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Emotional, Behavioral, and Psychological Disturbances in Neglected Children

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Every year millions of children are abused and neglected worldwide. Child abuse is a global concern. It has severe outcomes on the children who are victims, and often the effects are long-lasting. Child abuse is a highly under-reported crime although of those reported, neglect accounts for the majority of child abuse cases (Pala, Ünalacak, & Ünlüoğlu, 2011). Neglect in children often has more dire consequences than other types of child abuse (DePanfilis, Children’s Bureau, & Office on Child Abuse & Neglect, 2006). One consequence especially prevalent in neglected children is insecure or lack of attachment to a primary caregiver. John Bowlby’s research has shown the evolutionary importance of infant attachments, further research shows that …show more content…

The Child Welfare Information Gateway adds unsatisfactory supervision to the types of neglect and maintains that physical neglect including medical neglect and abandonment is the most common form of neglect (DePanfilis, et al, 2006).
Consequences of Neglect There are many immediate and long term effects that result from child neglect. Research by the Child Welfare Information Gateway indicates that the influence of neglect is often only immediately noticeable in severe cases of neglect; most effects of neglect go unobserved for years. Neglect becomes more obvious as the child ages and develops physically, intellectually, emotionally, and socially (DePanfilis, et al., 2006).
There are a number of factors that influence the extent of the consequences of neglect. One major influence is the child’s age and developmental stage at the time of the abuse. Studies show that younger children (under age three) who experience abuse or neglect are far worse off than children abused at an older age (DePanfilis, et al., 2006). Dr. Jonathon B. Kotch and a team of collaborators looked at the effect early physical abuse and neglect had on later aggression. They found that neglect that occurred within two years of being born was the only predictor of aggression at ages four, six, and eight in their study. Neglect in older children and physical abuse at any age did not predict aggression (Kotch, et

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