The impact of child abuse and neglect takes different dimensions depending on the age of the child. Some of the great effects of mistreatment in childhood comprise children performing poorly in class and lessened attention to social cues, Christian and Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect (2015) found that child abuse and neglect influence all the domains of a child’s functioning system including his or her cognitive, behavioral, social, physical and cognitive aspects. These are impacted either in the short term or long term. Evidence reveals that child abuse and neglect heightens the risk of drug and alcohol abuse (Widom, Sally, & Mary, 2014) . Also, sexual and physical molestations of children amount to the risk of terminating their lives, among all other experiences.
The Impact of Abuse in Children’s Life
Child abuse is a global catastrophe. Several individuals only focus on the physical impacts of abuse that children undergo and fail to acknowledge the mental, emotional and behavioral tensions that children experience even after they become adults. Some behaviors and outcomes of lives are linked to the preceding abuse that an individual experienced when he was a child. A child that suffers abuse go through a range of antisocial and deviant behaviors and some unpleasant contemplations. The child does all these so as to counter the abuse being released on him. Van der Kolk (2017) carried out a longitudinal study on 8,293 families and determined that sexual abuse that was encountered before the age of 13 was linked to poorer mental well-being, premature pregnancy and coping challenges in the victim’s children.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Even though the rate of child abuse has decreased, the current statistics are still worrying. The Department of Health and Human Services in the United States projected that about 705,000 children were sufferers because of abuse and being neglected in 2012 (Christian & Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect, 2015) . Two years afterwards, reports from the same researchers reflected that the number of verified victims of child abuse and neglect were 558,247, of this statistics 15.2 percent were experiencing physical abuse (Widom, Sally, & Mary, 2014) . The intriguing fact is that the figures of child abuse occurrences is gradually dropping because of the evidenced-founded programs and services being spearhead by the Department of Health and Human Services. The programs have been successful to some level in preventing child maltreatment and promoting healthy families and societies.
There are several physical indications of child abuse, and the focus should not just be in bruises. Some children will fail to have these signs but they are seriously being abused. Notable indications may compromise headaches, over reacting, self-inflicting, precarious sexual behavior, stomach pains, escaping, theft, substance abuse and sucking of the thumb (Widom, Sally, & Mary, 2014) . Physical child abuse can be described as any deliberate behavior by a parent, guardian or any other adult that leads to physical or emotional injury to a child or teenager. These behaviors could also be unintentional and such would incorporate deeds of omissions (being neglected) and commission (abuse) ( Van der Kolk, 2017) . Children that are physically abused have the tendency to slap, hit, shake, kick, bite, punch, throw, strangle, and can even poison. A sickness called Munchausen Syndrome by proxy (MBPS) is a comparatively unusual disorder that includes the embellishment or feigning of sicknesses or symptoms by a primary guardian.
The most injurious of child abuse is deemed physical abusive behavior. Considering the age of the child and the type of behavior, physical force could be also deemed child abuse. For example, an adult that shakes a baby could be physically abusing him even if he is not injured based on the age of the child. Children that undergo physical abuse are exhibit emotional challenges like aggression, anger, worry, fear, embarrassment, low self-image and never willing to express their feelings (Dean, 2017). The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System revealed that deaths that results from physical abuse of children are 19.4 percent of deaths.
Emotional abuse is also referred to as psychological mistreatment. It refers to when a parent or guardian commits improper verbal acts to the child. Dean (2017) divides emotional abuse into five major behavioral forms. Firstly, there is rejection, which is when an adults declines to recognize a child’s value and his fundamental needs. Secondly, there is isolation whereby an adult prevents the child from interacting with society by restraining him from having friendships. There is also ignoring whereby the parent will not offer the child any attention and overlooks any of his cries, hunger or hurt. There is also corruption whereby the parent influences the child to be engaged in deviant behaviors and make them unhealthy for the usual social scenarios (Widom, Sally, & Mary, 2014) . Lastly, there is terrorizing when the adult issues verbal assaults to the child, creating a surrounding of fear. The parent intimidates and frightens the child and makes him have the notion that the world is harsh. Emotional abuse can amount to improper behavior in the child like criminal activity, promoting prostitution and substance abuse since the child is considering other options of attention in whichever place he could get it. A child that is emotionally mistreated may indicate signs of aggression or withdrawal, an improper reaction to pain or neurotic behavior like hair twisting. Also, a child could have intense fear to new circumstances and intense aggression.
Some children also undergo sexual abuse. According to Young and Widom (2014), sexual abuse entails an attempts or action that exposes any child to, engages a child in, sexual exercise beyond his or her comprehension or against the recognized societal standards. Sexual abuse may also defined as any kind of sexual contact that is exhibited on a child by an adult or someone older without the consent. Instances of sexual abuse comprise sexual touch of any part of the body, kissing or penetrative sex. It also includes causing a child to be involved in sexual activities like masturbation, lesbianism or homosexuality. Some caretakers even show the child pornography or take advantage of them to make pornographic videos or photographs.
