The Impact of Sexual Abuse on a Child - Research Paper Example

The Impact of Sexual Abuse on a Child and the Childs Family and Appropriate Treatment for the Child and the Childs Family TheImpact of Sexual Abuse on a Child and the Childs Family and Appropriate Treatment for the Child and the Childs Family This paper explores the issues that are involved in the issues of sexual child abuse. This is through elaborating on the ways that children are sexually abused and the impact of the act to both the victim and their family. The paper also seeks to find the possible ways of preventing a child from this problem and treating the victim who have already affected by the issue. According to American Psychological Association, sexual abuse involves the actions done by an adult or older child to the young children involving body contact, exposing of the genitals to them and pressuring them to have sex. The use of a child in pornography videos is also regarded to as an abuse (2012). Towards the extreme end of the case, it involves sexual intercourse with the child with or without his or her consent. Therefore, child sexual abuse can be regarded as the act of coercing a child into sexual activities. There have been complications involved in dealing with this issue, since the child abuse has difficulties involved in solving, because of inadequate awareness of the things that constitute to the act of the abuse. There have been numerous initiatives, from the mental health and child protection professionals to reduce the problem since it is becoming common in the society. There have been very many cases of child sexual abuse both locally and internationally. This is an indication of the level of immorality in the society that is resulting to the insecurity to children in society. This is more accelerated by the use of drugs and exposure to other immoral materials like the pornographic materials that create the incentive of doing these things. Child sexual abuse results to an impact of there being no apparent effect to others that are very severe. There are those children who are involved in an abuse by family members with a high level of physical force (Wyatt and Mickey, 1987). This results to separation anxiety to posttraumatic stress disorder. Various effects result from the child from the act the sexual abuse includes fear. The child who is sexually abused often has a feeling that they have wronged someone and that they are subject to family rejection. Others have the fear of having to cause problems to the parents if they report the case due to the reaction of the parents. This is in terms of the parents doing something to the offender that would send them to jail. The child may also be afraid of the offender since they are likely to threaten the child in order for them not to report the case. The threats could be killing the victim or the family members and sometimes the things that the kid cares about like pets. The other feeling that the child experience is the guilt or shame due to the occurrence of the act. American Psychological Association argues that children are bound to blame themselves and feeling as if they are the reason why the act happened to them. The offenders telling the child that, if their parents would not love them any longer after finding out that they have been involved in sexual activities can facilitate this. This leads to a feeling of guilt and that hinders the victim from reporting about the issue (2012). This may also bring a depression to the child by the fact of believing that everybody is aware of his or her being sexually abused. This brings a feeling of being different from the others. It makes them feel that they are less and disadvantaged through the feeling of being used (Wyatt and Mickey, 1987). Other cases the abuse may also bring about confusion. This in the situation where there is no violence or force involved. The child due to his or her naivety, my like the event only later to realize that it is against the law. The parents are bound to have the feeling of failing to protect their children. This so often followed with an emotional trauma after being aware of the incidence that happened to their children. According to Fergusson, Lynskey and Horwood, this reaction may include the embarrassment, confusion, anger, shock, isolation, shame and responsibility. The problem may also lead to financial difficulties to the families. This is through the attempts of dealing with the needs and the medication of the victim (1996). Wyatt and Mickey argue that, the victims of the sexual abuse are also subjected to stressors with difficult conditions in their lives. The abuse and the following effect are a part of the victim’s experience and subsequent behaviors. It is in rare cases that there is a physical evidence of the abuse thus it calls for a complex diagnosing process. Therefore, professional health practitioner need to be consulted (1987). According to American Psychological Association, girls have a more preference of being sexually abused than boys. This is regardless of their race, economic status or culture. All of the victims have equal exposure to the risk. There have been numerous researches in the criminal justice systems and clinical mental health clinics of the cases involving the cases of child sexual abuse (2012). According to the findings, many of the cases involved sexual offenders being part of the family or those that know the child. The cases of strangers committing the act are not as common as the family members are. The research also indicated that men are the common sexual offenders. However, there are also cases where women are also sexual offenders. State of Alaska Department of Law-Criminal Division Victim-Witness Assistance Program argues that the heterosexual men are more likely to be offenders than the homosexuals are. There are both short and long-term effects of psychological and behavioral problems suffered by those who have been offended. The problems are both severe and mild depending on both the nature of the individual and conditions of the act. There are other problems that include sexual dysfunction, withdrawal and acting out. These behaviors depend on the severity of the incidence (2008). There are things that can act as an indication in order to determine whether the children have been sexually abused. These cues include inappropriate sexual knowledge sexual acting out by children and sexual interest. Friedrich, Beilke and Urquize, argue that, the short-term effects can last to a minimum of two years after the termination of the sexual abuse. The effects may also vary depending on the stage of the child and may result to things like poor performance in school, eating problems, failing to participate in school activities and sleep disturbance (1987). According to Fergusson, Lynskey and Horwood, there are other regressive behaviors include bed-wetting or thumb sucking. However, the worst thing about it is that the incidence can affect the child up to the adulthood. This involves depression even in their adulthood, self-destruction, engaging into activities like alcoholism or drug abuse and high levels of anxiety (1996). The problem may also lead to the victim having relationship problems and their adult sexual functioning. According to Peters there are also cases of the sexual abuse reoccurring again in the future of the child who have been sexually abused (1988). In other words, the effects of the sexual abuse are wide ranging that is beginning for the time that the incidence occurs to rest of the life of the individual. However, there are no actual symptoms to identify that an individual has been sexually abused. Other children