Psychological Maltreatment of a Child - Term Paper Example

Psychological Maltreatment of a Child Child maltreatment is defined to as “the physical, sexual and emotional abuse, exploitation and neglect of children” (Lusk, 2015, p.vii). It is a prevalent crisis in all societies in the world. According to Lusk (2015), 1 in every 4 children in the world has experienced severe as well as frequent physical abuse. Child sexual abuse is experienced by 1 in every 5 females and 1 in every 11 males (Lusk, 2015). Maltreatment can have adverse effects not only during childhood, but also adolescence as well as throughout adult life. Children who experience abuse or neglect often develop complications with physical and mental health. Some also develop social difficulties later in life. In addition to this, it is apparent that child maltreatment results to excessive stress on the development of the child’s brain. High-risk behaviors in many children such as drug abuse, early sexual practices, and teenage parenting is also as a result of child maltreatment (Lusk, 2015). One of the child maltreatment that is common in school setting is psychological maltreatment of the students. The social costs of this problem include students perceiving school context as perilous environment. In relation to this, the paper aims at expounding on the causes of psychological maltreatment in school setting, risk associated with this problem, and protective factors for this problem. In addition to this, the paper will also expound on the best practices in addressing this crisis. Causes of psychological maltreatment of students According to Aluede (2004), psychological maltreatment is the most wrecking form all the most common types of child abuse (sexual abuse, psychological and physical), because it is associated with traumatic effects in the growth and development of a school child. It is distinguishable from other types of child abuse because it is not diagnosed easily. Unlike other types of abuse, the perpetrator of this type of abuse can abuse many victims at the same time. Although there is little information regarding to the prevalence of psychological maltreatment because of the difficulties associated with carrying a research, its effects have been recognized. According to Aluede (2004), 50 to 60 percent of any group of person claim to have had some school-related experience that resulted to their psychological trauma. Aluede (2004) also claims that incidents of psychological maltreatment in school affect students in high schools. Aluede remarks that the main contributors of psychological maltreatment in classroom are teachers. To justify his assertion, he claims that teachers portray the following behaviors: harassment, labeling (stupid, demagogue, and dummy), verbal put-downs, unpredictable erratic behaviors, yelling at the children until they break down, inappropriate threats in order to control classes, allowing some students to exert punishment on others, punishing students through homework, physical punishment (Aluede, 2004). Victims of psychological maltreatment have also claimed that the following actions by their teachers offend them: humiliations of students in groups or public, name calling, in addition to cursing students together with their families. Other teachers poke fun at not only the students’ appearance, but also abilities. The behavior by the teacher can be occasional and uncommon. However, in some cases it can be repeated as a way of bullying a specific student who has been singled out by one of the teachers (Aluede, 2004). In tandem with this assertion, Aluede provides example of a study that was carried out in Israel. The result of the study showed that 20.9 percent of the sample that was used in the study reported being mocked, humiliated in addition to being insulted by a teacher (Aluede, 2004). Risk factors of psychological maltreatment According to Aduele (2004), the consequences of psychological maltreatment remain glued as one of the characteristics of a child throughout his or her life. In connection with this, it is apparent that victims of psychological maltreatment become incompetent adults; they do not develop to their full potentials. In relation to this, Aduele (2004) warns that students should not be exposed to psychological maltreatment since it not only humiliate, but also dehumanize them. Apart from destroying self-image, the maltreatment makes students hate school. It not only de-motivates, but also discourages them from learning. In addition to these, it deforms their character by not only making them shy, but also confused. Psychological maltreatment disgrace and frighten students. Emotionally abused school child portrays the following symptoms: too much worry about academic performance, shift of self-perception from positive to negative, verbalize fear when talking, excessive crying when told something about school, headaches, inactiveness in social activities outside class, sleep disturbances, and depression. The social effects of psychological maltreatment are very adverse. According to Aluede, Jolly and Ojugo (2009), psychologically abused students develop feelings of inferiority and problems with stabilizing. They also have problems of not only autonomy, but also initiative. They also experience difficulties in making friends in addition to learning on how to cooperate. Additionally, Aluede, Jolly and Ojugo (2009) claim that victims of psychological maltreatment develop problems in completing tasks assigned to them. Other social challenges include negative self in addition to problems with achievement as well as ability. Additionally, a psychologically maltreated child in his or her early life fights with the feelings of shame and doubts. Others experience impaired sense of not only self