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This article is about the mistreatment of people, systems or animals. For other uses, see Abuse (disambiguation).
"Mistreat" redirects here. For other uses, see Mistreat (disambiguation).
For abuse within the Wikipedia community, see: Wikipedia:Long-term abuse and Wikipedia:Abuse.

Abuse is the improper usage or treatment of an entity, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit.[1] Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices; crimes, or other types of aggression.


Types and contexts of abuse

Abuse of authority

Main articles: Oppression and Political corruption

Abuse of authority, in the form of political corruption, is the use of legislated or otherwise authorised powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by private persons or corporations not directly involved with the government. An illegal act by an officeholder constitutes political corruption only if the act is directly related to their official duties.

Abuse of authority is separated from abuse of power in that the act is originally condoned, but is extended beyond that initially conceived and is in not all cases

Abuse of corpse

See: Abuse of corpse

Abuse of discretion

Main article: Abuse of discretion

An abuse of discretion is a failure to take into proper consideration the facts and law relating to a particular matter; an arbitrary or unreasonable departure from precedent and settled judicial custom.[2]

Abuse of dominance

See: Abuse of dominance

Abuse of indulgences

See: Abuse of indulgences

Abuse of information

Abuse of information typically involves a breach of confidence or plagiarism, or extending the confidence of information beyond those authorised.

In the financial world, Insider trading can also be considered a misuse of internal information that gives an unfair advantage in investment.

Abuse of power

Main article: Abuse of power


Abuse of process

Main article: Abuse of process

A cause of action in tort arising from one party making a malicious and deliberate misuse or perversion of regularly issued court process (civil or criminal) not justified by the underlying legal action.

Abuse of rank

Main article: Rankism

Rankism (also called abuse of rank) is treating people of a lower rank in an abusive, discriminatory, or exploitative way.[3] Robert W. Fuller claims that rankism includes the abuse of the power inherent in superior rank, with the view that rank-based abuse underlies many other phenomena such as bullying, racism, sexism, and homophobia.

Abuse of statistics

See: Abuse of statistics

Abuse of the system

See: Abuse#Gaming the system

Abuse of trust

See: Position of trust

Abusive supervision

Main article: Abusive supervision

Abusive supervision is most commonly studied in the context of the workplace, although can arise in other areas such as in the household and at school. “Abusive supervision has been investigated as an antecedent to negative subordinate workplace outcome”.[4][5] "Workplace violence has combination of situational and personal factors”. The study that was conducted looked at the link between abusive supervision and different workplace events.[6]

Academic abuse

See: Academic abuse

Ad hominem abuse

Main article: Ad hominem abuse

Ad hominem abuse (also called personal abuse or personal attacks) usually involves insulting or belittling one's opponent to invalidate his or her argument, but can also involve pointing out factual but ostensible character flaws or actions which are irrelevant to the opponent's argument.

Adolescent abuse

See: Anti-social behaviour, Juvenile delinquency, Parental abuse by adolescents, Parental abuse of adolescents

Adult abuse

Adult abuse refers to the abuse of vulnerable adults.[7]

Alcohol abuse

Main article: Alcohol abuse

Alcohol abuse, as described in the DSM-IV, is a psychiatric diagnosis describing the recurring use of alcoholic beverages despite its negative consequences.[8] Alcohol abuse is sometimes referred to by the less specific term alcoholism. However, many definitions of alcoholism exist, and only some are compatible with alcohol abuse. There are two types of alcoholics: those who have anti social and pleasure-seeking tendencies, and those who are anxiety-ridden- people who are able to go without drinking for long periods of time but are unable to control themselves once they start.[9] Binge drinking is another form of alcohol abuse. Frequent binge drinking or getting severely drunk more than twice is classed as alcohol misuse.[10] According to research done through international surveys, the heaviest drinkers happen to be the United Kingdom's adolescent generation.[11]

Animal abuse

Main article: Cruelty to animals

Animal abuse is the infliction of suffering or harm upon animals, other than humans, for purposes other than self-defense. More narrowly, it can be harm for specific gain, such as killing animals for fur. Diverging viewpoints are held by jurisdictions throughout the world.

Anti-social behaviour

Main article: Anti-social behaviour
See also: Incivility

Anti-social behaviour is often seen as public behaviour that lacks judgement and consideration for others and may cause them or their property damage. It may be intentional, as with vandalism or graffiti, or the result of negligence. Persistent anti-social behaviour may be a manifestation of an antisocial personality disorder. The counterpart of anti-social behaviour is pro-social behaviour, namely any behaviour intended to help or benefit another person, group or society.[12]


Main article: Bullying

Bullying is repeated acts over time that involves a real or perceived imbalance of power with the more powerful individual or group attacking those who are less powerful.[13] Bullying may consist of three basic types of abuse – verbal, physical and emotional. It typically involves subtle methods of coercion such as intimidation. Bullying can be defined in many different ways. Although the UK currently has no legal definition of bullying,[14] some US states have laws against it. Bullying is usually done to coerce others by fear or threat.

