Child Abuse And Its Effects On Children

Child abuse is the “saddest and most tragic problem” in the United States today (Child Abuse). Every year more than 3 million reports of child abuse are made in the United States involving more than 6 million children. Victims range from ages of a few weeks to late teenage years.

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.

This research is to distinguish whether the children, who are exposed to violence or abuse, if left unaddressed or ignored, are at an increased risk for emotional and behavioral problems in the future. Children who are abused may not be able to express their feelings safely and as a result, may develop difficulties regulating their emotions. As adults, they may continue to struggle with their feelings, which can

Every year, child abuse and neglect affect more than one million children nation-wide (Currie and Tekin 1). Along with this, child abuse is the source of severe injury to more than 500,000 children and the death of over 1,500 children (Currie and Tekin 1). These outrageously large numbers reveal the extent to which child abuse and neglect impact society; however, they do not acknowledge the effect abuse can have on a child’s life and the repercussions that may occur in both the individual’s childhood and adulthood. While the effects most certainly include physical pain and possibly future disabilities, child abuse and neglect can also affects the child’s psychological welfare. Psychological effects are often more difficult to recognize,

Sexual abuse constitutes a serious violation of children’s rights and human dignity. Sexual abuse occurs when a person uses their power over a child, and involves the child in any sexual act. The power of the abuser lies in their age, advantage, superiority of intellectual or physical development, or in a relationship of authority with

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.

In many instances, it can be characterized by sexual touching between an adult and a child, however, it does not have to involve physical contact. Child sexual abuse can simply be any form of sexual behavior, such as looking at a child or even indecent exposure, in order to meet one’s own desires or sexual needs. Child sexual abuse also includes inappropriate sexual contact through social media, digital interaction, text messaging, and/or inappropriate phone calls to a minor. Ultimately, any type of sexual behavior that is harmful to a child’s mental, emotional, or physical welfare is considered to be child sexual abuse. The American Psychiatric Association (2013) explains that “Child sexual abuse encompasses any sexual act involving a child that is intended to provide sexual gratification to a parent, caregiver, or other individual who has responsibility for the child. Sexual abuse includes activities such as fondling a child’s genitals, penetration, incest, rape, sodomy, and indecent exposure. Sexual abuse also includes noncontact exploitation of a child by a parent or caregiver – for example, forcing, tricking, enticing, threatening, or pressuring a child to participate in acts for the sexual gratification of others, without direct physical contact between child and abuser.” (p.

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

We often wonder what happens to a child who has been sexually, physically, and emotionally abused. What kind of psychological disorders do they develop? What kind of damage has been done to the brain for the child to then act out inappropriately? What kind of possible physiological disorders could the child then start to develop? We’ve seen that their relationships are affected in every stage of life.

The idea of child sexual abuse is one that not many people like to think about or even really talk about. It is a subject that most people believe is clear cut. According to the law, it is wrong to have child-adult sex no matter the circumstances. However, when reading Rind et. al. (1998), the idea of unwanted verses a willing encounter of child-adult sex is discussed. While, this idea may be controversial, I do agree that it is a very important factor when considering the effects that child sexual abuse (CSA) has on an individual. Although, children and adolescents are not fully developed, there is a level of understanding that comes with ‘right and wrong’ according to laws as well as social norms. Whether someone is willing or unwilling changes their perception of the event happening. While this most likely depends on age (the older you are, the more understanding you have about a sexual encounter), it is also important to distinguish that each individual may react differently to any given situation. For example, even something as simple as a surprise birthday party can garner two separate reactions from two different people.

Childhood is where a person’s life begins and forms. Once a child is exposed to violence or is abused, it stays with them forever. A child’s brain forms daily and they are always ready to learn. So if they are taught love and care or violence and cruelty then they will sure learn this and mimic it. Once a child experiences any type of abuse they should get treated professionally as soon as possible because the longer they wait to get treated the more risk they run to have emotional problems later in their life. Child abuse affects every child no matter where they are from or how they live. For example as they grow little by little they will have trouble trying to express their feelings. This can lead to anxiety later in their lives.

In addressing child abuse we are confronted with a series of problems. On the one hand, there is a lack of the true extent of the phenomenon because no data are available and that the issue, often refers to the most intimate spaces of family life. Furthermore, cultural and historical traditions affect the way each society faces this problem. Finally, there are varying opinions as to its definition and classification, as well as the consequences of child abuse may have and its subsequent therapeutic management.

One million children in forty- eight states were victims of substantiated child abuse and neglect in 1994 (Child - Abuse Prevention 1). Out of all the abuse allegations in 2000 only 879,000 cases were able to be proved. Which approximately 1200 children died as a result of child abuse or neglect and forty-four percent of these were younger than one years old. Defenseless children are severely abused constantly every year across the United States, leaving life -long negative effects on their futures. By educating our youth about the impact their words and physical abuse can cause someone, our future generations will have an understanding of why they should handle their aggression.

Every year over 3 million reports of child abuse are made involving more than 6 million children. The United States has one of the worst records of child abuse losing 4-7 children a day to the abuse. Abuse is when any behavior or action that is used to scare, harm, threaten, control or intimidate another person. Child abuse is a behavior outside the norms of conduct and entails substantial risk of causing physical or emotional harm. There are four main types of child abuse; physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect.

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is the act of engaging a child in unwanted sexual behavior and activities such as rape, incest, molestation, prostitution, and other forms of sexual exploitation (as cited by Goodyear-Brown, Fath, &Myers, 2012, p. 4; McGarth, Nilsen, and Kerly, 2011, p. 485). From the efforts for child protective movement in the 1800s to the feminist anti-rape movement a 100 years later in the 1970s that brought to light CSA as a crime against women (Whitter, 2009, p. 7), this type of abuse has been an ongoing issue that has constantly been in and out of sight of the public spectrum of social problems. It is an abuse that children throughout history have been subjected and overlooked by society as taboo and rare occurrence; however, recent literature points otherwise. According to statistics one in twelve children are victims of child abuse (McGarth et al., 2011, p. 485) and in the United States there are approximately 39 million survivors of CSA (as cited by Gaskill& Perry, 2012, p. 29). The survivors are not only left to cope with the traumatic experience, but also the negative effects of the abuse that follow them to adulthood that create unfavorable outcomes such as mental health problems, criminal behavior, and employment obstacles that make it hard for survivors to lead successful lives.