Factors That Increase The Probability That A Parent Or Caregiver Will Abuse A Child Essay

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

Violence in any form can have a lasting effect on a person. Children who witness violence are permanently scarred because of what they are seeing. Children who witness family or domestic violence are affected in ways similar to children who are physically abused. Children are often unable to establish nurturing bonds with either parent and are at a greater risk for abuse and neglect if he or she lives in a violent home. Statistics show that an estimated 3.3 million children are exposed to violence against their mothers or female caretakers by family members in their home each year (Ackerman & Pickering, 1989). When a spouse, woman or male is abused, and there are

Children are recognized as the future of modern society as the population continues to grow old. Therefore, each and every child has the right to be nurtured in a safe environment (Geffner, 2000). A home riddled with domestic violence is the complete opposite of what Geffner described in her book, Children exposed to domestic violence. According to the 2003 Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS), almost 250 000 homes across Canada failed to provide an ideal living environment for their children (citation). Most of the damage comes at the hands of a parent or other relative, and the damage can last a lifetime. An abused child is 35% more likely to end up in violent or abusive relationships as an adult (citation). As stated by the statistic above, the likelihood

e1164; Carbaugh, 2004, p. 107; Davies, & Garwood, 2001, p. 41-52; Hennes et al., 2001, p. 22-23). The relationship between the perpetrator and the child appears to influence when the child falls victim to maltreatment. For example, a mother is more likely to shake a child during the early stage of life, while a stepfather is most likely to shake a child who is at least a week old (Henne et al., 2001, p. 23). Other influencing components that create high risk for shaking a child include: being a younger or an older mother (40 years of age), having an unstable family environment, having unrealistic expectations of the child, impulsivity, isolation, depression, having a low socioeconomic status or having negative childhood experiences (Davies & Garwood, 2001, p. 44-49; Eronen, Pincombe, & Calabretto, 2007, p. 24-25; Hennes et al., 2001, p. 23; Miehl, 2005, p. 112). What can be seen from these factors is that they all relate to a predisposition of increased stress levels. Parenting stress can be influenced by the mismatch between the demands of being a parent and the ability of meeting those demands or lack of resources available (Ryan, Tolani, & Brooks-Gunn, 2009, p. 160). When a child is inconsolable or causes frustration in an already stressed caregiver, the caregiver may attempt to sooth the child and in this attempt could shake or smoother the infant (David & Garwood, 2001, p. 49; Fujiwara et al., 2016, p. 8). A potential lasting impact to perpetrators is the consequences from this event. Such consequences include legal charges, which can occur to a caregiver who has been convicted of child harm. These consequences include: the inability to see the child without supervision, legal charges and criminal investigation (Shapiro, 2003, p. 444-447). Ultimately, when analyzed, the perpetrator can also be

The current problem is the continued rise in child abuse and neglect today. Within the United States, the problem of child abuse and neglect is far much common than most people would like to admit. Sanchez (2012) stated that child maltreatment is a global epidemic and a major social problem in the United States resulting in at least 740, 000 visits to hospital emergency departments and more than $124 in child welfare, criminal justice, and health care. Norman, Byambaa, De, Butchart, Scott, and Vos (2012) also observed that child abuse and neglect is a global problem that is mostly perpetrated by parental guardians and parents. Sexual abuse is the infringement of a child’s

Child maltreatment is characterized as “all intentional harm to, or avoidable endangerment of, anyone under 18 years of age” (Berger, 2014, pp. 236). Subtypes of child maltreatment includes child abuse (intentional harm inflicted on a child physically, emotionally, or sexually) and child neglect (failure to provide physical, educational or emotional needs) (Berger, 2014). Lower socioeconomic status (SES) and dysfunctional families can increases the risk for child maltreatment (Harpur, Polek, & van Harmelen, 2015). Additional circumstances that can increase the risk for child maltreatment is low maternal education, single-parenthood, non-biological caregivers, and parental substance abuse (Harpur et al, 2015). In 2012, in the United States,

The subject of victimization and childhood trauma and neglect, especially sexual victimization is in desperate need of additional awareness despite the increase in the research literature over the past three decades. Youth who experience any form of victimization, whether it be sexual, emotional, and/or physical throughout their childhood are known to have difficulties in their childhood and adolescent development (McCuish, Cale & Corrado, 2015). The abuse they experience can be from their caregivers, sexual victimization by acquaintances and strangers, assaults by peers and can be exposed to violence in their neighborhoods (Finkelhor, Ormrod, Turner and Holt, 2009).

There are many things that cause parents to abuse their children and there are also many affects that abuse has on the child being abused. You cannot pinpoint one cause for child abuse, because parents abuse their children for many different reasons. One reason for the abuse is that the parents were abused as children. So, this is the only way they know to discipline their children. Another reason is that the parents are teenagers and not ready for children One more reason for the abuse is alcohol and substance abuse. The affect that abuse has on children is not only physical but the abuse affects children on many different levels. When children are abused they are 53% more likely to commit criminal acts as an adolescent and 40% more likely to commit a crime as an adult. Also the children have maladaptive, anti-social and

Sexual abuse of children damages them for them entire lifetimes and robs them of the full, comfortable relationships they should have as adults. However, given these differences, sexual abuses evokes similar responses in everyone because it is as aggressive and conceive abuses of power that is expensive as humiliating, degrading and destruction. One of the major achievements of the past quarter century has been the growing awareness of the prevalence and changing psychological consequences of the sexual abuse of children. The majority of perpetrators are someone the child or family knows. As many as 93% of victims under the age of 18 know the abuser. A perpetrator does not have to be an adult to harm a child. They can have any relationship to the child including an older sibling or playmate, family member, a teacher, a coach or instructor, a caretaker, or the parent of another child. According to 1 in 6, sexual abuse is the result of abusive behavior that takes advantage of a child’s vulnerability and is in no way related to the sexual orientation of the abusive person.”

