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Research Paper On Child Abuse

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Child Abuse
I INTRODUCTION

Child Abuse, intentional acts that result in physical or emotional harm to children. The term child abuse covers a wide range of behavior, from actual physical assault by parents or other adult caretakers to neglect of a child’s basic needs. Child abuse is also sometimes called child maltreatment.

Although the extent of child abuse is difficult to measure, it is recognized as a major social problem, especially in industrialized nations. It occurs in all income, racial, religious, and ethnic groups and in urban and rural communities. It is, however, more common in some groups, especially those below the poverty line.

Cultures around the world have different standards in deciding what constitutes child abuse. In …show more content…

Investigators substantiated abuse or neglect for nearly 1 million of the children reported. Among substantiated cases, 56 percent involved physical or emotional neglect, 25 percent involved physical abuse, 13 percent involved sexual abuse, 6 percent involved emotional abuse, and 13 percent involved other abuse, such as educational neglect or abandonment. Some children experienced multiple forms of abuse.

Many researchers believe that statistics based on official reports do not accurately reflect the prevalence of child abuse. Definitions of maltreatment vary from state to state and among agencies, making such statistics unreliable. Professionals who interact with children—such as teachers, day-care workers, pediatricians, and police officers—may fail to recognize or report abuse. In addition, acts of abuse usually occur in the privacy of a family’s home and often go unreported. Surveys of families, another way of estimating abuse, indicate that 2.3 percent of children in the United States—or about 1.5 million children—experience abusive violence each

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