Character assassination

Character assassination is an attempt to tarnish a person's reputation. It may involve exaggeration or manipulation of facts to present an untrue picture of the targeted person. It is a form of defamation and can be a form of an ad hominem (to the person) argument.

Child abuse

Main article: Child abuse

Child abuse is the physical or psychological/emotional mistreatment of children. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or other caregiver that results in harm, potential for harm, or threat of harm to a child.[15] Most child abuse occurs in a child's home, with a smaller amount occurring in the organisations, schools or communities the child interacts with. There are four major categories of child abuse: neglect, physical abuse, psychological/emotional abuse, and sexual abuse.

Parental abuse of children

See: Abuse#Child abuse

Child sexual abuse

Main article: Child sexual abuse

Child sexual abuse is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent abuses a child for sexual stimulation.[16][17] Different forms of this include: asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities (regardless of the outcome), indecent exposure of genitalia to a child, displaying pornography to a child, actual sexual contact against a child, viewing or engaging in physical contact with the child's genitals, or using a child to produce child pornography.[16][18][19]

Child-on-child sexual abuse

Child-on-child sexual abuse refers to a form of child sexual abuse in which a prepubescent child is sexually abused by one or more other children or adolescent youths, and in which no adult is directly involved. This includes sexual activity between children that occurs without consent, without equality, or as a result of coercion;[20] particularly when physical force, threats, trickery, or emotional manipulation are used to elicit co-operation.

Church abuse

See: Abuse#Spiritual abuse

Civil rights abuse

Main article: Civil rights

Clandestine abuse

Main article: Clandestine abuse

Clandestine abuse is sexual, psychological, or physical abuse "that is kept secret for a purpose, concealed, or underhanded."[21]

Clerical abuse

See: Catholic sex abuse cases

Cyber abuse or cyber bullying

Main article: Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying "involves the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others." -Bill Belsey[22]

Dating abuse or dating violence

Main article: Dating abuse
See also: Date rape

Dating abuse is a pattern of abusive behaviour exhibited by one or both partners in a dating relationship. The behaviour may include, but is not limited to; physical abuse; psychological abuse; and sexual abuse.


Main article: Defamation
See also: Libel and Slander

Defamation is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government or nation a negative image. It is usually—but not always,[note 1] a requirement that this claim be false and that the publication be communicated to someone other than the person defamed (termed the claimant).

Detainee abuse

See: Abuse#Prison abuse or prisoner abuse

Disability abuse

Main article: Disability abuse

It has been noted that disabled people are disproportionately affected by disability abuse and bullying, and such activity has been cited as a hate crime.[23] The bullying is not limited to those who are visibly disabled – such as wheelchair-users or individuals with physical deformities (e.g., cleft lip) – but also those with learning disabilities such as autism[24][25] and developmental coordination disorder.[26][27] In the latter case, this is linked to a poor ability in physical education, and this behaviour can be encouraged by an ignorant physical education teacher. Abuse of the disabled is not limited to schools; there are many known cases in which the disabled have been abused by staff of a "care institution", such as the case revealed in a BBC Panorama programme on a Castlebeck care home (Winterbourne View) near Bristol, leading to its closure and suspension or firing of staff members.[28]

Discriminatory abuse

Discriminatory abuse involves picking on or treating someone unfairly because something about them is different; for example concerning:


Other acts of discrimination include political libel, defamation of groups and stereotypes based on exaggerations.

Doctor abuse

See: Abuse#Medical abuse, Bullying in medicine, Patient abuse

Domestic abuse or domestic violence

Main article: Domestic violence

Domestic abuse can be broadly defined as any form of abusive behaviours by one or both partners in an intimate relationship, such as marriage, cohabitation, family, dating, or even friends. It is important to remember that abuse is always intentional, and can not happen by accident. Domestic violence has many forms, including:

  • physical aggression (hitting, kicking, biting, shoving, restraining, throwing objects), or threats thereof
  • sexual abuse
  • emotional abuse
  • intimidation
  • stalking
  • passive/covert abuse[29][30] (e.g., neglect)
  • economic deprivation

Depending on local statues, the domestic violence may or may not constitute a crime, also depending on the severity and duration of specific acts, and other variables. Alcohol consumption[31] and mental illness[32] have frequently been associated with abuse.

Drug abuse

See: Abuse#Substance abuse

Economic abuse

Main article: Economic abuse

Economic abuse is a form of abuse when one intimate partner has control over the other partner's access to economic resources,[33] which diminishes the victim's capacity to support him/herself and forces him/her to depend on the perpetrator financially.[33][34][35]

Elder abuse

Main article: Elder abuse

Elder abuse is a type of harm to older adults involving abuse by trusted individuals in a manner that "causes harm or distress to an older person."[36] This definition has been adopted by the World Health Organization from a definition put forward by Action on Elder Abuse in the UK.

Emotional abuse

See: Psychological abuse

Employee abuse

See: Workplace abuse or workplace bullying

False accusations

Main article: False accusations

False accusations (or false allegations) can be in any of the following contexts:

Financial abuse

See also: Economic abuse

Examples of financial (or material) abuse include: illegal or unauthorised use of a person's property, money, pension book or other valuables (including changing the person's will to name the abuser as heir); and often fraudulently obtaining power of attorney, followed by deprivation of money or other property; or by eviction from their own home.

