Emotional Abuse

About 80,000 cases of serious emotional abuse of children were reported in 1986, although most Americans recognize that repeated yelling and cursing at a child lead to long-term emotional problems, a child welfare group reported Tuesday. Even so, the figure represents only a fraction of the number of children who suffer verbal and psychological mistreatment, said Ann Cohn, executive director of the group, the National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse.

Teen actress Ariel Winter of "Modern Family" will remain with her sister under temporary guardianship, and a trial has been scheduled to decide her future home, a judge ruled Tuesday. L.A. County Superior Court Judge Michael Levanas said a county Department of Children and Family Services report found that allegations that Winter's mother emotionally abused her were substantiated, while the department found physical abuse allegations inconclusive. The judge on Oct. 3 temporarily stripped Chrisoula Workman of custody of her daughter.

After warning her child to be careful with a glass of milk, a mother screams at him and calls him an idiot when he spills it on the kitchen floor. After asking his 7-year-old twin girls to quiet down at bedtime, an angry father threatens to lock them in the garage for the night when they continue to spat. After reviewing a teenager's report card, her parents refuse to talk to her for days because she got a C in math.

Abuse in childhood appears to be a particularly strong risk factor for developing alcohol addiction later in life, researchers reported Thursday. Alcohol dependence is linked to many risk factors -- including genetics, drinking in adolescence and having other mental health disorders. A history of physical, sexual or emotional abuse in childhood is known to be another risk factor. The new study, however, shows how strong this link could be. Researchers at the National Institute on Drug Abuse surveyed 196 men and women who were inpatients being treated for alcohol dependence.

Coming home from school, most teens fret over homework, chores and what's for dinner. Sarah, however, feared finding her mother drunk. When Sarah's mother was intoxicated, she turned violently unpredictable. "One afternoon when I came home from school, my mom was on her bed drinking pineapple daiquiris. I wanted to get away from her, so I asked my father if I could go over to my friend's house to study," said Sarah, a Troy High School student who asked that her real name not be used.

There was no dispute over the details. Grady Machnick and his wife, Deborah, forced their teenage son to sleep outdoors because he had stolen from them and they didn't trust him in their Yorba Linda home. On other occasions they kept him in the backyard until he finished his homework, and she once sent him to school with dog feces in his backpack.

Some instances of child abuse are clear cut: A mother routinely kicks her 8-year-old son; a father enters his 12-year-old daughter's room and molests her. But what do you call it when a parent hurts a child without touching? How about the father who persistently belittles his son for not playing football? Or the mother who refuses to let her children bathe because she doesn't want to spend money on soap? Or the stepfather with a habit of berating his wife's child as "stupid"?

Teen actress Ariel Winter of "Modern Family" will remain with her sister under temporary guardianship, and a trial has been scheduled to decide her future home, a judge ruled Tuesday. L.A. County Superior Court Judge Michael Levanas said a county Department of Children and Family Services report found that allegations that Winter's mother emotionally abused her were substantiated, while the department found physical abuse allegations inconclusive. The judge on Oct. 3 temporarily stripped Chrisoula Workman of custody of her daughter.

Abuse in childhood appears to be a particularly strong risk factor for developing alcohol addiction later in life, researchers reported Thursday. Alcohol dependence is linked to many risk factors -- including genetics, drinking in adolescence and having other mental health disorders. A history of physical, sexual or emotional abuse in childhood is known to be another risk factor. The new study, however, shows how strong this link could be. Researchers at the National Institute on Drug Abuse surveyed 196 men and women who were inpatients being treated for alcohol dependence.

A year after George and Bette McFetridge adopted a troubled teenage girl, the Irvine couple contends, her behavior grew increasingly disconcerting. She neglected her grades, kept company with grown men and ran away repeatedly. On her camera, the Orange County deputy district attorney and his wife found a photograph of a pentagram, and of words written on pavement: "Torture. " "Agony. " To punish her for lying about her whereabouts, Bette McFetridge took a pair of scissors and cut off locks of the girls' hair in early 2008 — a snip for each lie. The "tough love" punishment led to an allegation of emotional abuse that a social worker deemed "inconclusive" but nevertheless landed the couple on the state's Child Abuse Central Index, where they remained for 11 months.

