CSA On Children

The published articles in this literature review all prove evidence that child abuse can negatively affect those children in either their adolescences or adulthood, or even in both. None of the articles explore if those children abused later abuse their future children, however a study by Ehrensaft,

Your past affects your future, that is one idea that most people can agree upon. Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse develop symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and are unable to form positive working relationships. Often times the effects of CSA are not fully manifested until later in life. According to Doctor Judith Worell’s Encyclopedia of Women and Gender, nearly 50 percent of Childhood Sexual Abuse reported in 1997 involved victims seven years and younger with the remaining half being split 22 percent between ages eight and eleven, and 25 percent between age twelve and eighteen. Some may argue that at young ages children may forget what has happened to them therefore it will not affect them in the future, although this may be possible,

While negative effects manifest differently in females than males, the abuse is equally damaging to both genders. In my experience, most male CSA victims are riddled with feelings of guilt and shame. Most often their abuse was perpetrated by a trusted male during a critical time in development. Although the sexual contact was unsolicited and unwanted, their body had a physiological response to stimulation. This confusion often contributes to the victim’s belief that the abuse was somehow their fault, therefore “causing an unwillingness to admit to being victimized, and difficulty making negative attributions regarding an otherwise positive person” Ondersma et al.). Rind’s utilization of a college sample excludes the aforementioned male CSA victims. Since their maladaptive behaviors often lead to addiction, delinquency, and poor academic performance, males who suffered more maladaptive effects are very unlikely to be included in a college sample. Therefore, Rind’s findings can’t be accurately generalized to the majority

The current research shows that child sexual abuse has a long-lasting impact on attachment style from early childhood continuing into adulthood. Fresno et al. (2014) were interested in the attachment representations in preschool aged children in Chile because few studies focus on CSA survivors that young and the results of those few studies have not been conclusive. Past studies have found inconsistent results; some studies have determined a CSA is directly linked to insecure attachment representations in survivors, and other studies have found no differences in self-representation among children with CSA history and non-abused children and furthermore, children who were sexually abused had

Children are affected by everything around them. They are small sponges waiting to absorb all the information they can. What happens to children when they are faced with traumatic incidences? There are many possible outcomes, but the outcome that is always hoped for is resiliency. When a child cane become resilient to their past, they have a greater likelihood of developing loving relationships later in life.

Abuse is an experience that sticks with children forever; with high emotions and fears clogging their mind they have no room to think about other important factors such as schoolwork. Brain development is especially important in the younger years, and when a child is abused this interrupts the development for this student. This brain development trauma leads into the classroom in different areas of a child’s life such as cognitive functioning, interpersonal skills with others, and their overall academic performance (Finkelhor, 2008). One cannot simply expect a child who was an abused to not have any form of cognitive problems.

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) refers to sexual relations with a child, who is powerless to consent (King, Wardecker, & Edelstein, 2016). CSA is a considerably prevalent and common problem in our world today, which may result in long-term adverse outcomes, such as PTSD, suicidal thoughts, low self-esteem, and depression. In addition to these long-term adverse outcomes, CSA also affects family functioning and interpersonal problems, such as parent/child relationships.

Poverty and how it can affect a child’s education and how attachment with a parental figure can affect a child’s education are two major claims made by Tough. Tough believes in general children who come from stressful environments and insecure attachments tend to do worse in school in comparison to others. Children who are surrounded by stressful situations in their home environment tend to be distracted emotionally, thus leading to their poor performance in school. In an attempt to explain this phenomenon, stress psychologists described how the part of the brain that is critical in self-regulatory, cognitive and emotional responses is the part that is mainly affected by early stress. Using this information, Burke Harris conducted a study where she assigned ACE scores to thousands of patients based on childhood trauma including growing up in an abusive home. Based upon these results, Burke Harris found a powerful correlation relating ACE scores and people’s performance in school (17). In order to make sense of this information, McEwen described