Further reading

  • Baumhoefner, Arlen (2006). Financial Abuse of the Deaf And Hard of Hearing Exposed.
  • Bechthold, Henry L (2003). Blowing the Whistle on the Christian Church in America: The Political Hypocrisy, Double Standards and Financial Abuse Exposed.
  • Carnot, Edward J (2003). Is Your Parent in Good Hands?: Protecting Your Aging Parent from Financial Abuse and Neglect (Capital Cares).
  • Roubicek, Joe (2008). Financial Abuse of the Elderly; A Detective's Case Files Of Exploitation Crimes.

Flag abuse

Main article: Flag desecration

Flag abuse (or flag desecration) is a term applied to various acts that intentionally destroy, damage or mutilate a flag in public, most often a national flag. Often, such action is intended to make a political point against a country or its policies. Some countries have laws forbidding methods of destruction (such as burning in public) or forbidding particular uses (such as for commercial purposes); such laws may distinguish between desecration of the country's own national flag and flags of other countries. Countries may have laws protecting the right to burn a flag as free speech.

Gaming the system

Main article: Gaming the system

Gaming the system (also called bending the rules, gaming the rules, playing the system, abusing the system, milking the system, or working the system) can be defined as using the rules and procedures meant to protect a system to instead manipulate the system for a desired outcome.[37]


Main article: Gaslighting

Gaslighting is a form of psychological abuse in which false information is presented to the victim with the intent of making them doubt their own memory and perception. It may simply be the denial by an abuser that previous abusive incidents ever occurred, or could be as extreme as staging bizarre events with the intention of disorientating the victim. Gaslighting need not require the denial of past abuse; repeated lying about trivial, day-to-day pieces of information to cause confusion in the victim can harm the victim and still constitutes gaslighting.

Gay abuse or gay bashing

Main article: Gay bashing

Gay bashing and gay bullying are verbal or physical abuse against a person perceived by the aggressor to be gay, lesbian, or bisexual, including people who are actually heterosexual, or of non-specific or unknown sexual orientation.

Group psychological abuse

Group psychological abuse refers to groups where methods of psychological abuse are frequently or systematically used on their members. Such abuse would be practices that treat the members as objects one is free to manipulate instead of respecting their autonomy, human rights, identity and dignity. In a group they may also play mind games with another person that can make the victim seem like they are accepted, but in actuality are backstabbing the person when his/her back is turned. When the victim requests assistance from the abusing group it is not given.


Main article: Harassment



Sexual harassment refers to persistent and unwanted sexual advances, typically in the workplace, where the consequences of refusing sexual requests are potentially very disadvantageous to the victim.

Hate crimes

Main article: Hate crimes

Hate crimes occur when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her perceived membership in a certain social group; usually defined by racial group, religion, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, gender identity, or political affiliation.[38]

"Hate crime" generally refers to criminal acts which are seen to have been motivated by hatred of one or more of the listed conditions. Incidents may involve physical assault, damage to property, bullying, harassment, verbal abuse or insults, or offensive graffiti or inflammatory letters (hate mail).[39]


Main article: Hazing

Hazing is considered any activity involving harassment, abuse, or humiliation as a way of initiating a person into a group.

Hazing is seen in many different types of groups; including within gangs, clubs, sports teams, military units, and workplaces. In the United States and Canada, hazing is often associated with Greek-letter organisations (fraternities and sororities). Hazing is often prohibited by law and may be either physical (possibly violent) or mental (possibly degrading) practices. It may also include nudity or sexually oriented activities.

Human rights abuse

Main article: Human rights

Human rights are "basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled."[40] Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the law; and economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to participate in culture, the right to be treated with respect and dignity, the right to food, the right to work, and—in certain countries—the right to education.


Main article: Humiliation

Humiliation is the abasement of pride, which creates mortification or leads to a state of being humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission. It can be brought about through bullying, intimidation, physical or mental mistreatment or trickery, or by embarrassment if a person is revealed to have committed a socially or legally unacceptable act.


Main article: Incivility

Incivility is a general term for social behaviour lacking in civility or good manners, ranging from rudeness or lack of respect towards elders; vandalism and hooliganism; or public drunkenness and threatening behaviour.[41]

Institutional abuse

Main article: Institutional abuse

Institutional abuse can typically occur in a care home, nursing home, acute hospital or in-patient setting and can be any of the following:[42]

Further reading

  • Barter, Christine (1998). Investigating Institutional Abuse of Children (Policy, Practice, Research). National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC). ISBN 978-0902498846
  • Beker, Jerome (1982). Institutional Abuse of Children and Youth (Child & Youth Services). Routledge.
  • Manthorpe J, Penhale B, Stanley N (1999). Institutional Abuse: Perspectives Across the Life Course. Routledge.
  • Westcott, Helen L (1991). Institutional Abuse of Children – From Research to Policy: A Review (Policy, Practice, Research S.) National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).