control, but also guilt and sense of failure. In tandem with Aluede, Jolly and Ojugo (2009) findings, Glaser (2002) also reports a strong correlation of shame with history of psychological maltreatment. Glaser (2002) claims that psychologically maltreated children remain isolated in many opportunities within a school setting in addition to exhibiting withdraw and aggressive behavior. In tandem with this assertion, it is apparent that psychologically maltreated children rarely interact with their friends, and lack a sense of positive effect. Psychological maltreatment has also the potential of impairing with a child’s social development. Apart from resulting to an impaired capability to perceive, it also affects how a child feels, understands as well as expresses emotions. UNICEF (2012) laments psychological maltreatment on student can also lead to severe behavioral effects. According to UNICEF (2012) the main reason why it is crucial to consider psychological maltreatment as a serious problem is because of its impact on the person as well as social practices. The maltreatment is likely to result to behavior and character complications. In addition to this, it has the potential of initiating development of mental illness, and making a person severely handicapped in relating with other people positively. Victims of psychological abuse may demonstrate clearly dissociative identity disorder by denying the existence of others. It is also possible for the victims of this type of abuse to direct a destructive behavior on oneself. For instance, a child may burn, cut, punch, or involve in pain-inducing masturbation (Benbenishty, Zeira & Astor, 2002). Some children may also involve themselves in reckless driving or participating in extreme-risk sexual behaviors like unprotected sex or playing sex with strangers. In addition to this, it is apparent that child maltreatment is associated with juvenile delinquency (Astor & Meyer, 2001). In support of this assertion, it is apparent that psychologically maltreated children are angry and can hit back when angry. They are the ones who often pick fights with their colleagues over small differences. Psychological maltreated school child may find it hard to adjust in school, and as a result, develop strong negative effects that impairs with the learning process. Thus, certain practices within the school setting aimed at reducing school violence may catalyze not only the frequency, but also the severity of violence by this type of a child and its peers (Benbenishty, Zeira & Astor, 2002). Apart from social and behavioral effects, psychological maltreatment has severe emotional effects. It thwarts physiological, safety as well as love needs. It also lowers self-esteem. In other words, it has the potential to impact the development and behavior of a child. According to Hyman’s (1985, as cited in Aduele, 2004), the effects of psychological maltreatment on children schooling in an elementary school can make them shift their positive perception to negative perception about not only their life, but also school. The emotional effects of this type of abuse may also impair with their sleep and make them feel depressed. In children, this type of abuse may also impair with their emotional or psychological development associated with intelligence, recognition, as well as perception. It also affects their attention, imagination in addition to moral development. In addition to this, majority of the psychologically maltreated children start fearing their teacher instead of respecting him or her. The teacher becomes a threatening being that need to be avoided at all costs. Children experiencing this problem are often moody and unwilling to express their feelings (Benbenishty, Zeira & Astor, 2002). Protective factors of psychological maltreatment Protective factors for psychologically maltreated children mainly involve factors that create a friendly environment for not only learning but also interaction. In relation to this assertion, it is apparent that children need to have even temperament that initiates positive responses from others. It is also evident that children love to have affectionate relationship with significant adults who in this case are their teachers. Provision an external support that creates a sense of belonging within them in addition to fostering confidence is also elemental to psychologically maltreated children (Wallace et al., 2008). The best practices in addressing psychological maltreatment crisis In relation to the above paragraph, the best practices in addressing psychological maltreatment involve counseling. It is crucial to counsel the victims of the maltreatment as well as the perpetrators of the maltreatment. In relation to this assertion, Koehler and Strein (2007) asserts that primary prevention which constitutes social skills training, secondary prevention that involves interventions with people at-risk, and tertiary prevention which is associated with people identified with the problem is very crucial. According to them, it is important for the school psychologists to provide psychological services on each student victimized by psychological maltreatment. They further claim that emotional support through counseling will enable victimized children to overcome their adverse conditions. Due to the impact of psychological maltreatment on school children, efforts are put towards eliminating this type of abuse from the educational system. In relation to this, school counselors are regarded the best solution to such cases. Counseling advocacies are also presented to aid school counselors in carrying out their activities. One of the ways employed in bringing about full functionality of the school child is that of the counselors impressing on school management as well as advocating