Girl Trouble Sociology

Sitcoms are an American staple, a fantastic pastime, and an in-depth look into current family values and standards. The United States Census Bureau defines the family as two or more people related by birth, marriage, or adoption residing in the same housing unit. This definition works well as a marker of internal family status, but it is a very limited definition of a family. Sociologists commonly extend the definition of family to include persons who provide one another with intimacy, emotional support, and love as it is a better representation of the families we have seen in the past few decades. Two beloved sitcoms, Friends and New Girl, each center around the lives of six main characters and how they form family in the late 90s and the

Based on the case study provided Susan has qualifies as a youth that has had a traumatic experience on all three levels of focus in a trauma-informed assessment. Susan has been exposed to events that are traumatic. These are, for example, she has been for a long time been sexually abused by her father and her father frequently physically abused her mother over trivial issues and she even witnessed her parents fighting to the extent that her mother was hospitalized due to a head injury inflicted by her father. In addition, Susan displays symptoms that are linked to post traumatic stress disorder. These include the continuous engagement in daily physical altercations, sleeping difficulties, development of depression, drug experimentation, and aggressive behavior

The childhood of an individual can be very crucial in the formation of the child’s character, personality, and future social behavior. The early experiences a child is exposed to may impact the child in a positively or negatively manner. Children exposed to traumatic childhood experiences such as emotional, physical, and sexual abuse; emotion and physical neglect; and household dysfunction such as incarcerated member of the household, domestic violence, and substance abuse; will result in criminal behavior in adolescence and/or adulthood.

10) has detrimental consequences on adolescent development. Research shows chronic or complex trauma will take longer to recuperate from than an acute experience. According to Malchiodi (2009), “The Complex Trauma Taskforce of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) undertook a significant step in identifying and resolving the problems associated with diagnosing complex trauma in children” (p. 1). Adolescents diagnosed with complex trauma are more likely to engage in “maladaptive attempts at self-soothing” (van der Kolk & Pynoos, 2009, p. 11) that is expressed in high-risk behavior, chemical or substance dependency or aggressiveness toward others.

The most frequent outcome for victims of childhood maltreatment is criminal behavior, particularly throughout adolescence and adulthood. The argument proposed is that individuals exposed to abusive or violent experiences — whether it be physical abuse, sexual abuse emotional abuse, or neglect — during childhood, directly or indirectly, are more likely to engage in criminal behavior than non-abused individuals. There is a clear and positive association between child maltreatment and adult criminality. This association predisposes the victims of childhood maltreatment to violent, criminal behavior later in life. With this, there is a positive correlation between the type of abuse suffered during childhood and the type of crimes that adult offenders commit. If an individual suffered from sexual abuse during childhood, they are more likely to commit sexual offenses during adulthood, such as rape or prostitution. If an individual suffered from physical abuse or neglect during childhood, they are more likely to commit violent offenses during adulthood, such as assault or manslaughter. The research and evidence presented shows the clear association between childhood maltreatment and engaging in criminal behavior during adulthood, arguing some of the factors that mediate this association.

Amongst adults being involved in abusive relationships, teenagers, as well as young adults are more exposed to it. “Violent behavior often begins between 6th and 12th grade.” ("11 Facts About Teen Dating Violence") 1 out of 3 young people are in an abusive or unhealthy relationship in the United States. 33% of adolescents in America have already been victim to sexual, physical, verbal, or emotional abuse while dating someone. Also in the U.S., 25% of high school girls, specifically have been abused physically or sexually. Teen girls who have been abused as so are 6 times more likely to become pregnant or contract a sexually transmitted infection. Out of the entire population, females between the ages of 16 and 24 are

This paper provides a summary of the short and long-term effects causes by child abuse. The focus is primarily on the four most common forms of abuse and the long-term effect that are experienced in adolescence through adulthood. These four forms of abuse are physical, sexual, and emotional and

In the article, “Chid Maltreatment and Adolescent Development” , authors discussed numbers of mental health problems that could be carried on by abused children into their adolescence or even their early adulthood (Trickett et al. , 2011) . As the article demonstrated, by focusing on some crucial developmental outcomes of abused children with their social relationships, authors pointed out that the early maltreatment towards children would not only have a negative influence on abused children’s reaction while they interact with other non-abused peers, but also limit abused children ability of emotional regulation and prosocial behaviors (Trickett et al. , 2011). On the other hand, detrimental impact of maltreatment could also damage the ability and potential developmental of abused children to form the healthy friendship with their peers who did not suffer similar abusive behaviors as they did (Underwood & Rosen, 2013). More importantly, the poor peer relationship turn out to be the unstable basis for abused children to build their social network and negatively impact the development of possible romantic relationship in their later future (Underwood & Rosen, 2013).

