Child Abuse And Neglect Essay Example

of their children and is associated with aggression.

The majority of fatalities resulting from physical abuse are associated with the father or male caregiver. ” (Francis & Wolfe, 2008) However, mothers or female caregivers make up a percentage of abusers as well. Mental health concerns, particularly, a history of substance abuse and violent behavior has been identified as risk factors in fathers or male caregivers. One study that was done showed that a “history of substance abuse or dependence was identified in 85% of the males sampled and three quarters had a history of having police involvement due to violent behavior”. (Francis & Wolfe, 2008)

Research has also shown that “children born to adolescent mothers are also at risk of being abused or neglected”. (Lounds, Borkowski & Whitman, 2006) Children born to adolescent mothers are likely to experience more adverse developmental outcomes than children born to adult mothers, including delays in intellectual, linguistic and visual-motor functioning as well as academic readiness and performance during elementary years. “Higher levels or academic and behavioral problems are typically reported during adolescents, with more than 50% of children born to teen mothers repeating a grade prior to age 17. (Lounds, Borkowski & Whitman, 2006) Adolescent mothers are defined as being “younger than 20 at birth of the first child and the vast majority live in conditions at or below the poverty line. ” (Lounds, Borkowski & Whitman, 2006) There are several factors relating to the abused or neglected child. There are risk factors associated with the characteristic of the child, factors associated with the home environment and factors that relate to the traits of the abuser.

According to (Connell-Carrick & Scannapieco, 2006),

“children with families with at least one child aged 0 to 36 months who had a substantiated case of child neglect were identified as being more vulnerable. The more vulnerable the child, the more likely that the child was neglected. Children younger than three years of age are unable to protect themselves and must rely on caregivers. ” Children that live in homes with environmental stressors such as overcrowding, unsanitary surroundings or hazardous conditions are also at risk.

According to research, it has been distinguished that “children from lower income families are were more likely to be neglected than children from families with higher incomes. ” (Slack, Holl, McDaniel, Yoo & Bolger, 2004) Among low income families, research has shown that abused and neglected children receive poorer quality parenting than non maltreated children. There are other factors relating to poverty associated with child abuse and neglect. Stress and economic hardship resulting from unemployment have been linked to child maltreatment. Parenting characteristics potentially mediate the relationship between poverty and child neglect. Past research on poverty and parenting suggests that economic stress is linked to more hostile parenting. ” (Slack, Holl, McDaniel, Yoo & Bolger, 2004) Research also suggests that “harsh or abusive parenting is associated with adolescent and adult depression. ” (Stuewig & McCloskey, 2005)

The abuser usually has little or no knowledge about child development and a child’s needs, and have unrealistic expectations of children. Adults who were abused as children also are at risk of abusing their own child. Caregivers who were substantiated for child abuse and neglect were also found to have a history of depression, attempted suicides, and impairment in mental capacity. ” (Connell-Carrick

& Scannapieco, 2006) Research has shown that child abuse and neglect can affect a child’s cognitive, motor, language, social-emotional skills and their overall physical health. Teen mothers especially, are less focused on teaching adjustment and socialization skills to their children because they are dealing with high levels of stress or do not possess mature social-emotional skills themselves.

Neglected children may learn that to receive attention from the neglectful parent and have their basic needs met, it is normal for them to act out. Abused children are also more likely to have mental health concerns and educational problems, during school age years into the teen years. Adults that were abused or neglected as children, may experience problems such as difficulties obtaining and keeping a job, difficulty with intimate relationships and public health concerns. Neglected children face a multitude of risk factors known to impair normal development, such as poverty, serious care giving deficits, parental psychopathology, substance abuse, homelessness, family breakup and poor prenatal and postnatal care. ” (Hildyard & Wolfe, 2002) Infancy through preschool age is a very important part of a child’s life. This is the period of a child’s life when development is crucial. “Parenting during the first months of life is believed to be crucial to cognitive, social and emotional development.

Infants who are well cared for by warm, supportive caretakers are more attached to their parents, more socially responsive to others, and more successful at meeting life’s challenges. ” (Combs-Orme, Wilson, Cain, Page and Kirby, 2003) Parents must be responsive to the needs of their infant and respond to cries. A parent must perceive and interpret those signals when an infant is in distress

and respond appropriately. Parents must be able to distinguish between a hungry cry and a cry that the child is suffering from a discomfort. Language and gross and fine motor development is a very critical part of infancy as well.

