Child abuse has been defined as, any intentional act that results in physical or emotional harm to a child. This could cover any behavior from assault, to neglect, to molestation. (Encarta 1) In 1995, a study was done by the National Center on Child Abuse & Neglect. They concluded that in the United States alone, approximately 3 million children are victims of some sort of maltreatment each year. This means that an unimaginable amount of our county’s adolescents are being seriously mistreated, and the numbers are rising steadily. While the specific definition of child abuse may differ from state to state, the effects unfortunately do not. Physical maltreatment, neglect and sexual abuse create immediate problems for children, as well as long term damage. Some common effects on sufferers of abuse include, a lowered sense of self worth, an inability to relate to others, short attention span and often they develop learning disorders. More detrimental cases can develop severe depression or anxiety, schizophrenia, violent behavior and an increased risk of suicide. (Encarta 3) In some cases, abused children learn how to cope with their experiences and grow to healthy adults, but most are not that lucky. Most victims of abuse are forced to deal with the results for their entire lives. Physical abuse is one of the most common forms of child maltreatment. It can begin as soon as conception and includes any deliberate act of violence that is meant to injure or kill a child. (Encarta 1) Over 500,000 children are physically harmed each year. In 1991, 25% of American adults admitted to being beat by a parent or a caretaker in their youth and unfortunately the numbers have increased since then. (Shepard 305) ... ... middle of paper ... ...ividual parent. In conclusion, Child abuse, without a doubt, causes permanent damage to the life of the victim. Whether it’s physical, sexual or neglect, the after effects will haunt them, and very possibly their future family as well. Child psychiatrist, B.F. Steele stated, “…we do believe that how we bring up out children has a most profound effect upon how our society is behaving and how we deal with each other as human beings.” (Kakar 6) This is an excellent point. If parents do not care for their children and show them the ways of life, how could they expect them to know any better, and more importantly, how could they expect them to pass on the knowledge to their own children? Parents, more than anyone, hold the key to shaping the ideals and minds of their children… and until society gets that key fixed, the problems of child abuse will always remains.
Currently, there are many children whom suffer from emotional, physical, and sexual abuse in their family. Emotional abuse is the lack of interest or affection parents have towards their children. As a result of emotional abuse, children are left feeling worthless and unloved. Physical abuse refers to attacking children resulting visible bodily injuries from either being burned, pushed, punched, slapped, or whipped. Sometimes physical abuse can be extremely severe that children have broken bones, fractures, or hemorrhaging. Sexual abuse occurs when a person forces, tricks, or threatens children to have sexual contact. These acts of child abuse could prevent children from living a normal adulthood. In order to deal with such a traumatic childhood, adults abused as children should rid themselves of such burdensome, painful memories.
Child maltreatment is prevalent. A considerable proportion of young adults reported having been maltreated, neglected, or abused as children. One in five reported having been left alone at a time when a parent should have been supervising them on three or more occasions. About fourteen percent reported having been physically assaulted (slapped, kicked, or hit) three or more times. One in 20 reported having been left without basic needs (food, clothing, or cleaning) three or more times. About 1 in 25 (4.5%) report having been sexually abused by a parent or guardian on three or more instances by the time they entered the sixth grade (Hussey, Chang, & Kotch, 2006).
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 3.3 million referrals for alleged maltreatment were made in 2013. Out of the 3.3 million referrals, 899,000 children were officially documented as being maltreated(Child Abuse & Neglect 2015). Child abuse is the mistreatment of a child. Child abuse is recognized in several forms; physical, emotional, sexual and neglect. Children who experience any form of abuse will tend to withdraw themselves from their peers and sometimes from other family members who are not aware of what is taking place. Child abuse occurs not just in the homes of these children, but can also occur in schools, churches and after school programs. Anywhere a child is present there is a chance that abuse can occur. This paper will review the forms of child abuse, the effects of child abuse, reasons child abuse occurs and possible therapies to bring healing in the parties involved.
Child maltreatment is an important/significant issues because it affects more children today and it is more common than we realize. Child maltreatment is abuse and neglect occurring in children under 18 years old (Holden, 2105). There are four major types of child maltreatment. First being Physical Abuse, which is the extensively most studied form of maltreatment in children because it can be detected easiest (Holden, 2015). Second is Neglect, which is the most common type of maltreatment, based on community standards. Third is Sexual Abuse, which Holden (2015) found that research on children received sustained attention in the United States since the late 1970s. Finally there is Emotional Abuse, which is also known as psychological maltreatment.
It is understandable that there are other contributing factors to a child’s behavior, but parents have the greatest impact overall and outway the other factors.