transfer of abusive teachers from their current schools. In tandem with this assertion, Benbenishty, Zeira and Astor (2002) claim that this approach was found effective in Zimbabwe in which abusive teachers were removed from the school. Astor and Meyer (2001) in their writing claim that the main reason for a teacher portraying emotional abusive behaviors is as a result of fear, quest for defense, and lack of confidence. It is also associated with a teacher’s inadequacy in certain areas that make him or her want to dominate in such threatening situation. In this regard, it is crucial for the school counselors to offer support to teachers so that they can not only feel less threatened, but to honestly face their behavior and expose the insecurity and fear making them take ugly defensive measures (Astor & Meyer, 2001). Benbenishty et al. (2002) associate psychological maltreatment with lack of alternative skills. According to them, one of the best ways of solving this problem is via educational counseling in which school counselors will create awareness via conducting public campaigns, organizing seminars and conferences in order to modify the attitude of teachers. School counselors will further facilitate the workshops in which essence of human relations will be taught to teachers. According to Benbenishty et al. (2002), the trainings at the workshop will aid teachers rule out situations that annoy them as well as help them gather skills that will help them do away with inappropriate treatment of children in school. In addition to this, the counselors will inform the teachers about some practices such as scolding, yelling, giving homework as a punishment as the main contributors of the psychological maltreatment of students. It is crucial for the counselors to also advocate immediate report of psychological maltreatment in school setting in order to reduce its occurrence. Another crucial thing that aid reduces psychological maltreatment in school is the introduction of peer-mentorship model. This model helps both veteran and novice teachers to acquire reflective strategies that enable them access the impact of their words and actions that would have resulted to psychological maltreatment. In relation to psychological maltreatment of a child in a school setting, one of the best referral option is to separate the child from the perpetrator. The separation of the child from the perpetrator will aid in the healing process of the child from impacts of the maltreatment. In addition to this, cultural considerations are very crucial in solving this problem. They assist a person diagnose some of the factors necessary in addressing the situation of a child. Follow-up is also very crucial in the treatment of the child’s psychological problems after any type of abuse. When a child is diagnosed of having psychological problems it is important for him or her to be referred to a professional mental health support for assistance. Verbal and emotional support is also very crucial and need to be provided regularly (Glaser, 2002). In conclusion, child maltreatment can have adverse effects during childhood, adolescence as well as throughout adult life. Child maltreatment results to excessive stress on the development of the child’s brain. High-risk behaviors in many children such as drug abuse, early sexual practices, and teenage parenting is also as a result of child maltreatment. The main contributors of psychological maltreatment in classroom are teachers. Teachers portray the following behaviors: harassment, labeling (stupid, demagogue, and dummy), verbal put-downs, unpredictable erratic behaviors, yelling at the children until they break down, inappropriate threats in order to control classes, allowing some students to exert punishment on others, punishing students through homework, physical punishment. One of the practices used in addressing psychological maltreatment involve counseling. Both the perpetrator and the victims of psychological maltreatment need to be counseled. However, the best referral option for psychological maltreatment of a child is to separate the child from the perpetrator. References Aluede O., Jolly, O. & Ojugo, A. (2009). A Psychological Postulation for the Understanding of Classroom Emotional Abuse. European Journal of Educational Studies. Astor, R.A. & Meyer, H.A. (2001). The conceptualization of violence prone school sub-contexts: Is the sum of parts greater than the whole? Urban Education. Benbenishty, R., Zeira, A. & Astor, R. (2002). Children’s report of emotional, physical and sexual maltreatment by educational staff in Israel. Child Abuse & Neglect. Glaser, D. (2002). Emotional abuse and neglect (psychological maltreatment): a conceptual framework. Child Abuse & Neglect. Koehler, J. & Strein, W. (2007). Best Practices in Developing Prevention Strategies for School Psychology Practice. The Charlesworth Group. Retrieved from http://www.education.umd.edu/Academics/Faculty/Bios/facData/CHSE/strein/BestPracti cesforSchoolPsycPrac.pdf. Lusk, V. (2015). Child Maltreatment Identification and Reporting Behavior of School Psychologists. Psychology in the Schools. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pits.21810/pdf UNICEF. (2012). Child Maltreatment: Prevalence, Incidence and Consequences in the East Asia and Pacific Region. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/eapro/Child_Maltreatment.pdf Wallace, A. et al. (2011). The Psychological and Emotional Wellbeing Needs of Children and Young People: Models of Effective Practice in Educational Settings. Retrieved from https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/media/downloads/about-us/statistics-and-research/public- reviews-and-enquiries/school-counselling-services-review/models-of-effective- practice.pdf Read More