Parent Child Relationships

A once bright and chatty child may become withdrawn and shy away from adult attention. The child maybe showing signs of aggressive behaviour and/or exhibiting signs of self harm. Abuse can affect a child from infancy through to adolescence and then into adulthood. It can set back a child's physical development, such as a tense mealtime can affect the child’s ability to eat.

Believe it or not exposure to violence affects children in many ways. Children are like sponges they absorb everything they see. Children who are exposed to violence in their homes become fearful, anxious, and never feel safe. They are always worried for themselves, their mother, and their siblings. They may even feel worthless and powerless. Many children will keep the abuse a secret and not tell anyone but as time progresses they will think that it’s their fault and that that’s why the violence is occurring. Children exposed to abuse can look normal to the

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

When a person is abusing a child, he/she does not think about the effects. When people are mistreating a child, they will be in the moment and not thinking of what they are doing. If an individual chronically abuses his/her child, he is not thinking about the effects the abuse has on his child. There are various long and short term effects of child abuse. Unfortunately, these short-term effects of child abuse are not the most frightening; most abused children do not have lasting physical effects. Other than some bruises and social withdrawal, short term effects are not clear. If asked about bruises, children will make up a lie to protect their abuser (Friedman). The effects of being abused as a child continue into adulthood and create the long term effects. The disturbing part is that abused children will most likely grow up to be troubled adolescents and adults who may even abuse their own children.

The consequences of maltreatment can lead to psychological problems and physical problems. When a child has been abused this can make the child angry. Self-esteem is usually caused when someone is emotionally abused as the person may talk down to the child and make the child feel useless. When somebody is sexually abused, the consequence may be an STI or even unwanted pregnancy. Other consequences that can happen due to abuse is, diseases, stress, and illnesses. These can be due to Neglect, if the child is not looked after properly then the child could end up ill, this can also happen due to neglect if the home environment is not healthy.

“There are situations of where the child shuts down and stays in his own world. Studies have shown a link between child abuse and delayed intellectual development. The child loses his ability to adapt to his or her environment leading to poor cognitive development. The child produces feelings of guilt, violation, loss of control and lowered self-esteem sometimes with suicidal tendencies. Common problems include emotional and behavioral problems, poor performance in school, and possible further abuse (Husted).

recording observations over time, through written records, builds a picture of the young person life and allows us to recognise patterns and changes in their behaviour. Children and young people who have been physically abused may be fearful, submissive and aggressive after the abuse has stopped. The abuse has taught them that hitting is a way to control others and solve problems. The beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours that appear after physical abuse can cause problems with friends, struggling to maintain and keep friendships. They may be distrustful of authority figures at home or school becoming fearful of their carers and those there to help them. They may feel guilty, ashamed, angry, helpless or hostile resulting in anxiety disorders or depression.

The most obvious effect of child abuse is physical injury to the child. According to the Child Welfare Information Gateway, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, physical injuries can be minor, such as bruises, or severe, such as broken bones or even death, but the pain and suffering leaves much deeper emotional scars. Sometimes, abuse can lead to lasting or recurring health problems, such as shaken baby syndrome

(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.

There are significant signs of psychological trauma due to any kind of abuse. Children experience feelings of low self esteem and depression. Many exhibit behavioral problems including aggression towards other children. Other emotional problems include hostility, fear, humiliation and the inability to express feelings. The social impacts of physical abuse include inability to form relationships, poor social skills, poor cognitive language skills, distrust of others, over-compliance with authority figures, and tendency to solve interpersonal problems with aggression. (2008, p. 1). Verbal and physical abuse has a cumulative impact on children’s socialization. Abused children are caught in damaged relationships and are not socialized in positive, supportive way (Craig & Dunn, Ex.: 2010, p. 196). They learn defiance, manipulation and other problem behaviors that are used to escape any maltreatment. In turn they will learn to exploit, degrade and terrorize.

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

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.

The onset of bipolar disorder is usually in late adolescence or early adulthood (7). It is possible for both children and adolescents to develop the disease as well. This usually happens when there is a family history for the disease. Children afflicted by bipolar disorder are usually more irritable and destructive during their manic states and are more prone to mixed states (9). It is even harder to diagnose bipolar disorder in children because it is often confused with other problems that occur at a younger age such as attention deficit disorder, conduct disorder, major depression, or schizophrenia (9).

Every child abuse case is different in its own way. Of course child abuse can lead to problems and suffering, but it's not that simple. Every child will have a different way of dealing with the

All these types of abuses have a huge effect on the children. These abuses leave long lasting scars whether it is neglect, physical, emotional or sexual. These scars damage a child 's sense of self, abilities to have healthy relationships, ability to function in the world. It gives them a lack of trust. They no longer feel they can trust those they love or think they know really well because of what was done to them. There will always be that fear in the back of their minds wondering if this person will do that to them. For those who have been verbally abused may feel worthless or damaged. After being told over and over again these harsh comments they start to belive they are true. Also