Children Exposed To Violence
Children are exposed to violence in their families, schools, neighborhoods, and through the media. Millions of children are exposed to some form of domestic violence, or witness violence in their communities. Young children are particularly vulnerable. They are more likely to be affected by the things repeatedly seen in childhood and violence which is one can have a negative effect on "them and their" future families. They don't usually have contact with individuals or institutions like schools are often unaware of the harmful situations that happen beyond the house doors. Therefore, this is one of the major issues in today's society. "Every child has the right to be nurtured and safe". By studying this topic it gives a better understanding the need to shield children from violence and what should be done to help those exposed to violence.
Children exposed to violence can have mental effects and developmental issues. According to the article childcare's exposure to violence, research was found saying that children have a wide range of reaction considering exposure to violence. Some children are not as affected or may display short or temporary reactions. " Many factors determine the extent to which a child may be affected. Some variables are internal to the child and family and their social context(e.g., the child's temperament and developmental characteristics, the protective capacity of the parents and family). Children who are exposed to violence moreover it frequently requires, never turn off their stress responses. They live continual in a state of alert and crisis. (Cohen, Groves,Kracke 2009)These children may encounter a variety of developmental problems and can interfere with a child's ...
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...levision may be less empathic towards real life violence. Violent video games have become more realistic and gory. Children who play violent video games are more aggressive and desensitized to violence in the environment for a period of time after playing the games. In brief, young children are the most vulnerable to the effects of all violent media programming: television, movies and video games. They are likely to imitate the violence, because they have less ability to understand reality from fantasy. Besides the violence through media children also are exposed to real life violence. Community violence can be fights within your neighbourhood, even gangs. Domestic violence, children are exposed right at thier homes.It is the parents job to limit their childrens to violence so that they won't face any of the effects mentaly, developmental, physical and emotional.
While the case listed above was an unfortunate event, imagine the children who do not exhibit such harsh behavior and still get overlooked? Many children who are exposed to violent behavior in the household tend to become numb and emotionally unavailable (Weithorn, Behrman, 1999). They do not have to show anger or be physically violent, some children seem to become silent, depress and possibly distance themselves from others. I had the privilege of interviewing a professional in the education field. Shayna Bennett- Givner is the director for Teenie’s Tot Daycare located in Pittsburgh. I wanted to get a first-hand insight on behavioral issues and how she has to deal with them with in her business.
According to the book, Children Who See Too Much, frequent exposure to violence changes the structure of the developing brain. And, it also leaves marks on the chemistry of a young child’s brain (Groves, 37). The children begin to be afraid of their environment because they see their world as unpredictable and dangerous. Hence, them become very aware of their environment, they become guarded waiting for the next dangerous thing that might happen (Groves, 46) Seeing violence at home also affects the child in school. Because their fight or flight system is always running, it begins to interfere with the ability to do learning tasks in school. “They do not complete assignments. They may be highly active and restless.” (Groves, 47) “It affects their emotional development their social functioning, their ability to learn and focus in school, their moral development, and their ability to negotiate in intimate relationships as adolescents and adults.” (Groves, 57). Children are also at risk for both internalizing factors such as anxiety, depression, and self-blame. They are also susceptible to externalizing factors such as aggression and delinquency behaviors. Witnessing or hearing abuse can also affect children in the long run. If they witness long term abuse, it can become “a form of modeling for present and future behavior” according to the Handbook of Domestic Violence Intervention Strategies by Albert
This paper will explore those effects and how it affects children. Exposure to violence in the first years of life brings about helplessness and terror, which can be attributed to the lack of protection received by the parent. The child can no longer trust their parent as a protector (Lieberman 2007). This lack of trust early in life can bring about serious problems later in life, as there is no resolution to the first psychosocial crisis, trust vs. mistrust. For these children exposed to domestic violence, the imaginary monsters that children perceive are not only symbolic representations or a dream.
...dolescents to weapons. In many cases children have access to a weapon, particularly a handgun, within their own home. With lack of supervision, children experiment with these dangerous weapons, and may even take them out of their homes. Another contributing factor to violent acts among children is the role of the media and the way that television and movies portray violence. Every where you turn on television and in movies, you see someone killing someone or someone getting killed. Kids see the brutal ways, or the quick and smart schemes of combat tactics. They falsely believe that these types of behaviors are acceptable, because the next week they are back on the show demonstrating another episode of violent acts, with no consequences.
The early childhood years are a period of rapid change in the brain, this leaves children exceptionally vulnerable to psychological abuse. Psychological abuse includes rejecting, ignoring, criticizing, belittling, humiliating, threatening with violence, or otherwise terrorizing the child, all of which have the effect of eroding the child's self-esteem and sense of security. Psychological abuse can come as a result of actions that do not specifically target the child. Studies show that children who have experienced domestic violence are more anxious and insecure then those who do not. Children who observe violence react with many of the same psychological symptoms as children who have experienced it directly. Psychological abuse is often accompanied by other forms of abuse. It is difficult to prove, however, and rarely is
Today, children are likely to experience or witness violence in the home. With domestic violence being the most frequent type of violent crime, a child's homes is no longer a safe haven. Statistics show that domestic violence is the major cause of injuries to women; their husbands or lovers kill one third of all women murdered in United States. Unfortunately, a number of these cases occur in the presence of children.