A child undergoing sexual abuse will evidence an obvious fear of an individual or specific places. These children also fear to be physically examined, they make drawings that indicate gratification of the flesh, sudden changes in behavior like wetting the bed, losing control of her bowels, abrupt consciousness of genitals as well as using sexual words and making attempts to get other children to engage with in sexual acts. A sexually abused child may also have a difficulty to sit or walk and may not be willing to change clothes when others are watching and play with others. The regular sex offender abuses averagely 117 children, who fail to report such offences because of fear (Christian & Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect, 2015) . Child sexual abuse is hardly a one-time experience, it takes about 1 to 4 years. The most vulnerable stage of children being sexually abused are between 8 and 12 years of age. About 71 percent of child offenders are below the age of 35. About 59 percent get sexual admission to their victims by way of seduction or inducement. Children with disabilities are 4-10 times susceptible to sexual children than non-disabled counterparts. Virtually all victims experience guilt. The long lasting impacts of sexual abuse are fear, anxiety, depression, irritation, low self-image, poor eating habits and challenges with close relationships.
The Impact of Neglect in Children’s Life
Child neglect is another type of abuse. It is when the parent or guardian stops to give a child the conditions that are cultural acknowledged as basic to their psychological and physical development and comfort. There are four categories of neglect that can occur to a child. Physical neglect is when the caregiver or parent stops to give essential physical needs like safe, hygienic housing, clothing and food. There is educational neglect which occurs when the parents fails to give the child proper education (Widom, Sally, & Mary, 2014) . Emotional neglect happens when the caregiver does not express warmth, nurturance and encouragement to the child as he or she grows. Environmental neglect is when the parent or guardian does not provide safety, opportunities and supplies within the surrounding of the child.
Neglect can often amount to physiological or mental illnesses. The most notable cases of these diseases include the post-traumatic stress and despair. NSCAW established that children who were left outside their homes as an abuse or neglect repeatedly showed poor scores than the overall population. The measures were done on the cognitive potential, language development and academic performance (). In 2013, neglect led to 35.8 percent of the deaths (Dean, 2017). A child that neglected early in life has a high possibility of being compromised in his development.
Research done by the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) for 2014, indicate that the children who are 4 years and below experience neglect and fatalities. These children are susceptible because of their young age, dependence, small size, and the helplessness (Widom, Sally, & Mary, 2014) . In fact, a child who is handicapped, or has some physical or mental disorders, or any form of illness becomes more vulnerable to neglect than the others. There are many consequences of abused children. The child may lose his or her sense of inquisitiveness of the world and will seize exploring new ideas and attempting new things. The child may never attain his or her intellectual capacity. The psychological damaging that results from neglect affect a child’s self-esteem, and his potential to initiate healthy relationships or function at home, school and work. A child that is abused by his or her primary guardian may not forsake the most elementary relationship, that he or she resorts to have safety elsewhere. They will shift their attention to the person responsible for their care and is satisfying their physical and psychological needs.
The records of the U.S Department of Justice indicate that 14.4 percent of all men in prison in the country underwent abuse as child and 38 percent of women went through some type of abuse as a child. The department also realized that children who were abused have a high probability of being arrested and 30 percent are more likely to be involved in crimes (Dean, 2017). It is also determined that children who are abused are 25 percent more expected to go through pregnancies and also three times less expected to engage in safe sex ( Van der Kolk, 2017) . Abused children may repeat the same trend of abuse when they become adults. Although, most of the time they do not do it deliberately. Conversely, many adults who survived abuse have a strong sense of protecting their children against the experiences they went through and have a likelihood of becoming better parents.
Conclusion
All kinds of child abuse and neglect and their impacts are long-lasting and destructive. Child abuse should be viewed just beyond broken bones and having bruises. Either emotional or physical abuse will result into a psychological scarring that has long-term impacts. Even if the bruises heal, emotional and psychological scars and pain may not be easily dealt with. A lot of mitigation programs and sensitization should be done so that the rates of child abuse do not continue to be a critical problem in our society.
References
Christian, C. W., & Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect. (2015). The evaluation of suspected child physical abuse. Pediatrics , 135 (5), e1337-e1354.
Dean, A. (2017). Child abuse and neglect. Mental Health Practice , 21 (4), 12-12.
Van der Kolk, B. A. (2017). This Issue: Child Abuse & Victimization. Psychiatric Annals , 35 (5), 374-378.
Widom, C., Sally, C., & Mary, A. (2014) "Child abuse and neglect and intimate partner violence victimization and perpetration: A prospective investigation." Child abuse & neglect 38(4), 650-663.
Young, J. C., & Widom, C. S. (2014). Long-term effects of child abuse and neglect on emotion processing in adulthood. Child abuse & neglect , 38 (8), 1369-1381.