manage to deny the feelings through a coping mechanism; others are not able to express their emotions while others show no psychological distress resulting from the incidence. American Psychological Association, there have been researches aimed at establishing the factors that could reduce the impact of abuse. The factors determine the impacts of the abuse are like the relationship of the child to the abuser and the age of the child at the time of the occurrence of the act (2012). The others are the level of force and violence used and the intrusiveness of the abuser. Other things affect the short- and long-term consequences of the occurrence of the abuse. This includes the child interpretation of the abuser and the time that the child takes before they report the issue. According to Peters, Some children who are victims of the abuse suffer fewer traumas than others do. Especially if, the children are in a confined with a trusted adult since they can share the issue with them and find the solution of the issue (1988). The children that report the abuse as soon as it happens stand to suffer fewer traumas than others do who decide to live with it for a long period. According to Friedrich, Beilke and Urquize, after the occurrence of the incidence, there are ways in which the victim seeks to recover for the problem. This is through the family support, spiritual support, high self-esteem and extra-familial support. This support seeks to assist the victim to relinquish the guilt that they have about the abuse (1987). The victims should be encouraged to attend seminal and conferences that discuss the issue of child sexual abuse. They should also be encouraged to read about the cases of sexual abuse. They should also be encouraged to take psychotherapy as a way of recovering from the trauma, and to have a normal life again. Often the passage of time will have any effect to the victim in numerous instances there effect remain with the victim for long duration in their lives. According to State of Alaska Department of Law-Criminal Division Victim-Witness Assistance Program (2008), children who are affected by the sexual abuse need to undergo numerous sessions of counseling, from other supportive services. This would help them to deal with the issue and give the child the guidelines that would help them avoid the occurrence of the incident again in their lives. The children need help especially the maternal or family functioning may be considered very effective for facilitating the recovery of the child. In case the abuser the abuser was not a family member, warning the child against talking to strangers is not the appropriate advice. Bagley and Ramsey explain that it is because the offenders are likely to be those that know the family of child well enough. Most of the offenders are also known by the victim’s family and the victim. It is advisable not to instruct the children not to show affection to their relatives by either giving hugs or kisses. It is better that they are adviced to show them affection in their own way (1986). According to Greenwald, Leitenberg, Cado, and Tarran, it is advisable for a parent to have talks with their children about sexuality. In case the parent is not comfortable, they may seek help from a health professional (1990). In order to teach them basic sexual education that can help them understand it in a broad dimension, American Psychological Association argues that, through this education, they are made aware that no one has the permission of touching their private parts. The parent should also develop a reliable communication skill with the children (2012). This involves encouraging them to ask any question they want answered. This will facilitate the openness form the children that will enable them to communicate in case of the occurrence of a problem to them. Bagley and Ramsey argues that, it builds the personality of the child in order to develop them to attaining good self-esteem that would enable them to deal with the situations like sexual abuse (1986). The children should be encouraged to report any incidence that happens to them in which they felt offended either in school at home. They should be advised to do so immediately. They should be made to understand that any forms of sexual advances with an adult are against the law since they amount abuse. They should be given the confidence sufficient for self-asserting in case any adult had intentions to abuse them. As a parent, one should ensure that they are aware of friends that their child interacts with and the family member of those friends. Make the child understand the risk involved in getting to secreted places with adults. They should identify the places like getting into a car or a place that there is no other person of who they may know or not know. Bagley and Ramsey argued that, the children should be made to understand that they have the entire possession over their own body (1986). However, they should be advised not to be in contact with those individuals that they do not feel comfortable. It is a fact that the children do not have to be coerced to sexual activity through force or violence. They can comply with what they are asked to do without their resistance in order for them to gain love or approval. Conclusively, the child sexual abuse is a broad issue that needs to be extensively approached. The most significant thing is to find ways to prevent it from happening other than treating. This can be done through ensuring that the child is made to understand the issue about the sexual abuse. This is in terms of all forms of abuse in with also making them understand the consequences involved after the incidence. This can make them be very cautious when dealing with various individuals, since it is not always that the parent will be available to safeguard the child. Therefore, they should understand sexual abuse is against the law. References American Psychological Association. (2012). Understanding Child Sexual Abuse: Education, Prevention, and Recovery. Retrieved on Feb 16 2012 from < http://www.apa.org/pubs/info/brochures/sex-abuse.aspx#> State of Alaska Department of Law-Criminal Division Victim-Witness Assistance Program. (2008). Child Sexual Abuse: What Families Should Know about Child Sexual Abuse? Retrieved on Feb 16 2012 from < http://www.ridalaskaofchildabuse.org/CSA.html> Bagley, C. and Ramsey, R. (1986), Sexual abuse in childhood: psychological outcomes and implications for social work practice, Journal of Social Work and Human Sexuality. New York. Print Fergusson, D. M., Lynskey M. T., and Horwood, L. J. (1996), Childhood sexual abuse and psychiatric disorders in young adulthood: Part I: The prevalence of sexual abuse and the factors associated with sexual abuse, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, vol. 35, pp. 1355 - 1365. Friedrich, W. N., Beilke, R. and Urquize, A. J. (1987), Children from sexually abusive families: a behavioral comparison, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, vol. 2, pp. 391 - 402. Greenwald, E., Leitenberg, H., Cado, S. and Tarran, M. J. (1990), Childhood sexual abuse: long-term effects on psychological and sexual functioning in a nonclinical and nonstudent sample of adult women, Child Abuse and Neglect, vol. 14, pp. 503-413. New York. Print Peters, S. D. (1988), Child sexual abuse and later psychological problems, in G. Wyatt and G. Powell (eds), Lasting Effects of Child Sexual Abuse, California Sage, Newbury. Atlanta. Print Wyatt, G. E., and Mickey, M. R. (1987), Ameliorating the effects of child sexual abuse: an exploratory study of support by parents and others, Journal of Interpersonal Violence. New York. Print Read More