Main article: Insult

An insult is an expression, statement or behaviour considered to be degrading and offensive.


Main article: Intimidation

Intimidation is intentional behaviour "which would cause a person of ordinary sensibilities" fear of injury or harm. It is not necessary to prove that the behaviour was so violent as to cause terror or that the victim was actually frightened.[43] "The calculated use of violence or the threat of violence to attain goals political, religious, or ideological in nature...through intimidation, coercion, or instilling fear" can be defined as terrorism.[44]

Legal abuse

Main article: Legal abuse


Legal abuse is responsible not only for injustice, but also harm to physical, psychological and societal health.[47]

Lesbian abuse

See: Gay abuse or gay bashing


See: Negligence

Market abuse

Main article: Market abuse

Market abuse may arise in circumstances where financial investors have been unreasonably disadvantaged, directly or indirectly, by others who:[48]

  • have used information which is not publicly available (insider dealing)
  • have distorted the price-setting mechanism of financial instruments
  • have disseminated false or misleading information.

Material abuse

See: Financial abuse

Medical abuse

Mental abuse

See: Psychological abuse

Military abuse

War crimes are "violations of the laws or customs of war", including "murder, the ill-treatment or deportation of civilian residents of an occupied territory to slave labor camps", "the murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war", the killing of hostages, "the wanton destruction of cities, towns and villages, and any devastation not justified by military, or civilian necessity".[49]

War rape is rape committed by soldiers, other combatants or civilians during armed conflict or war. During war and armed conflict rape is frequently used as means of psychological warfare to humiliate the enemy and undermine their morale.

Military sexual trauma is sexual assault and rape experienced by military personnel. It is often accompanied by posttraumatic stress disorder.[50]

Mind abuse or mind control

Main article: Mind control

Mind abuse or mind control refers to a process in which a group or individual "systematically uses unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator(s), often to the detriment of the person being manipulated".[51] The term has been applied to any tactic, psychological or otherwise, which can be seen as subverting an individual's sense of control over their own thinking, behaviour, emotions or decision making.


Main article: Misconduct

Misconduct means a wrongful, improper, or unlawful conduct motivated by premeditated or intentional purpose or by obstinate indifference to the consequences of one's acts. Three categories of misconduct are official misconduct, professional misconduct and sexual misconduct.


Main article: Mobbing

Mobbing means bullying of an individual by a group in any context. Identified as emotional abuse in the workplace (such as "ganging up" on someone by co-workers, subordinates or superiors) to force someone out of the workplace through rumour, innuendo, intimidation, humiliation, discrediting, and isolation, it is also referred to as malicious, nonsexual, nonracial, general harassment.[52]

Mobbing can take place in any group environment such as a workplace, neighbourhood or family.

Narcissistic abuse

Main article: Narcissistic abuse

Narcissistic abuse is a term that emerged in the late 20th century, and became more prominent in the 2000s decade. It originally referred specifically to abuse by narcissistic parents of their children, but more recently has come to mean any abuse by a narcissist (egotistical person or someone with arrogant pride).


Main article: Neglect

Neglect is a passive form of abuse in which a caregiver responsible for providing care for a victim (a child, a physically or mentally disabled adult, an animal, a plant, or an inanimate object) fails to provide adequate care for the victim's needs, to the detriment of the victim. It is typically seen as a form of laziness or apathy on the form of the caregiver, rather than ignorance due to inability; accordingly, neglect of a child by and adult with mental disorders or who is overworked is not considered abuse, although this may constitute child neglect nonetheless.

Examples of neglect include failing to provide sufficient supervision, nourishment, medical care or other needs for which the victim is helpless to provide for themselves.


Main article: Negligence

Negligence is conduct that is culpable (to blame) because it falls short of what a reasonable person would do to protect another individual from foreseeable risks of harm.

Nurse abuse or nursing abuse

Online abuse

See: Abuse#Cyber abuse or cyber bullying

Parental abuse by children

Abuse of parents by their children is a common but under-reported and under-researched subject. Parents are quite often subject to levels of childhood aggression, typically in the form of verbal or physical abuse, in excess of normal childhood aggressive outbursts. Parents feel a sense of shame and humiliation to have that problem, so they rarely seek help; nor is much help available today.[53][54]

Passive–aggressive behaviour

Passive–aggressive behaviour is a form of covert abuse. It is passive, sometimes obstructionist resistance to following through with expectations in interpersonal or occupational situations. It can manifest itself as learned helplessness, procrastination, stubbornness, resentment, sullenness, or deliberate and repeated failures in accomplishing tasks for which one is (often explicitly) expected to do.

Patient abuse

Main article: Patient abuse

Patient abuse or neglect is any action or failure to act which causes unreasonable suffering, misery or harm to the patient. It includes physically striking or sexually assaulting a patient. It also includes withholding of necessary food, physical care, and medical attention. It applies to various contexts such as hospitals, nursing homes, clinics and home visits.[55]

Peer abuse

"Peer abuse" is an expression popularised by author Elizabeth Bennett in 2006 to reinforce the idea that it is as valid to identify bullying as a form of abuse just as one would identify any other form of abuse.[56] The term conveys similar connotations to the term peer victimisation.


