In a national study of children, we studied those who were physically, sexually, and emotionally/verbally abused.  Children who were emotionally and verbally abused suffered the worse long term consequences, yet it is the type of abuse most easily   discounted and unreported.  Little by little, researchers are pointing out the devastating impacts of saying unkind things to kids and how words can hurt their self-esteem, lead to suicide and self-harm, and how it is replicated to inflict harm onto others.  Our article was one of the first to bring attention to the tragic and under-addressed form of child maltreatment.  Take a moment to look at our work:

https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/abstract.aspx?ID=129082