Childhood Maltreatment Paper

Children who have been abused are left with more than just physical scars. They have many psychological, emotional, and behavioral problems as well. Their social lives are affected dramatically, and they suffer lifelong effects. (Lambert) Children tend to

Early screening, ideally prenatal screening, of mothers is essential to the prevention of maltreatment during the vulnerable period of infancy and early childhood, when children’s brains are developing at a rapid pace. Support- ive relationships, including with romantic partners or therapeutic professionals, are one important aspect in breaking the cycle of maltreatment (Egeland, Jacobvitz, & Sroufe, 1988; Milan, Lewis, Ethier, Kershaw, & Ickovics, 2004). Since intimate partner violence is associated with risk for child maltreatment (Taylor, Guterman, Lee, & Rathouz, 2009), taking a broader ecological approach that includes assessing household and partner risks is important. Utilizing obstetric or pediatric venues to identify risks for intergenerational continuity and transmission, and then offering resources or referrals to bolster or build supportive relationship capacities may contribute to breaking the cycle of maltreatment, and promoting the positive health of family members (Garner et al., 2012). Screening with attention to types of abuse and neglect that mothers may have experienced during childhood will inform a more nuanced understanding of child maltreatment prevention among moth- ers with histories of abuse and neglect. One review of preventive interventions for child abuse and neglect concluded that different interventions are more or less

Childhood maltreatment is a prevalent problem through out the world. As a child grows and matures the brain continues to develop according its experiences. During this time sensitive periods of development for different areas of the brain. A few areas that are of interest are the stress-influenced areas, which are at an increased risk for developmental problems when exposed to maltreatment. The extra stress from such exposures can influence abnormalities throughout the brain, which have been linked to structure changes with in the corpus callosum, anterior cingulate, dorsolateral prefrontal, orbitofrontal cortex, and hippocampus, amygdala, and cerebellum, as well as changes to stress related hormone systems. These structural changes are associated with an increased risk of psychopathology and other life long educational and physiological risk.

It impacts the maturation of specific brain areas at particular ages, the physiological and neuro-endocrinological responses as well as impacting the ability to coordinate cognitions, behaviours and emotional regulation. Therefore, the effect of trauma is different in different developmental stages. Ornitz (1996) has listed critical periods of major structural changes in brain development in accordance with Piaget’s stages of cognitive development. This includes the periods between early childhood (1.5-4 years), late childhood (6-10 years), puberty and mid-adolescence. This ensures that there are widespread implications of trauma in childhood especially in terms of the age at which exposure to trauma occurs as well as the areas of the brain affected. For example, the volume of the brain shows a rapid increase in first two years (Matsuzawa et al., 2001), a time when the development of attachment also takes place. Moreover, this growth is more experience- dependent (Schore, 2001). Children below the age of two also show a greater right brain than left brain

In the immediate, as well as long-term aftermath of exposure to trauma, children are at risk of developing significant emotional and behavior difficulties (CWIG, 2012). The most damaging types of trauma include early physical and sexual abuse, neglect, emotional/psychological abuse, exposure to domestic violence and other forms of child maltreatment (Hoch, 2009). Research has shown that children that are exposed to these types of trauma will experience developmental delays including language and verbal processing. Also, they will have risk of poor physiological and psychosocial functioning, and will be vulnerable to emotional and behavioral dysregulation disorders, thus, leading to an increase risk of poor outcomes including substance abuse, suicidality, teen pregnancy and paternity, criminal activity, and revictimization (Hoch, 2009).

Everyday there are children being abused by someone who is supposed to protect them. An estimated 905,000 children were victims of child abuse or neglect in 2006(Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2008). In 1996, more than three million victims of suspected abuse were reported to child protective services agencies in the United States (Baker, 2002). The numbers have changed and still many cases of abuse go unreported. The number of incidences of child abuse rises when the family is under stress, such as being in our economy. The effects of physical abuse can last a lifetime and are measured by the physical, psychological, behavioral, or social outcomes. Normal physical abuse scenario involves a parent who loses control and lashes

The safety and security of many children across the world are in danger due to physical abuse. Child abuse has been linked to an assortment of changes in the brain which result in psychological, behavioral, and academic problems. While it is unclear whether the population that had been maltreated as children is accurate, physical maltreatment in the first 5 years of life places a child at risk for a variety of psychological and behavioral problems during adolescence. The following three literature reviews attempts to prove and support the premise.

