Shouting At Children - Abuse Or Social Conditioning?

Written by Michael Thervil

It was reported by CNN in an article written by Issy Ronald: “Adults shouting at children can be as harmful as sexual or physical abuse, study finds”. For many people this can be considered a solid case for parents all over the world not to raise their voices at their children. On the other side of that coin, it can be argued that if a child can’t handle verbal aggression, how can they operate in the “Real world”. Both arguments are correct in their positions. but some Sociologists are examining the position of adults shouting at children whether it be considered as harmful or not from what is known as Structural Functionalism.

What is Structural Functionalism? Simply put, Structural Functionalism can be summed up as “a macro theory that looks at how all structures or institutions in society work together”. Welcome to Sociology 101. Granted, adults shouting at children are not by any stretch of the imagination a “structure” or “institution” within society – but this sociological theory can still be implemented here. Also, before we go on, when adults shout at children it's typically because they are trying to get that child’s attention, stress the importance of something, or they shout at children out of frustration usually by what the child has done, currently is doing or what that child is about to do.

Going back to Structural Functionalism and how that sociological theory can be used to interpret why adults shout at children; is because the Structural Functionalist Perspective reveals that shouting at children when adults need to will inform, emphasize, and condition the children on how to communicate and operate within the unforgiving world around them. In other words, the actions serve as a “verbal marker” which grabs the child’s attention and audibly forces them to conform to societal values, norms, expectations, and standards.

Put another way, if children are unable to learn to cope with the stressors of life how will they be able to live in a world that can be even harsher than the one they have to endure at home? Now, like anyone in their right mind, we are not making the argument that parents should raise their voice towards their children without just cause – even though it has the potential to allow that adult the opportunity to release the stress of them having to “adult” all the time. But we can all agree that there’s a difference between an adult raising their voice at a child and an adult engaging in verbal abuse towards a child.

It was stated by Professor Shanta Dube who was the lead author and director of Wingate University’s Master of Public Health Program that “Childhood verbal abuse desperately needs to be acknowledged as an abuse subtype because of the lifelong negative consequences”. The question is who gets to determine when verbal abuse is occurring towards a child? With that question, many people think that these kinds of studies tend to lead to outcomes that make the children “soft” in the areas of social and emotional development.

In fact, there are people out there that are willing to bet that, the softening of children’s social and emotional development is what’s leading to not only weak children who can’t cope with the stressors of daily life, but they could be considered too “fragile” for the average person to engage them in conversation and communication in general. This was seen with the advent of politically soft language that failed to categorize people in the most basic and understood context and led to what we have today – people who are too socially sensitive to criticism no matter the type and no matter where or who it comes from.

Lending credit to our position here at VEDA Magazine is an article written by ABC Correspondent Matt Seyler who reported in an article entitled: “Military Struggling To Find New Troops As Fewer Young Americans Willing Or Able To Serve” stated that:

“Top reasons cited for not wanting to join are the possibility of injury or death, and fear of developing PTSD or other psychological problems.”

According to that statement it seems as if America has created an entire generation that is fearful of dealing with the obvious harsh difficulties of life – especially when it comes to digesting topics of conversation that are contrary to their current sets of beliefs. Remember if you don't take the time out to shout at your children when you need to - the police will. This is something to think about. Consider it true food for thought.