After reading about it, I think emotional abuse is very prevalent. At least in my own life, I've been subjected to quite a bit of it. A few things come to mind:
School: First thing that came to mind. At school, when you're sensitive and forced to spend time with others who are more aggressive than you are, I'd say emotional abuse is practically unavoidable. There are always those kids who go around manipulating others, belittling them, shaming them, making them feel insecure... Most teachers (I'd say about 70%) I've come across have also been emotional abusers, by either ignoring the needs of students that are being bullied or treated poorly, or even making fun of students and making them feel even more worthless.
Inner City Groups: Because people growing up on 'the wrong side of the tracks' often face numerous types of abuse and general fear, they tend to feel that emotional abuse is a way of protecting themselves or gaining control in a situation where they feel like they don't have any. I have some cousins in Detroit, and they live in a very rough section of the city. When I met them, I was ill-equipped to adjust to their constant abuse. I could tell that they were only acting the way they were because of the way they were brought up (not that it's ever really an excuse), but it still hurt, especially because they're related. I don't know exactly if it's fair to say that the majority of those people from the ghettos are abusive, but statistically, abuse is quite high in these areas.
Small Town Mentality: In the small town in which I live, and I imagine many surrounding communities, there's a ton of emotional abuse everywhere. Gossip is the worst form of this, paired with passive-aggressive behaviour and destruction of people's reputations and respectability (even of those who are innocent). It's mostly those people whose families have been here for a long time. They seem to pun on the persona that they think highly of themselves; but also have a noticeable hopelessness. It's an endless cycle here, it seems. The majority of people here in town are single mothers with 3-4 kids. The mothers of these kids tend to have a very cynical and untrusting view of life, and many of their former partners were alcoholics or slept around. The women then seem to form alliances with eachother, and there are many feuds that break out (which leads to the emotional abuse being thrown back and forth). Their kids eventually learn this behaviour themselves, and many feel like they're stuck in town, never to escape from the life their parents had. Those that don't leave usually keep the unfortunate cycle going.
TV: I find that TV is becoming far more aggressive and ill-natured than ever before. Criticism of others is made to be comical, name calling is an acceptable part of life, the need to fit in and be 'normal' is emphasized. Even on kids' shows, to be sensitive is construed as weakness; calling people geeks and nerds in a derogatory way is OK, being cool is the most important thing, girls are supposed to be a certain way, guys have to be a certain way.... all of these expectations shown on TV have a direct effect on how people treat eachother, and often, this brings up opportunities to hurt others emotionally (intentionally or not). A lot of the time, kids will see something on TV and copy the interaction style in real life. If someone gets hurt, instead of apologizing, often the response is often "you're too sensitive" or even an insult. This can be an incompatibility of sensitivity, but it can easily go further.
In places where life is harder, I think it's fair to say the amount of any kind of abuse is higher.
I've come to think that sensitivity is almost taken for granted in the more well off areas of the world. Here in Canada, even the poorest people are within the top richest percentage of people in the world. We don't need to fight to survive. Many of the jobs here are people and service centred, where we take care of the emotional and psychological needs of people. Kindness is promoted (not nearly as much as selfishness and criticism of others, but it is promoted). Those who are naturally sensitive in poorer regions of the world, I would imagine, would have a harder time adjusting to life, especially boys, who in many cultures are expected to be cut throat and unemotional, so I would assume emotional abuse would be more prevalent there.
Overall, though, I think that as long as there are people, there will be emotional abuse. Whether it be for survival, or the result of immaturity, or a type of personality or other disorder, I think it will be prevalent everywhere. The important thing, I guess, is to know how to deal with it when you're subjected to it.