     There are four major levels that can influence child abuse. One being the individual level, two the family, three the community, and four the society. The following factors are believed to be factors contributing to the development of physical and emotional abuse and neglect of children. Community/society parent related, high crime rate personal history of physical or sexual abuse, lack of or few social services, teenage parents, high poverty rate of parenting skills, high unemployment, rate of unwanted pregnancy, emotional immaturity, child-related poor coping skills,

This paper will investigate the abuse of children and some of the ways which young children are affected developmentally. I will try and present an overview of the major types of abuse but my big focus and most of my research has been to cover sexual abuse and its effect on development in young children and how it can affect brain development.

Child maltreatment has a negative effect on health and it can cause stress that disrupts early brain development. Extreme stress can harm the development of the nervous and immune systems. As a result, children who are abused or neglected are at higher risk for health problems as adults. These problems include alcoholism, depression, drug abuse, eating disorders, obesity, high-risk sexual behaviors, smoking, suicide, and certain chronic diseases such a post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). MRI scans indicate that maltreated children suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder have significantly smaller brains

Many children are forced to live with domestic violence because one of their parents refuses to leave the relationship. In cases of women being victims of domestic violence and failing to leave the male offender, the women are also identified as offenders and are charged with failing to protect their children from avoidable harm, regardless of the limited choices they have (Friend et al., 2008). Although domestic violence occurred in 35% of the 1,248 substantiated incidents of child maltreatment, only 31 couples were investigated for exposing a child to domestic violence or not protecting their children from the violence (Coohey, 2007). In Minnesota the parent is said to endanger the child’s mental or physical health when the child is exposed to domestic violence. When police are contacted about a domestic violence incident the investigators need to consider all types of failure to protect the child, as well as the likelihood of a domestic violence incident occurring again (Coohey, 2007). In order to determine if the children will be exposed to domestic violence in the future, the investigator needs to consider many variables. Such variables include a history of domestic violence and other types of child maltreatment, a willingness by the perpetrator to change his or her behavior, and if the perpetrator has the ability to change. Domestic

A.Danese, C.M.Pariante, A.Caspi, A.Taylor, and R.Poulton (2007) ?Childhood maltreatment predicts adult in?ammation in a life-course study,? Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 104(4):1319?1324.

Child abuse is a term impacted by copious multidimensional and interactive factors that relate to its origins and effects upon a child's developing capacities and which may act as a catalyst to broader, longer-term implications for adulthood. Such maltreatment may be of a sexual, physical, emotional or neglectful nature, each form holding a proportion of shared and abuse-specific psychological considerations (Mash & Wolfe, 2005). Certainly in terms of the effects / impairments of abuse, developmental factors have been identified across all classifications of child abuse, leading to a comparably greater risk of emotional / mental health problems in adult life within the general population

Maltreatment of a child is the most Adverse and stress challenge for them. It can become a problem for them in the future or it may not, but they are definitely at higher risk. Going down a problematic path is not a guarantee, but those who have been maltreated are more likely to take part in risky behavior. In the article, Contemporary Human Behavior Theory: A Critical Perspective for Social Work by Susan P. Robbins, Pranab Chatterjee and Edward R. Canda it states, “a person in crisis may initially feel overwhelmed by disorientation and shock. But if the person is able to use the disruption of the usual psychosocial status quo as an opportunity for growth, then a dramatic transformation and enhanced functioning and fulfillment are possible,”(Robbins, Chatterjee & Canda, 2006). Someone who goes through a traumatic event may go down a destructive path or they may not. Someone’s future is not set in stone. Something that is traumatic can either have a negative impact or cause personal growth. The outcome depends on how this traumatic experienced is handled and the intervention that takes place. There is a real neurological reason why people who are exposed to adversity are more likely to engage in high-risk behavior, but even if they do not take part in these behaviors like drinking or smoking they are still at higher risk of getting a disease. In the article, Aspects of Human Behavior: Person, Environment, Time by Elizabeth D. Hutchison it states, “take a biopsychosocial

In the peer-reviewed empirical study, Dennison and other researchers studied how childhood maltreatment can have on mental health. Researchers used a neurobiological perspective to study the effects of mental health that it have on children by looking at the reward system and social cues in the basal ganglia. An FMRI study was used in the article to examine the basal ganglia to look at the associations between emotional neglect and abuse. The article also used a longitudinal sample of adolescents to see if they’ve been exposed to child abuse or maltreatment. Dennison and researchers stated the children who did suffer from any form of child abuse were at high risk for depression and other mental health problems