Main article: Persecution

Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another group. The most common forms are religious persecution, ethnic persecution, and political persecution; though there is naturally some overlap between these terms.

Personal abuse or personal attacks

See: Abuse#Ad hominem abuse

Physical abuse

Main article: Physical abuse



Main article: Torture


Police abuse

Police brutality is the intentional use of excessive force by a police officer. Though usually physical it has the potential to arise in the form of verbal attacks or psychological intimidation. It is in some instances triggered by "contempt of cop", i.e., perceived disrespect towards police officers.

Police corruption is a specific form of police misconduct designed to obtain financial benefits and/or career advancement for a police officer or officers in exchange for not pursuing, or selectively pursuing, an investigation or arrest.

Police misconduct refers to inappropriate actions taken by police officers in connection with their official duties. Police misconduct can lead to a miscarriage of justice and sometimes involves discrimination.

Political abuse

Further reading

  • Behera, Navnita Chadha Perpetuating the divide: Political abuse of history in South Asia journal Contemporary South Asia, Volume 5, Issue 2 July 1996, Pages 191–205
  • Birley, J. Political abuse of psychiatry Psychiatry, Volume 3, Issue 3, Pages 22–25
  • Bonnie, Richard J. Political Abuse of Psychiatry in the Soviet Union and in China: Complexities and Controversies J Am Acad Psychiatry Law 30:136–44, 2002[57]
  • Zwi, AB. The political abuse of medicine and the challenge of opposing it. Soc Sci Med. 1987;25(6):649-57.


Main article: Prejudice

A prejudice is a preconceived belief, opinion, or judgment toward a group of people or a single person because of race, social class, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, disability, political beliefs, religion, line of work or other personal characteristics. It also means a priori beliefs (without knowledge of the facts) and includes "any unreasonable attitude that is unusually resistant to rational influence."[58] Although positive and negative prejudice both exist, when used negatively, "prejudice" implies fear and antipathy toward such a group or person.

Prison abuse or prisoner abuse

Main article: Prisoner abuse

Prisoner abuse is the mistreatment of persons while they are under arrest or incarcerated. Abuse falling into this category includes:

Professional abuse

Main article: Professional abuse

Professional abusers:[59]

Abuse may be:

Professional abuse always involves:

Further reading

  • Dorpat, Theodore L (1996). Gaslighting, the Double Whammy, Interrogation and Other Methods of Covert Control in Psychotherapy and Analysis. Jason Aronson, Incorporated.
  • Penfold, P. Susan (1998). Sexual Abuse by Health Professionals: A Personal Search for Meaning and Healing. University of Toronto Press.

Psychological abuse

Main article: Psychological abuse

Psychological abuse, also referred to as emotional abuse or mental abuse, is a form of abuse characterized by a person subjecting or exposing another to behavior that is psychologically harmful. Such abuse is often associated with situations of power imbalance, such as abusive relationships, bullying, child abuse and in the workplace.

Racial abuse

Main article: Racism

Racism is abusive attitudes or treatment of others based on the belief that race is a primary determinant of human traits and capacities. It is a form of pride that one's own race is superior and, as a result, has a right to "rule or dominate others," according to a Macquarie Dictionary definition. Racism is correlated with and can foster race-based prejudice, violence, dislike, discrimination, and oppression.


Main article: Ragging

Ragging is a form of abuse on newcomers to educational institutions in India, Sri Lanka, and Australia. It is similar to the American phenomenon known as hazing. Currently, Sri Lanka is said to be its worst affected country in the world.[60][61]


Main article: Rape

Rape, also referred to as sexual assault, is an assault by a person involving sexual intercourse (with or without sexual penetration) of another without the other's consent (this includes those who are considered unable to consent, e.g., if they were inebriated or asleep)

The rate of reporting, prosecution and convictions for rape varies considerably in different jurisdictions. The US Bureau of Justice Statistics (1999) estimated that 91% of US rape victims are female and 9% are male, with 99% of the offenders being male.[62] In one survey of women, only two percent of respondents who stated they were sexually assaulted said that the assault was perpetrated by a stranger.[63] For men, male-male rape in prisons has been a significant problem.[64][65]

Relational aggression

Main article: Relational aggression

Relational aggression, also known as covert aggression[66] or covert bullying[67] is a type of aggression in which harm is caused through damage to relationships or social status within a group rather than physical violence.[67][68] Relational aggression is more common and has been studied more among girls than boys.[68]

Religious abuse

Main article: Religious abuse

Religious abuse refers to:

Resident abuse

See: Resident abuse


Main article: Rudeness

Rudeness (also called impudence or effrontery) is the disrespect and failure to behave within the context of a society or a group of people's social laws or etiquette.

Satanic ritual abuse

Main article: Satanic ritual abuse

Satanic ritual abuse (SRA, sometimes known as ritual abuse, ritualistic abuse, organised abuse, sadistic ritual abuse and other variants) was a moral panic that originated in the United States in the 1980s, spreading throughout the country and eventually to many parts of the world, before subsiding in the late 1990s.