There are certain demographics that are more prone to child abuse. Lower income families and young single mothers are the most likely to have child abuse in the home. This is due to the levels of stress in these types of families. When a person gets too stressed, and is not given the proper tools and resources to let that stress out, naturally it goes to a person that is close to them. Most of the time it is the children, all it takes is for the child to do something small, it can be something natural such as crying for no apparent reason as children often do, to take the abuser from simply over stressed to their breaking point.

In other instances, the parent can confiscate the child’s belongings or force the children to strip down naked and be photographed as a form of punishment. Considering the types of abuse that these children experience, there are psychological effects that can affect their life as they get older. The effects of household abuse can extend outside the home and affect the child in their performance in society. “Children Exposed to Domestic Violence” states that children exposed to family violence can experience difficulties in paying attention and staying on task (Geffner 39). Abused children are prone to externalizing problems which causes children to act out. Externalizing problems include temper tantrums, impulsivity, hyperactivity, aggression, conflict, cruelty and bullying. Another issue that abused children develop are internalizing problems. Internalizing problems are issues such as headaches, sleep disturbances, anxiety, fear of separation, social withdraw and depression. This overall causes the children to be less engaged in tasks and in normal behaviors.

However, all forms of child abuse carry emotional consequences because the child's psychological and emotional development inevitably suffers from all forms of abuse. An intervention model that would focus on emotional abuse could also focus on preventing other forms of abuse because violent behavior towards children often comes from the same underlying causes, and most risk factors for child maltreatment are associated with caregiver, family, and environmental factors (McDonald, 2007). With this in mind, a possible solution would have to include early detection, but the intervention would most likely focus on factors that cause all types of child abuse. Despite the widespread occurrences of all forms of abuse, emotional neglect or maltreatment are practically impossible to detect while they occur and impair the child's normal development and social integration. Emotional abuse includes includes verbal, mental, and psychological maltreatment of children, and it is frequently overlooked by the community and mental health professionals who do not define emotional abuse as a suitable factor for diagnostic purposes (as cited in Schneider, Baumrind, & Kimerling, 2007). In reality, emotional abuse is frequently used in many families, it occurs in several worldwide cultures, and it carries significant consequences that should not be overlooked.

Child abuse and neglect are considered a social phenomenon that plays a crucial role in American society as well as in the American criminal justice system. All types of ages, genders, ethnicities at some point or another are represented as victims or perpetrators of child abuse or neglect. Child abuse includes physical, psychological and sometimes sexual abuse to a person who is below the age of 18. Child abuse or neglect victims tend to grow up with long terms consequences such as low self-esteem, depression, and other major consequences such as engaging in criminal behavior as adults, teen pregnancy and not to mention the severity of physical child abuse consequences can end up in a death of an innocent victim. This literature

Research conducted in the United States of America clearly identifies an interaction between victim age and abuse characteristics (USDHHS, 2003). There exists a negative correlation between the onset and prevalence of physical neglect and victim age, for instance, indicative of a young child's dependency upon the caregiver for supervision and nurture (Mash & Wolfe, 2005). The incidence of physical and emotional abuse is also most prominent during developmental periods of independence, specifically the early, pre-school and adolescent transitional stages of development (ibid). Sexual abuse has prevailed most consistently, however, from an onset of age 3 throughout childhood, highlighting the vulnerability of children across the age-spectrum (ibid). Nevertheless, victim gender is emphasised as an influential variable within the incidence and nature of sexual abuse; for females have accounted for up to 80% of reported victims and are more likely to be abused by male family members in contrast to male victims, where the perpetrator of abuse is more likely to be a non-family male offender (USDHHS, 2003; Berliner & Elliott, 2002).

In today’s society, child abuse is widespread and has an affect on everyone who comes across it. The act of child abuse happens everyday to a variety of kids who are typically younger and scared to tell anyone. All children are born with the right to be able to develop, grow, live and love according to their needs and feelings. For a child 's development they need protection and reassurance from adults who love them and help them acquire the skills to be a successful adult. However, some children are neglected and hurt by adults that they trust. The abuse a child receives makes them feel bad about themselves, and it is much worse when it occurs within a family because it makes them feel unloved and alone causing them to have problems. “Abuse of all types was more frequent in those from disturbed and disrupted family backgrounds. Logistic regressions indicated that some, though not all, of the apparent associations between abuse and adult problems was accounted for by this matrix of childhood disadvantage from which abuse so often emerged. Numerous studies have investigated the psychological sequelae of childhood trauma, including posttraumatic stress disorder(PTSD), dissociation, personality disorder, and substance abuse ”(“New Retrospective Measure of Child Abuse and Neglect” by David P. Bernstein). The act of child abuse causes kids to have one or more mental problems. Additionally, since people do not recognize the abuse while it is occurring, it causes these problems to