A single incident of physical abuse can result in severe trauma. If the child were physically abused more often, this would result in a greater impact on the child. The age of the child when the physical abuse begins has a greater impact on the child. When the child has a very close relationship with their abuser, the feelings of betrayal are that much greater. The person that they trust and look to for protection is the person who is instead hurting them. When a child has no one to turn to, his or her feelings of abandonment increase. A child will find a way to cope with the abuse, different methods of coping include physical, such as becoming the “comedian”, some children use humor to cover up the fact that they are suffering. Another way of coping would be emotional, such as the child refusing to try anything new for fear of failure, avoiding any more negative messages about themselves. The children of physical child abuse suffer physically and emotionally. The physical child abuse effects also vary depending on the age of the
Child abuse can present itself in various forms throughout the country, however the one major defining part of child abuse it that cannot be stopped or cured with medication, exercise, or nutrition. Unlike typical medical conditions, child abuse is passed through learned behaviors and can have effects on family members, friends, employees. According to the Child Help Foundation, child abuse is defined “when a parent or caregiver, whether through action or failing to act, causes injury, death, emotional harm or risk of serious harm to a child...including neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, exploitation and emotional abuse” (“The Issue of Child Abuse”, 2016). Child abuse has detrimental effects on a person’s later life as an adult, including depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and obesity. This is a public health problem because these factors can be passed down through genetics; for example, children who have obese parents are more likely to be obese themselves. Noted by Woolf, injuries such as child abuse can lead to poor self-control, limited social skills, lack of perseverance, resilience, and antisocial behavior (Woolf 2013). Abused children grow up no longer in the
In 2013 there were approximately 679,000 cases investigated for child maltreatment and/or neglect. Of the 679,000 cases, eighteen percent of the children suffered physical abuse. The reasons for the abuse and the characteristics of the victims and perpetrators can vary, but the effects of physical abuse upon a child can potentially have the same outcomes. In order to address the problem of physical child abuse, one must research and understand the history, root causes, symptoms, associated variables, victim and perpetrators characteristics, and respective indicators. Although this abuse happens to the child directly, this problem is still a global issue. It is deeply rooted in economic, cultural, and social practices.
Child abuse, while having many different forms and levels of severity, can be basically defined as the maltreatment of a child by a parent or other adult. When one thinks of child abuse, usually the first thing that comes to mind is physical harm, but the issue is actually much more complex. The abuse of a child can also be manifested in verbal and emotional forms, as well as in sexual molestation. All forms of child abuse generally result in similar emotional disorders and behavioral issues, but the major consequences of sexual abuse, such as mental or emotional scarring, promiscuity, and the tendency of former victims to become sexual abusers, cause it to be the most severely damaging form of child abuse.
Child abuse is a circumstance when a parent, close relative or caregiver abuses, hurt, exploit or maltreat a child, which could be through action or giving inadequate or failing to care for the child, which may cause injury, emotional harm or risk of serious harm or death to a child. There are many forms of child maltreatment, including neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, exploitation, and emotional abuse. Most of the time, children who are abused or neglected go through numerous emotional than physical damage, especially when they grown-up and this could cause more impair their self-confidence. Emotional and psychological abuse/ neglect will disaffirm the child from the implements necessities to cope with stress, and to captivate life expectancy instructions/teachings. In this situation, when the child is ferociously mistreated and abused, he/she might developed depression or
The physical abuse of children covers a wide range of actions from what some might term ‘justifiable chastisement’ such as slapping or spanning to the sort of actions which most would agree constitute deliberate, sadistic cruelty against children.
When children are exposed to these traumatic events it can be tremendously damaging to the child especially because children are in their developmental stage and it can have long term consequences. Depending on child to child victims of child abuse are more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety and physiological disorder and can even become child abusers themselves in their
Child abuse is the physical or emotional mistreatment of a child by a parent, guardian, or other person. Information on child abuse, including sexual abuse, beating, and murder, has climbed in the United States and some authorities believe that the number of cases is under reported. Child neglect is sometimes integrated into legal definitions of child abuse to cover instances of starvation, abandonment, and insufficient care for a child's safety. When reported, child maltreatment cases are intricately characterized by poor foster care services and a legal system that has trouble obliging to the susceptible nature of children(Child Maltreatment, 2015). Every year, more than 3 million reports of child abuse are made in the United States involving more than 6 million children.
When the topic of abuse comes up, many different forms of abuse pop into individuals heads. Whether its Physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse or even drug abuse, the list just keeps going. Now take all those different forms abuse and imagine them happening in a family. A father physically abusing his children, a mother verbally berating her daughter about her body image, a child growing up in fear. According to the research by David Wolfe in the Journal of Consulting and clinical Psychology, that the number of children that have suffered a physical injury due to physical abuse is between 1.4 and 1.9 million annually. With such a high number of physical abuse happening to children, one can imagine how high the number of all the
One of the most obvious and damaging results of child abuse is death; however, research illustrating the effects on a growing child who has been abused has demonstrated many other lifelong negative factors (Felitti, Anda, Nordenberg, Williamson, Spitz, Edwards, Koss, Marks, 1998). In consonance children who suffer from abuse can show signs of depression, social withdraw, and even violent behavior. As a child grows older, they may suffer from poor physical health, such as high blood pressure, obesity, stress, and psychological disorders and disabilities (Herronkohl, T., Hong, Klika, and Herronkohl, R., 2013). Child abuse and neglect have also been associated with depression, anger disorders, and post-traumatic