School bullying

Main article: School bullying

School bullying is a type of bullying that occurs in connection with education, either inside or outside of school. Bullying can be physical, verbal, or emotional and is usually repeated over a period of time.[70][71]

Sectarian abuse

Main article: Sectarianism


Self-destructive behaviour is a broad set of extreme actions and emotions including self-harm and drug abuse. It can take a variety of forms, and may be undertaken for a variety of reasons. It tends to be most visible in young adults and adolescents, but may affect people of any age.

Sexual abuse

Main article: Sexual abuse

Sexual abuse is the forcing of undesired sexual behaviour by one person upon another, when that force falls short of being considered a sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a "sexual abuser" or – more pejoratively – "molester".[72] The term also covers any behaviour by any adult towards a child to stimulate either the adult or child sexually. When the victim is younger than the age of consent, it is referred to as child sexual abuse.

Sexual bullying

Main article: Sexual bullying

Sexual bullying is "any bullying behaviour, whether physical or non-physical, that is based on a person's sexuality or gender. It is when sexuality or gender is used as a weapon by boys or girls towards other boys or girls – although it is more commonly directed at girls. It can be carried out to a person's face, behind their back or through the use of technology."[73]

Sibling abuse

Main article: Sibling abuse

Sibling abuse is the physical, emotional, and/or sexual abuse of one sibling by another.

It is estimated[74] that as many as 3% of children are dangerously abusive towards a sibling, making sibling abuse more common than either child abuse by parents or spousal abuse.

Smear campaign

Main article: Smear campaign

A "smear campaign", "smear tactic" or simply "smear" is a metaphor for activity that can harm an individual or group's reputation by conflation with a stigmatised group. Sometimes smear is used more generally to include any reputation-damaging activity, including such colloquialisms as mud slinging.

Societal abuse

See: Abuse#Structural abuse

Spiritual abuse

Main article: Spiritual abuse

Spiritual abuse occurs when a person in religious authority or a person with a unique spiritual practice misleads and maltreats another person in the name of God or Chur or in the mystery of any spiritual concept. Spiritual abuse often refers to an abuser using spiritual or religious rank in taking advantage of the victim's spirituality (mentality and passion on spiritual matters) by putting the victim in a state of unquestioning obedience to an abusive authority.

Spousal abuse

See: Abuse#Domestic abuse or domestic violence


Main article: Stalking

Stalking is unwanted attention towards others by individuals (and sometimes groups of people). Stalking behaviours are related to harassment and intimidation. The word "stalking" is a term that has different meanings in different contexts in psychology and psychiatry; and some legal jurisdictions use it to refer to a certain type of criminal offence. It may also to refer to criminal offences or civil wrongs that include conduct which some people consider to be stalking, such as those described in law as "harassment" or similar terms.

Structural abuse

Main article: Structural abuse

Structural abuse is sexual, emotional or physical abuse that is imposed on an individual or group by a social or cultural system or authority. Structural abuse is indirect, and exploits the victim on an emotional, mental or psychological level.

Substance abuse

Main article: Substance abuse

Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is a patterned use of a substance (drug) in which the user consumes the substance in amounts or through methods neither approved nor supervised by medical professionals (including prescription drugs). Substance abuse/drug abuse is not limited to mood-altering or psycho-active drugs. If an activity is performed using the objects against the rules and policies of the matter (as in steroids for performance enhancement in sports), it is also called substance abuse. Therefore, mood-altering and psychoactive substances are not the only types of drugs abused. Using illicit drugs – narcotics, stimulants, sedatives, hallucinogens, cannabis, or even glues and paints—are also considered to be classified as drug/substance abuse.[75] Substance abuse often includes problems with impulse control and impulsive behaviour.

Surveillance abuse

Main article: Surveillance abuse

Surveillance abuse is the use of surveillance methods or technology to monitor the activity of an individual or group of individuals in a way which violates the social norms or laws of a society. Mass surveillance by the state may constitute surveillance abuse if not appropriately regulated. Surveillance abuse often falls outside the scope of lawful interception. It is illegal because it violates peoples' right to privacy.


Main article: Taunting

A taunt is a battle cry, a method in hand-to-hand combat, sarcastic remark, or insult intended to demoralise the recipient, or to anger them and encourage reactionary behaviours without thinking. Taunting can exist as a form of social competition to gain control of the target's cultural capital (i.e. status).[citation needed] In sociological theory, the control of the three social capitals[note 2] is used to produce an advantage in the social hierarchy as to enforce one's own position in relation to others. Taunting is committed by either directly bullying, or indirectly encouraging others to bully the target. It is also possible to give a response of the same kind, to ensure one's own status. It can be compared to fighting words and trash-talk.