Research has proven that “10% of infants born to adolescent mothers could potentially be diagnosed as mildly mentally retarded prior to adolescence, a rate that is three times greater than for the population as a whole. ” (Lounds, Borkowski & Whitman, 2006) Early language stimulation is important because it supports children’s language development, which in turn, affects school readiness. Research has shown that “the amount and quality of language that children are exposed to in early development, is related to children’s later language development and academic success. (McGowan, Smith, Noria, Culpepper, Borkowski et al, 2008) Talking to infants and using gestures, such as pointing, talking about objects in the environment, are also useful to encourage language development. Research also indicates, children that were abused or neglected also developed expressive and receptive language delays during their preschool years, often leading to speech therapy to attempt to correct the speech and language issues. The abused or neglected infant usually does not have any type of stimulation.

They often lack interaction with parents or other family members, and do not have experiences outside of the home, toys, affection or positive response by caretakers to their needs. Abused and neglected children often have a lack of stimulation, which leads to other developmental issues in a child. A lack of stimulation can also cause cognitive, social, emotional and behavioral, gross and fine motor issues or delays and self help skills. Parents who

allow their young children to watch television frequently are more likely to be associated with child abuse and neglect.

This may be due to the fact, that television is an indication of less and lower parent-child interactions. Another possibility may be because some parents may use television as a substitute for supervision and may leave the child unattended or alone. Research also suggests that frequent television viewing for young children may be a parents “outlet” because it may offer the mother “a break” from a demanding or stressful situation. Children around the age of 24 months, with a history of child abuse and neglect will more than likely have cognitive delays, which will lead to academic failure in school.

Children in this age group were less enthusiastic; more frustrated and had challenge with problem solving skills. According to (Hildyard & Wolfe, 2002), by kindergarten “neglected children’s performance on standardized tests of intellectual functioning and academic achievement were the lowest of all the groups. Children who also received inadequate care scored lower on IQ tests than those that were not abused or neglected. Abused or neglected infants and preschoolers are more likely to experience insecure attachments to the caregivers.

They may also lack an organized attachment strategy or a disorganized attachment. “Attachment theorists have proposed that for disorganized infants, the parent is at the same time, the source for danger or harm itself. ” (Hildyard & Wolfe, 2002) “The attachment bond has three key elements: enduring an emotional relationship with a specific person, the presence of that person provides a sense of safety, comfort and pleasure and the loss or threat of loss of that person evokes intense distress.

(Putman, 2006) Preschoolers often have a negative representation of themselves, and feel that they are unworthy of love and often feel rejected. Preschool children tend to be socially withdrawn and isolated during play with peers. Neglected preschoolers have lower participation in group time activities at school or in daycare. Abused or neglected preschoolers tend to be more uncooperative and noncompliant than peers that were not abused. They also lack coping skills and appear to be unhappy. Gross and fine motor skills are an important part of development as well.

Giving a child the chance to move around to explore their environment and using their hands to touch and feel different textures, is a way to give a child a chance to learn about their surroundings. The lack of gross and fine motor skills also creates issues with a child’s adaptive or self help skills when they are older. A child may have issues with feeding, dressing and toileting, if they are not allowed to explore their environment as a toddler. School aged children and adolescents that are abused or neglected at an early age, also have difficulties in their development.

They may have difficulties with their cognitive development, may experience social, emotional and behavioral problems. The same problems in infancy and the preschool years will follow a child through their school aged and adolescent years. Abused or neglected adolescents may have difficulty coping with the demands of schools, may have negative representations of themselves and may experience social and behavioral problems. Adolescents that have a history of abuse or neglect scored lower on standardized tests, tended to be inattentive and uninvolved with the learning process.

Studies show that

abused or neglected children scored lower in language and reading. “Shameful feelings may be one result of the secretive and hidden nature of abuse. ” (Stuewig & McCloskey, 2005) In the adolescent years, children that have been abused, continue to have a negative representation of themselves and continue to feel unloved and rejected. When parents are harsh to their children, they tend to be rejecting toward those children as adolescents. When a person is rejected they tend to feel rejected which affects a child’s tendency to experience feeling of shame and guilt.

They form a more negative view of the social world and had difficulty solving problems within their relationships. They experience social difficulties, are usually withdrawn and avoid interacting with peers. The school aged or adolescent child that was abused or neglected during their infant or preschool years are more likely to run away from home. In 1995, a nationwide survey was conducted in the United States and there were 587 runaway and homeless adolescents. Girls that were sexually abused and neglected usually turned to prostitution. Neglected girls are also characterized by more internalizing problems relative to neglected boys, whereas neglected boys are more likely to experience externalizing problems compared to neglected girls. ” (Lounds, Borkowski & Whitman, 2006) Abused adolescents were also at risk for delinquent behavior, adult criminal behavior and violent criminal behavior. Adolescents that were abused as children were four times as likely to develop personality disorders, by the time they were in their adult years. Adults that were abused or neglected as children, usually go through some of the same things as they did in their adolescent years.

