly spiced food, spice, or herb)
   7. Disciplining child (through physical or non-physical means) excessively (i.e., extremely high frequency or duration, though not meeting physical abuse criteria)
2. Significant impact on the child as evidenced by any of the following:
   1. Psychological harm, including any of the following
      1. More than inconsequential fear reaction^{Footnote 1}
      2. Significant psychological distress (i.e., psychiatric disorders, at or near diagnostic thresholds) related to, or exacerbated by, the act(s)
   2. Reasonable potential for psychological harm, as evidenced by either or the following:
      1. The act (or pattern of acts) creates reasonable potential for the development of a psychiatric disorder (at or near diagnostic thresholds) related to, or exacerbated by, the act(s). Note: The child's level of functioning and the risk and resilience factors present should be taken into consideration.
      2. The act (or pattern of acts) carries a reasonable potential for significant disruption of the child's physical, psychological, cognitive, or social development. A significant disruption would involve development that is substantially worse than would have been expected, given the child's developmental level and trajectory evident before alleged maltreatment
   3. Stress-related somatic symptoms (related to or exacerbated by the acts) that significantly interfere with normal functioning.
3. The act/acts do not include culturally accepted practices intended to promote child safety/development, such as child car seats, safety harnesses, swaddling of infants, and discipline involving "grounding" a child or restricting the child to the home or a room for reasonable periods.

Source: Richard E. Heyman and Amy Slep, Family Translational Research Group, Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794-2500. Used with permission.