Teacher abuse

See: Teacher abuse


Main article: Teasing

Teasing is a word with many meanings. In human interactions, teasing comes in two major forms, playful and hurtful. In mild cases, and especially when it is reciprocal, teasing can be viewed as playful and friendly. However, teasing is often unwelcome and then it takes the form of harassment. In extreme cases, teasing may escalate to actual violence, and may even result in abuse. Children are commonly teased on such matters as their appearance, weight, behaviour, abilities, and clothing.[77] This kind of teasing is often hurtful, even when the teaser believes he or she is being playful. One may also tease an animal. Some animals, such as dogs and cats, may recognise this as play; but in humans, teasing can become hurtful and take the form of bullying and abuse.

Telephone abuse

See: Nuisance call


Main article: Terrorism

Terrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.[78] At present, there is no internationally agreed definition of terrorism.[79][80] Common definitions of terrorism refer only to those violent acts which are intended to create fear (terror), are perpetrated for an ideological goal (as opposed to a lone attack), and deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants (e.g., neutral military personnel or civilians). It is sometimes sponsored by state policies when a country is not able to prove itself militarily to another enemy country.

Transgender abuse or trans bashing

Main article: Trans bashing

Trans bashing is the act of victimising a person physically, sexually, or verbally because they are transgender or transsexual.[81] Unlike gay bashing, it is committed because of the target's actual or perceived gender identity, not sexual orientation.

Umpire abuse

Main article: Umpire abuse

Umpire abuse refers to the act of abuse towards a umpire, referee, or other official in sport. The abuse can be verbal abuse (such as namecalling), or physical abuse (such as punching).

Verbal abuse or verbal attacks

Main article: Verbal abuse

Verbal abuse is a form of abusive behaviour involving the use of language. It is a form of profanity that can occur with or without the use of expletives. While oral communication is the most common form of verbal abuse, it also includes abusive words in written form.

Verbal abuse is a pattern of behaviour that can seriously interfere with one's positive emotional development and can lead to significant detriment to one's self-esteem, emotional well-being, and physical state. It has been further described as an ongoing emotional environment organised by the abuser for the purposes of control.

Whispering campaign

Main article: Whispering campaign

A whispering campaign is a method of persuasion in which damaging rumours or innuendo are spread about the target, while the source of the rumours seeks to avoid being detected while spreading them (for example, a political campaign might distribute anonymous flyers attacking the other candidate).

Workplace abuse or workplace bullying

Main article: Workplace bullying

Workplace bullying, like childhood bullying, is the tendency of individuals or groups to use persistent aggressive or unreasonable behaviour against a co-worker. Workplace bullying can include such tactics as verbal, nonverbal, psychological, physical abuse and humiliation. This type of aggression is particularly difficult because unlike the typical forms of school bullying, workplace bullies often operate within the established rules and policies of their organisation and their society. Bullying in the workplace is in the majority of cases reported as having been perpetrated by a manager and takes a wide variety of forms.

Characteristics and styles of abuse


Some important characteristics and styles of abuse are:[82]

Telltale signs of abuse

Telltale signs may include:[83]

  1. isolation
  2. irrational jealousy
  3. subtle presence of physical violence
  4. discounting, minimising, and trivialising
  5. criticising
  6. withholding
  7. blaming.

Psychological characteristics of abusers


In their review of data from the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study (a longitudinal birth cohort study; n = 941) Moffitt et al.[84] report that while men exhibit more aggression overall, gender is not a reliable predictor of interpersonal aggression, including psychological aggression. The study found that whether male or female, aggressive people share a cluster of traits, including high rates of suspicion and jealousy; sudden and drastic mood swings; poor self-control; and higher than average rates of approval of violence and aggression (in American society, females are, on average, approved[clarification needed] of violence against males). Moffitt et al. also argue that antisocial men exhibit two distinct types of interpersonal aggression (one against strangers, the other against intimate female partners), while antisocial women are rarely aggressive against anyone other than intimate male partners.

Male and female perpetrators of emotional and physical abuse exhibit high rates of personality disorders.[85][86][87] Rates of personality disorder in the general population are roughly 15%–20%, while roughly 80% of abusive men in court-ordered treatment programmes have personality disorders.[88] There are no similar statistics on female perpetrators of family violence due to bias[citation needed] in the data gathering procedure. The only statistics available are the reports on child maltreatment,[89] which show that mothers use physical discipline on children more often than fathers, while severe injury and sexual abuse are more often perpetrated by men.[90]


Effects of abuse on victims


English et al.[93] report that children whose families are characterised by interpersonal violence, including psychological aggression and verbal aggression, may exhibit a range of serious disorders, including chronic depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, dissociation and anger. Additionally, English et al. report that the impact of emotional abuse "did not differ significantly" from that of physical abuse. Johnson et al.[94] report that, in a survey of female patients (n = 825), 24% suffered emotional abuse, and this group experienced higher rates of gynaecological problems. In their study of men emotionally abused by a wife/partner (n = 116), Hines and Malley-Morrison[95] report that victims exhibit high rates of post traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism.

Namie's study[96] of workplace bullying found that 31% of women and 21% of men who reported workplace bullying exhibited three key symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (hypervigilance, intrusive imagery, and avoidance behaviours). A 1998 study of male college students (n = 70) by Simonelli & Ingram[97] found that men who were emotionally abused by their female partners exhibited higher rates of chronic depression than the general population.