According to research, adults

that were abused or neglected as children, also have difficulties forming intimate relationships. According to (Colman & Widom, 2004), “women who report a history of childhood abuse feel more isolated and distrustful and fearful of others. Women are also less likely to have marital involvement. Women that were abused as children, tend to report dissatisfaction during intimate relationships and if they are married, experience more infidelity, separation and divorce. Adult males with a history of abuse and neglect are more likely to engage in violence towards intimate partners and family members. Effective parenting during the early years plays a major role in the reduction of the number of substantiated cases each year. “Parents receiving welfare tend to have more authoritarian parenting styles and parents living below the poverty line are less physically affectionate towards their children and are more likely to spank their children than parents with incomes above the poverty line. ” (Slack, Holl, McDaniel, Yoo & Bolger, 2004) Neglectful parents exhibit less empathy, have poor supervision skills and have less frequent and lower quality interactions with their child.

Infancy, which is the most critical year of life, has some specific aspects that must be provided from the parent or caretaker, however all life stages are critical to a child’s development and for positive outcomes when they become adults. According to (Combs-Orme, Wilson, Cain, Page & Kirby, 2003), there are some parenting behaviors that are specific to infants. Table 1 Parenting Behaviors Specific to Infants FoodInfants must be provided with enough calories to sustain growth and development. Food must be appropriate for an infant’s digestive system.

Clothing and personal hygieneClothing should be dry, appropriate for the

weather and in good repair. Infants’ bodies should be clean and well groomed. SupervisionInfants should be supervised by the constant presence of caretaker. Protection from harmInfants’ homes and physical environments should be free of hazards and should be protected to reduce injuries and to protect them from harmful individuals. Substitute caregiversInfant’s caregiver should be mature, capable and willing to provide care for the child and have the ability to handle emergencies.

Health Care and related servicesInfants should receive immediate medical care as needed, medications if necessary, and other needed services for healthy development. Interaction with parentsInfants should receive daily, consistent verbal and physical interaction. Interaction with others Infants should receive interactions with people other than the parents. Experiences outside the homeInfants should receive frequent experiences outside the home. Toys and resourcesInfants should have developmentally appropriate toys and resources for learning.

Physical AffectionInfants should receive frequent affection, which should be culturally appropriate. Conclusion Child abuse and neglect and the long term effects that it has on one’s development from infancy to adulthood, is an important issue because of the complexity of the types of abuse, traits of the victim and the abuser, familial and environmental factors that exist, as well as why abuse occurs. Extensive research has been done and is readily available about this topic, however strategies for prevention in communities is a new issue that needs to be addressed.

Prevention and intervention is difficult due to lack of child protective workers, because of lack of funding and varying laws and policies from state to state. “Neglect is preventable through increasing public awareness and encouraging parental education. Knowing that families in poverty are at risk for neglecting their

children, an overall prevention goal would be increased availability of services for families in need. ” (Tyler, Allison & Winsler, 2006) In conclusion, research has proven that child abuse and neglect has detrimental long term effects and consequences on children from infancy to adulthood.

Every year approximately one million infants, children and adolescents are victims of child abuse and neglect. The abuse is contributed to several factors, including, but not limited to, poverty, serious care giving deficits, parental psychopathology, substance abuse, homelessness, family breakup and poor prenatal and postnatal care and environmental stressors such as overcrowded and unsanitary housing or hazardous conditions and lack of effective parenting skills. A future solution to this problem would be to educate parents and the community about strategies for intervention and prevention.

Agencies need be willing to intervene early on to help prevent abuse and neglect from occurring. Human service workers that are mandated to report suspected cases of abuse and neglect must report these cases to local officials. If the cases are substantiated or unsubstantiated, reporting can help make a difference in the lives of our children. For the abusive fathers or male caregiver, therapeutic assistance and various treatment approaches must be used to assist them. Treatment approaches must recognize the multiple mental health and trauma histories of the men.

Other strategies that could be used are interviewing techniques “designed to encourage them to examine their views, attitudes and expectations of children and to improve their responses to typical childrearing situations. ” (Francis & Wolfe, 2008) “Prevention programs can be highly effective in reducing the incidence of child abuse and neglect. However, until policy makers and the general public demand better

services for maltreated children and their families, this tragic legacy will continue across future generations. ” (Putman, 2006)

References

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