Child maltreatment is a term that is used to represent four primary acts that are done against children: physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, and emotional abuse. Statistics reveal that child abuse occurs at alarming rates in society . There are thousands of cases that are reported to children agencies each year in all over parts of the world. Based on the existing literature, it reveals that child maltreatment affects children in a number of ways, mainly causing psychiatric and psychological abuse. This paper provides a systematic review of the literature on child maltreatment and shows that there is a research gap regarding arrest methods that should be used to prevent trauma that occurs during earlier stages of child maltreatment.
Child maltreatment is common in many countries. De Villiers and de Villiers (2010) reveal that since 2000, more than 135,000 maltreatment cases were conducted in the United States. Child neglect accounted for 40 percent of the cases, physical abuse accounted for 30 percent, sexual abuse, 10 percent, and emotional maltreatment accounted for 20 percent. Majority of perpetrators of child maltreatment constituted family members where 90 percent of the perpetrators were described as primary caregivers. When looking at violence against children, De Villiers and de Villiers (2010) report that children under the age of 18 years were victims of child violence while 24 percent of causes featured children that had been subjected to sexual assault. Moreover, 20 percent of the cases included children that had been physically abused .
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Kostelnik (2006) reveals that one of the most discoveries about child development is how minds of kids start at a very young age, uniting disparate observations and facts that are coherent to their conceptual systems. Based on Erik Erikson theory of psychosocial development, children are simply not passive observers; rather, they build explanatory systems that help them to organize knowledge. A researcher who attempted to explain child maltreatment using this theoretical concept includes Fields and Brown (2012) , who argued that abused children start to develop trauma when they are still at home, a family institution that is responsible for 80 percent of all cases of child maltreatment that are reported .
According to Fields and Brown (2012) , child cases are largely unreported because perpetrator may be parents, relatives, guardians, teachers, or other children. As such, it has been difficult for researchers to collect data from such participants. Fields and Brown (2012) focus on the psychological effects of child maltreatment and reveals abuse has a severe impact on a child for years . Child maltreatment varies depending on a number of factors which include, severity and frequency of abuse, child’s capacity to cope, the presence of emotional support, and age of the child. Research suggests that small numbers of maltreated children are not affected psychologically and they manage to grow into normal adults. However, another study finding reveals that abused children feel insecurity and seek attention that is characterized by defiance. They are unable to express their feelings, have increased aggression, and choose an isolated social life because they do not trust others.
Child maltreatment causes various effects on the brain of a child. A study that was conducted by Schmalleger (2018) reveals that child victims have mental instability that is seen in the cerebellar vermis, which releases stress hormones and affects the victim's normal life. Although Schmalleger (2018) indicates there that it is easier to prevent the psychological damage that is caused by child maltreatment, there is a gap in literature where methods of how to arrest the damage have not been adequately addressed . Therefore, this study will focus on the following objectives:-
To determine methods that can be used to arrest the damage during an earlier stage of child maltreatment.
To develop find out various stress-release and relaxation activities that can be help abused children to cope with the trauma that is caused by child maltreatment.
References
De Villiers, J. G., & de Villiers, P. A. (2010). Language development. In Bornstein, M.
H., & Lamb, M. E. (Eds.), Developmental science: An advanced textbook (pp.
313-373) . New York: Psychology Press.
Fields, D., & Brown, A. (2012). Toddler 411: Clear answers & smart advice for your
toddler (4th edition). New York, NY: Windsor Peak Press.
Kostelnik, M. J., Whiren, A. P., Soderman, A. K., & Gregory, K. (2006). Guiding
children's social development theory to practice. (5th ed.) . New York, NY: Routledge.
Schmalleger, F. J. (2018). Criminology (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