A study of college students (n = 80) by Goldsmith and Freyd[98] report that many who have experienced emotional abuse do not characterise the mistreatment as abusive. Additionally, Goldsmith and Freyd show that these people also tend to exhibit higher than average rates of alexithymia (difficulty identifying and processing their own emotions).

Jacobson et al.[99] found that women report markedly higher rates of fear during marital conflicts. However, a rejoinder[100] argued that Jacobson's results were invalid due to men and women's drastically differing interpretations of questionnaires. Coker et al.[101] found that the effects of mental abuse were similar whether the victim was male or female. Pimlott-Kubiak and Cortina[102] found that severity and duration of abuse were the only accurate predictors of aftereffects of abuse; sex of perpetrator or victim were not reliable predictors.

Analysis of a large survey (n = 25,876) by LaRoche[103] found that women abused by men were slightly more likely to seek psychological help than were men abused by women (63% vs. 62%).

In a 2007 study, Laurent, et al.,[104] report that psychological aggression in young couples (n = 47) is associated with decreased satisfaction for both partners: "psychological aggression may serve as an impediment to couples development because it reflects less mature coercive tactics and an inability to balance self/other needs effectively." A 2008 study by Walsh and Shulman[105] reports that psychological aggression by females is more likely to be associated with relationship dissatisfaction for both partners, while withdrawal by men is more likely to be associated with relationship dissatisfaction for both partners.

Power and control in abusive relationships


In abusive relationships, violence is posited to arise out of a need for power and control of one partner over the other. An abuser will use various tactics of abuse (e.g., physical, verbal, emotional, sexual or financial) to establish and maintain control over the partner.

Abusers' efforts to dominate their partners have been attributed to low self-esteem or feelings of inadequacy, unresolved childhood conflicts, the stress of poverty, hostility and resentment toward women (misogyny), hostility and resentment toward men (misandry), personality disorders, genetic tendencies and sociocultural influences, among other possible causative factors. Most authorities seem to agree that abusive personalities result from a combination of several factors, to varying degrees.

A causalist view of domestic violence is that it is a strategy to gain or maintain power and control over the victim. This view is in alignment with Bancroft's "cost-benefit" theory that abuse rewards the perpetrator in ways other than, or in addition to, simply exercising power over his or her target(s). He cites evidence in support of his argument that, in most cases, abusers are quite capable of exercising control over themselves, but choose not to do so for various reasons.[106]

An alternative view is that abuse arises from powerlessness and externalising/projecting this and attempting to exercise control of the victim. It is an attempt to 'gain or maintain power and control over the victim' but even in achieving this it cannot resolve the powerlessness driving it. Such behaviours have addictive aspects leading to a cycle of abuse or violence. Mutual cycles develop when each party attempts to resolve their own powerlessness in attempting to assert control.

Questions of power and control are integral to the widely utilised Duluth Domestic Abuse Intervention Project. They developed a "Power and Control Wheel" to illustrate this: it has power and control at the center, surrounded by spokes (techniques used), the titles of which include: coercion and threats, intimidation, emotional abuse, isolation, minimising, denying and blaming, using children, economic abuse, and male privilege.[107] The model attempts to address abuse by challenging the misuse of power by the perpetrator.

The power wheel model is not intended to assign personal responsibility, enhance respect for mutual purpose or assist victims and perpetrators in resolving their differences. Rather, it is an informational tool designed to help individuals understand the dynamics of power operating in abusive situations and identify various methods of abuse.

Critics of this model argue that it ignores research linking domestic violence to substance abuse and psychological problems.[108] Some modern research into the patterns in domestic violence has found that women are more likely to be physically abusive towards their partner in relationships in which only one partner is violent,[109][110] which draws the effectiveness of using concepts like male privilege to treat domestic violence into question; however, it may still be valid in studying severe abuse cases, which are mostly male perpetrated.[110] However, modern research into predictors of injury from domestic violence finds that the strongest predictor of injury by domestic violence is participation in reciprocal domestic violence, and that this pattern of domestic violence is more often initiated by the female in the relationship.[109]

Victim blaming

Main article: Victim blaming

Victim blaming is holding the victims of a crime, an accident, or any type of abusive maltreatment to be entirely or partially responsible for the unfortunate incident that has occurred in their lives.

Cycles of abuse

Main article: Cycle of abuse

Intergenerational transmission of abuse

Main article: Cycle of violence

Notable abuse cases

See also



  1. ^ e.g., in the case the offense of defamatory libel under the common law of England and Wales, where prior to the enactment of section 6 of the Libel Act 1843 (defense of justification for the public benefit), the truth of the defamatory statement was irrelevant, and it continues to be sufficient that it is published to the defamed person alone.
  2. ^ Economic capital, cultural capital, and social capital, according to sociologist Pierre Bourdieu[76]


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Further reading

  • Macpherson, Michael Colin The psychology of abuse (1985) Search for this book: (Amazon | wp gwp g)

External links