Causes And Effects Of Child Abuse

Every day children around the world are being abused by their parents, trusted adult, caregiver and peers. Children are constantly suffering when there are things that everyone as a community can do help them. Psychologists, social workers and the victims to childhood abuse have studied and worked together to establish precautionary measures to execute child abuse all together.

Within the United States, child maltreatment is becoming more and more commonly reported as there is over 3 million reports each year. Due to the constant increase of child maltreatment reports, society has become more aware of the issue, which has led to awareness campaigns. (Payne, 87). Even with societies’ knowledge of such abuse there are still serval child maltreatment cases that are not reported. The children that are victims of maltreatment pertains any sort of harm to the child whether it is by injury, neglect, physical, emotional, or even sexual abuse by someone who holds a major role in the child’s life, a parent or guardian figure (“What is Child Abuse”).

In the typical classroom, a 4-year-old child once said, “If someone wants to have sex with you, you have to do it.” (Rafanello) Child abuse is more prevalent now than ever, and the numbers are only growing. This shows us that child abuse is more relevant now than ever. The amount of damage inflicted on these children mentally range from mild to extreme. This is why it’s important that child abuse gets reported as soon as possible.

Back in the day there were not as many child protecting laws and assisting facilities like there are today. In 1960’s there was very little information as it relates to child abuse. A Canadian psychologist by the name of William L. Marshall said, “you could read all the information in one morning. With the lack of information there was no way for individuals to readily identify what constituted as child abuser. Child abuse before 1875 was in fact the era before child services were created to protect the children.

Child abuse affects millions of children every year. Child abuse is defined as “the hurting or causing harm to a child” (Stewart, 2003, p. 6). Most people do not understand why a parent would want to hurt their children. “The general belief is that parents who maltreat their children are pathological and certainly not like us” (Polonko, 2005). It is not just parents that abuse the children it is also teachers, babysitters, and daycare workers (Stewart, 2003). Lingern (2008) reported the following:

According to statistics there are “40 million children subjected to child abuse each year” (Cause and Effects). “Child abuse occurs when a parent or caretaker physically, emotionally, sexually, mistreats or neglects a child resulting in the physical, emotional, or sexual harm or exploitation, or imminent risk of harm or exploitation, or in extreme cases death of a child” (Child Safety). Child abuse is not only a sensitive subject but a complex one because of the long-term/ short-term effects and the difference between discipline and abuse.

The maltreatment of children within the United States is an unfortunate but evident issue that presents some very detrimental consequences for the victims. Victims of child maltreatment typically suffer from both short-term and long-term consequences, resulting from the negligence of their parents. Across the nation techniques and measures have been taken in order to prevent the advancement of child abuse within high-risk homes, although despite these efforts sometimes it is too late for the child and the damage is too extensive for them to recover completely.

Child Abuse and Neglect continue to be a serious pediatric and social threat to the nation’s children. Child maltreatment is more than bruises and broken bones. While physical abuse may be the most noticeable, other types of abuse, such as emotional and sexual abuses, leave deep, lasting scars. Child Maltreatment includes significant negative experiences with long-lasting effects. These childhood experiences cause detrimental, long lasting effects during cognitive, behavioral, and emotional development and often well into adulthood. This paper will look at the various types of child maltreatment and the causes attributed to them, as well as the long term effects of child abuse and what can be done to prevent these abuses.

When reading these statistics, it is plain to see that the abuse and mistreatment of children is a critical issue, not just in the United States, but globally. Much research has been conducted to determine the general demographics of the perpetrators and the victims, common trends in cases of abuse that could shed light on the psychology of the abusers and their victims, and how the abuse inflicted on the victims affects their development into adulthood. In a report on the long-term consequences of child abuse and neglect, the Children’s

Nowadays, child maltreatment becomes serious problem, which could not only leads to a terrible social phenomenon, but also causes a huge impact on the mental development of children and adolescents in America (Underwood & Rosen, 2013). Child Maltreatment, also called child abuse and neglect, has four identified categories, which are physical abuse, sexual abuse psychological or emotional maltreatment, and neglect, respectively (Trickett et al. , 2011). These four categories of child maltreatment could have a prolonged adverse effect in childhood and even in adolescence (Trickett et al. , 2011).

Childhood maltreatment has become a very crucial social-welfare and public health problem in the worldwide. Despite the fact that communities that defends child social and life rights make provisions against protecting children, each year 40 million of child in the world has suffer from different forms of maltreatment (WHO,2001). For example, World Health Organization in 2016 reported that one in every three adults as victim of physical abuse in their childhood. The same report also state one in every five women and one in every thirteen men as victim of sexual abuse in their childhood period (WHO, 2016).

Child Abuse happens to about a million children a year in the U.S. alone. Each day in the U.S. 3 children die as a result of Child abuse. Most of the children are younger than 6 years of age. Child abuse is when a parent or guardian causes, injury, death, emotional harm, or if there is a risk of serious harm to a child, through the actions of the parent or guardian or them failing to act. There are many different forms of child abuse such as neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and emotional abuse. Neglect accounts for 63% of child abuse cases, emotional accounts for 8% and even though it doesn’t seem like it, can be the cruelest form of child abuse. While most people might think physical abuse is a high percentage of the abuses it only accounts

A general definition of physical abuse is a non-accidental injury of a child inflicted by a caregiver. Children who are abused can experience injuries ranging from bruises, fractures and broken bones, and in some cases, even death. There’s an estimated three million children are abused or neglected every day in the United States (Unger & Luca, 2014). Children are more likely to be physically abused if their parents are single, young parents, living in poverty, parents were also abused as children, families have alcohol or drug abuse problems, and there is domestic violence happening at home (Lazenbatt & Freeman, 2006). Many children who experience physical abuse experience emotional abuse and neglect as well.

INTRODUCTION: “Child Abuse occurs when a parent or a care taker physically, emotionally, or sexually mistreats or neglects a child resulting in the physical, emotional, or sexual harm or imminent risk of harm or exploitation, or in extreme cases the death of a child,” child abuse is a big deal because in today’s society many children face abuse, there are many effects and reasons as to why a child may be abuse.

Although child abuse has soon become a more discussed issue, it is nothing new in today’s society. Dating back to ancient times, physical child abuse has always attributed to lives of people around the world. Approaching and understanding child mistreatment has changed as societies have modernized and progressed; whereas one thing remains an unalterable issue, child abuse happens constantly and continuously worldwide.