The work of Springs & Friedrich (1992) demonstrated the following findings: persons who experienced multiple childhood trauma exposures (two or more) had a four- to 12-fold increased risk for alcoholism, drug abuse, depression, and suicide and slightly smaller but still significant (two- to four-fold) increases in smoking and poor self-rating of health status. Childhood exposures to trauma also showed a graded relationship to the presence of adult diseases including ischemic heart disease, cancer, chronic lung disease, skeletal fractures, and liver disease. McCauley, et al. (1997) also demonstrated a positive association between having an incident of sexual abuse (among women being questioned about experiences they had had as minors) and

Adolescence is a critical time in an individuals’ life, especially in regards to his or her neurodevelopment. Adolescents believe that they are mature individuals with the ability to make intelligent decisions without any direction or guidance from anyone else. This is very alarming considering that the adolescent is very impulsive in his or her decision making abilities, instead of reasoning through the negatives and positives regarding his or her final decision regarding an issue or situation he or she is presented with. Adolescents are not always aware or concerned with the consequences of their decisions and actions. This paper will address the relationship between child abuse

Evidence shows that abuse on a child, whether physical, sexual, or psychological, can have negative side effects. Not only can abuse cause immediate harm to a child, it could also cause long-term damage to mental health and overall function as an adult. Many adults that have suffered abuse, maltreatment, or neglect in their childhood are at greater risk for perpetuating that same behavior towards their children/step children. Though not all victims will become abusers themselves, many abusers have experienced some sort of mistreatment as a child. Survivors of childhood abuse have a greater chance of developing substance abuse problems, especially drinking, and mental health conditions (depression, anxiety, PTSD, ect). Broadly, there are a number of negative outcomes associated with childhood abuse, with considerable overlap in the types of negative outcomes associated with different types of abuse (Anne N. Banduccia, 2014).

Abuse is associated with other damaging factors in the victim’s life, as studies find 80% of 21 year olds that were abused as children met criteria for at least one psychological disorder (Amy B. Silverman, 2008). In a book by Heiman, he said that abused children are also more likely to engage in sexual risk behaviors, causing them to be 25% more likely to experience teen pregnancy. Also it put those young adults at greater risk for STD’s along with sexual behaviors that put children at risk. Studies also show that children who were abused are more likely to use drugs when they become young adults. While statistic shows an disturbing number of inmates have been abused as children, it is wondered that the actual number might be even higher as

The National Institute of Justice made a report on youth victimization in 2003 titled Youth Victimization: Prevalence and Implications. In this report there are several types of youth victimization outlined, they are as follows sexual assault, physical assault, physically abusive punishment, and witnessing violence. Also in this report were mental health and delinquent behaviors of adolescents. These include Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, alcohol abuse and dependence, marijuana abuse and dependence, hard drug abuse and dependence, and delinquent behavior. It gives statistics for them all, in relation to gender, ethnicity, and age for the mental health issues, and for the youth victimization types it gives statistics based on ethnicity.

C. School Psychology Quarterly reports an estimated 7.4% of U.S. students have been sexually assaulted, and those who had been abused reported more suicide attempts then those who have not. (Source 4: Statistic). They are also more likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder, behavioral difficulties (i.e. aggression), lower academic achievement, etc.

The effects of physical and psychological abuse of children have detrimental short and long term effects. Some possible long term results of abuse are suicide, alcohol abuse, abuse of their own children, physically assaulting their wives/girlfriend, and depression. Short term effects can also include feelings of helplessness, dependency, and self-blame. Victims may begin to believe that they were doing something wrong and deserved to be punished for their actions, even though they may have done nothing wrong.