A year after George and Bette McFetridge adopted a troubled teenage girl, the Irvine couple contends, her behavior grew increasingly disconcerting. She neglected her grades, kept company with grown men and ran away repeatedly. On her camera, the Orange County deputy district attorney and his wife found a photograph of a pentagram, and of words written on pavement: "Torture. " "Agony. " To punish her for lying about her whereabouts, Bette McFetridge took a pair of scissors and cut off locks of the girls' hair in early 2008 — a snip for each lie. The "tough love" punishment led to an allegation of emotional abuse that a social worker deemed "inconclusive" but nevertheless landed the couple on the state's Child Abuse Central Index, where they remained for 11 months.

Mickey Rooney's stepson was ordered Thursday to turn over all of the 90-year-old actor's identification cards ? including his passport, state ID card, various insurance cards and his Screen Actor's Guild membership ? and to continue to abide by a temporary restraining order that a Los Angeles Superior Court judge issued 10 days ago. Rooney has alleged in court papers that his stepson, Christopher Aber, 52, of Westlake Village and Aber's wife, Christina Aber, 42, have been physically and emotionally abusing him for several years by depriving him of food and medications, prohibiting him from leaving his house and taking control over his finances.

People who sent cruel Internet messages to a 13-year-old girl before she committed suicide won't face criminal charges, a prosecutor announced. St. Charles County prosecutor Jack Banas said that although he understood the public outrage over Megan Meier's death, he could not find statutes allowing him to charge anyone in the case.

Edward Chang is a respected Korean American scholar of ethnic studies with a doctorate from UC Berkeley, known both in Los Angeles and Seoul. His daughter, Angie, is an honors student and speaks and writes Korean fluently. But in the eyes of some Korean immigrants, he's a failure as a father. "Other parents told me I am not a good parent -- many, many times," said Chang, 51.

Not long into "Because I Said So," which stars Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore as a mother and daughter bound by a mutual dependence so neurotically obsessive it makes the affair in "Last Tango in Paris" look breezy and wholesome, I was reminded of the pancake-wrapped sausage that Jon Stewart has been waving around lately on "The Daily Show."

A renowned scientist sat expressionless Monday as prosecutors played recordings of a conversation that they said amounted to an admission that he sexually abused the daughter of a lab colleague over a five-year period. The recordings were part of the prosecution's closing arguments in the trial of USC scientist William French Anderson.

House of Judah founder William A. Lewis and six followers were sentenced to prison Friday for enslaving children at the sect's former southwest Michigan camp. U.S. District Judge Douglas Hillman sentenced Lewis, 63, a self-proclaimed prophet, and sect leaders Larry Branson, Robert McGee and Theodore Jones Sr. to serve three years in prison for conspiring to enslave children with threats, beatings and other physical and emotional abuse. The sect leader's son, William L. Lewis, and Eddie Green Jr.

Edward Chang is a respected Korean American scholar of ethnic studies with a doctorate from UC Berkeley, known both in Los Angeles and Seoul. His daughter, Angie, is an honors student and speaks and writes Korean fluently. But in the eyes of some Korean immigrants, he's a failure as a father. "Other parents told me I am not a good parent -- many, many times," said Chang, 51.

He sits in a prison in Southwestern France, perhaps for up to eight years, having landed in that cell after a March trial in the town of Mont-de-Marsan determined he was guilty of drugging his children's tennis opponents, having helped cause the death of one.

Regarding the article about William Hung ("Off-Key, On the Map," by Shawn Hubler, Feb. 6), you inadvertently reveal a judiciously maintained but rather obvious secret, that Hung, like every other candidate for "American Idol," went through a careful selection process before ever facing the draconian judging panel of Simon, Paula and Randy. One can't help assume, having heard Hung attempt to sing, that his original auditioners knew perfectly well they were slipping in a dud to spice up the show.