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Ec04-471 When Words Are Used As Weapons: Youth Can Prevent Verbal Abuse (For Use With Teen Youth) (Part 4 Of A Four Part Series), Kathy Bosch

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

Most physical abuse or battering begins with some kind of verbal abuse. Physical abuse is easy to identify because you can see a black eye or bruise. But verbal abuse is hard to see and define. Laws usually don't define verbal abuse or require it to be reported. Verbal abuse might be misinterpreted as a bad habit, a bad temper, or "just the way the person talks."

Verbal abuse can be a weapon used by either girls or boys, men or women. However, reports show that more women are abused by men, than men by women. Verbal abuse sometimes is …