In a research analysis of Media and Violence, studies show that “Although the typical effect size for exposure to violent media is relatively small ... this ‘small effect’ translates into significant consequences for society as a whole” (“Media and Violence: An Analysis of Current Research”, 2015). This states violent behaviors can come from the smallest variables, or clips from videos, which is why it is important for parents to control what their kids see, read, and watch, and limit the amount of violence exposure.
There are many forms of child abuse; all of which can cause both physical and mental issues to the victims. In some cases, childhood physical abuse can cause grave physical injuries and even death. Children who are physically abused are more likely to experience cognitive, emotional, and behavioral problems as they grow up, such as depression, anxiety, misbehavior, substance abuse problems, and often grow up to be abusers themselves. Many people have a hard time understanding how or why anyone would hurt a child. Many claims to love their children dearly but they seem to have less patience for them than other parents may or sometimes might take out the day to day frustrations of life on their children. Many children learn violent behavior
Violence is displayed everywhere in society through media like entertainment, in their schools and communities, and within their homes. It is difficult to imagine living in a world without some sort of violence due to it being so prevalent in society. Many children have been exposed to violence in their own homes or have become victims leaving detrimental short and long term effects. There are three forms of domestic violence in the homes. They are physical, sexual, emotional abuse. People often think of domestic violence as having bruises or a broken arm, but in reality it is an occurrence that happens repeatedly over a period of time. One study concluded “children in domestic violence shelters found that almost half their mothers had
Everyday, a child witnesses an act of violence. Not on television but in their own home. "Family and home are not havens in which a child finds nurturing and safety, but rather a battleground where fear, anxiety, confusion, anger, and disruption are significant threads in the tapestry of home life," Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing. Children of family violence are often abusers or victims of abuse themselves. Family violence is a cycle that is very hard to stop. A home is supposed to be a safe place where children learn how to love and relate to others. If they are constantly seeing violence in their parent's relationship, then they assume that a normal relationship is also filled with violence. Often, children do not understand why the violence occurs and may be afraid to share their emotions because of fear. They may associate love and pain together, because this is witnessed in their home. This could lead to psychological problems and confusion about relationships. Children who witness family violence tend to have behavioral, interpersonal, and emotional problems.
NSW. (2002, September 24). Domestic Violence and it’s impact on Children’s Development. Retrieved from http://www.community.nsw.gov.au/docswr/_assets/main/documents/dv_paper.pdf
These moments of instability and total breakdown of marriages and relationships become a learned behavior by the children and the cycle repeats itself in adulthood, as they engage in their personal relationships. As the institution of marriage and the family become more fragmented from generation to generation, life in America for children is not as good as we would like to believe. In the article written by Stephanie Coontz “The Way We Never Were: Introduction” is she mentions certain disturbing statistics involving the neglect towards children in America. For example Coontz notes Americas neglect to properly vaccinate children according to statistics our nations “children age two and under is worse than only two Western hemisphere nations, Bolivia and Haiti.” Considering the fact that America has more violence per capita than other established Western nations, this considerable exposure to violent acts has desensitized children leading them to become violent. Examining exposure to violence at a young age shows itself w in our life only and will you will you and you hen the children become adolescents as statistics have shown that “homicide involving American teens have seen a 12% increase in violent crimes in 1984 to 1980.” American teens also have seen an increase in teen
According to the scientist research, when children see violence, they become to aggressive way and want to destroy it for little pieces.
Sometimes, children think that is a normal thing in our real life, by watching only a single violent program, which can increase aggression on children and become violent, aggressive, and vicious. Usually, U.S. children begin watching television at a very early age, sometimes as early as six months, and are eager viewers by the time they are two or three years old. The amount of time that children spend watching television is very interesting because like four hours a day, 28 hours a week, by the time they graduate from high school, children spend more time watching TV than any other activity, besides sleeping. However, children that watch many programs in which violence is very real, parents show no affinity toward violence and that is why the child thinks that violence is not bad. Normally children cannot tell the differences between real and unreal, that is why young viewers are unable to realize that when a character attacks someone it is real and should not be imitated by them.
Gandhi seemed to have the right idea of it. Violence seems to stem from frustrations of men, mainly caused by economic pressures, neediness, scarcity of resources, crime and war. In many cases, violence is just a form of self-defense even. It all does come down to poverty eventually. It is evident from various surveys and research that the ratio of violence, specifically against children in from of child labor, is higher in poor and under developed countries. Violence can be shown in a number of different ways. It can be psychological, or physiological. Violence may be targeted towards individuals, or even towards groups. Minority groups in various regions often find themselves victim to discriminatory violence. Violence may even be self-directed at times due to a number of different reasons. Self-loathing is the top reason for that. The most extreme form of this violence can even result in suicide attempts.