CSA can have short and long-term outcomes on the children. The outcomes do not come in certain order; it can happen differently to each child. Some of the outcomes that a child can have are post-traumatic stress disorder anxiety, eating disorders, drug abuse, sexuality-related distress, and depression (R.J. Zeglin et. Al., 2015). CSA can cause trauma on the child and as a consequence a child can have issues with their physical such as back pain, bladder disorders, chronic fatigue, chronic pelvic pain, obesity, but not limited to other physical conditions (C.H. Fox, A. Cornwall, 2013). Girls and boys can respond different to CSA. The primary difference between is that boys tend to have an external negative emotions and girls tend to have internal emotions. Boys are most likely to have issues in school, with drug abuse, and other risky behaviors, while, girls are most likely to have higher risk of depression and anxiety (R.J. Zenglin et. Al., 2015). On the study done by R.J. Zenglin et. Al. (2015), Does Having Children Moderate the Effect of Child Sexual Abuse on Depression, the results indicated that children who experience CSA history are more likely to have worse physical health, be unemployed, and to not have a college education than those children who have no history with CSA. In a study done by Briere and Runtz (1986), and also review by Peters and Range (1993), they found out the children with history of CSA have also, higher risk for suicidal behavior as a result of lower self-esteem and self-blame cause by CSA (C.M. Chelf & J.B. Ellis (2002). Many children feel powerless and unwanted by the society caused by the CSA. The results of CSA are indicators of suicidal thoughts and behaviors, that is why children who have experience CSA believe that they do not have reasons to

The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between a child who witnesses abuse in his/her home and the child’s development, physically, emotionally, and socially. Young children exposed to abusive environments are at risk of higher levels of emotional stress, which can impair their physical and social development.

Considering the large number of children who are victims of child abuse, it is important to investigate not only the immediate effects of abuse, but also the long-term effects on the child’s well-being. Exposure to childhood maltreatment is a non-specific risk factor associated with many short and long term negative outcomes ranging from externalizing and internalizing behaviors, dissociative symptoms and self-harm behaviors, and adaptability and coping skills (Jackson, Gabrielli, Fleming, Tunno, & Makanui, 2014). When a child grows up in a home environment characterized by hostile interpersonal relationships, physical maltreatment, or neglect he or she is at risk for long-term developmental concerns regarding physiological, social, emotional,

They will typically have more difficulty learning in the classroom because of responses similar to these (Prothrow-Smith, December 1995). A student that is being abused at home is more likely to be withdrawn in the classroom and have a lower self-esteem level because they feel that if they answer a question incorrectly they will be negatively punished in some manor (NAEYC, 1997). Students show an inability to cope with the stress levels that are associated with school and are therefore more likely to give up. In fact, maltreated children do not differ on perceived academic ability but their scores on actual tests are significantly lower (Kinard, 2001). One major area that is extremely important to the growth of children is how they interact with other children while at school. Abuse in the home will negatively effect social growth because it influences how comfortable a child feels around other people. The fear of punishment, physical or verbal, determines how a child approaches an other child. Every student in school will most likely be unable to perfect each subject, but a student that is abused is unable to grasp this concept. They feel the need to perfect each subject and when they do not they feel like a failure. Failure is most likely not an option because, to the majority of the abused, failure equals some kind of

When humans are young, their world revolves around their parents or primary caregivers. Parents or caregivers are the primary source of safety, security, love, understanding, nurturance and support. Child abuse violates the trust at the core of a child’s relationship with the world. When the primary relationship is one of betrayal, a negative set of beliefs develops. Emotional abuse can also lead to overwhelming feelings of inadequacy and the need to overcompensate in order for a child to “prove their worth”. People know at a base level that everything a person experiences as a child affects them continuously throughout life, but there are those people who do not take this fact to heart and treat children as

CSA research has primarily focused on the experiences of girls, yet data suggests CSA of boys is far more common than generally perceived (Dorahy & Clearwater, 2012; Payne, Galvan, Williams, Prusinski, Zhang, Wyatt, & Myers, 2014). International studies have found that 5-10% of males report having been sexually abused in childhood (Easton, Coohey, Rhodes, & Moorthy, 2013). However, accurate prevalence rates are difficult to obtain due to low rates of abuse disclosure among boys and men (Payne et al., 2014). The discrepancy between reported and actual rates of CSA has led to significant research into the experience of male victims of CSA and the process of their disclosure (Allagia, 2005; Dorahy & Clearwater, 2010; Easton, 2013; Easton et al.,

Our ability of having a healthy and productive relationships are learned but when a child is abused or neglected this will cause problems with them developing positive skills to navigate the social world. Child abuse creates problematic relationships in their lives that could pour over into their future (www.findcounseling.com).