Hurtful words: Examining the protective role of parental warmth against the effect of verbal abuse on self-esteem and resilience

Abstract

Parental verbal abuse toward children is common in Hong Kong, and the effect of verbal abuse is long-term and detrimental. The study has two objectives. First, to determine whether parental verbal abuse in childhood is negatively associated with the levels of self-esteem and resilience in adulthood. Second, to examine whether parental warmth buffers the negative effect of verbal abuse on self-esteem and resilience. A community sample of 210 adults participated in this study. As hypothesized, parental verbal abuse was negatively associated with self-esteem and resilience. However, parental warmth did not moderate the relationships between verbal abuse, self-esteem and resilience. Findings suggested that parents should reduce the use of verbal abuse and adopt more positive parenting strategies.