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Effects of child abuse

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The Impact of 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.
Did you know that 3.2 million children in the U.S. were subjects of abuse or neglect investigations in 2007? (Childhelp) Child abuse refers to “an act, or failure to act, on the part of a parent or caretaker that results in the death, serious physical or emotional harm” …show more content…

(Svevo-Cianci) These are just a few of the side effects, showing how it could hurt the child’s self-esteem, ability to trust others, and ability to control their temper and remain calm in dire situations. These kind of effects could completely change their entire personality. A child that developed an aggression problem may find it hard to stay at one job for too long. He could be kicked out of school due to his uncontrollable temper. However, not only does it affect short term, but it does long term as well. When you look at the long term effects, they are much more massive. "roughly 54 percent of suicide attempts in women were connected to adverse childhood experiences" (Child Welfare)The side effects could include but not limited to Post traumatic stress disorder symptoms, general psychiatric symptoms, trauma-related beliefs, and low self-esteem (Svevo-Cianci) There are obviously lots of symptoms associated with child abuse and drastic ones too that will really never leave you, even well out of childhood and away from parents.

Not only are children being abused, but most cases are occurring, unreported. In fact, researchers go as far as to say “as few as 1 in 10 of those instances of abuse are actually confirmed by social-service

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