The Effects of Child Abuse - Essay Example

Child Abuse: The Effects Introduction Child abuse refers to an act or a sustained series of acts of either omission or commissionby an identifiable caregiver such as a parent, guardian or teachers that cause harm to children. Such harms can both be physical or psychological and therefore impair the development of the child. Examples of child abuses include sexual aggression, physical abuse, and neglect of the children or emotional maltreatments (Carnes, Kuo, Sheridan & Springer, 2003). All the abuses listed above have a potential of causing substantial psychological effects on the children thus impairing their growth and development in the society. Child abuses occur at any level of the society including at home, at school or any other social place where the children interact with the rest of the society. The effects of abuse last long thus causing permanent interference with the psychological development of such children. This validates the claim that children who are victims of abuse, molestation and exploitation will grow to attain negative psychological discrepancies and outstanding trauma in result as discussed in the essay below. The early developmental stages in a human life are always very important since it is at such stages that people develop attachments are require the psychological and material support of those around them such as family and relatives. Children develop strong attachments to their parents among those close to them such as teachers and caregivers. The trust facilitates faster growth and development of the children as they interact and derive social values from the society. Several personality theorists including Erik Erikson and Sigmund Freud all concur that childhood is an important stage of human development. In their different theories, the two psychologists explain the essence of the interaction with the society at the early stages of childhood. Erik Erikson divides human growth and personality development into several stages based on the age in his stage theory of personality development. Each stage presents specific challenges that a human must overcome successfully before proceeding to the next. Seamless transition from a stage to another thus results in a definite growth pattern. Failure to overcome the challenges at a stage impairs the growth and personality of the individual since the effects of such overcome challenges portray themselves later in the course of the human life. This theory becomes very instrumental in explaining the effects of child abuse in the children since as research portray, children rarely overcome the psychological effects of child abuse and even into their adulthoods, the memories of the abuse and molestations affect their relationship with the rest of the society and even their own children. The four main forms of child abuse in the modern society include sexual molestation, neglect, physical and psychological abuses. Each of these has diverse effects on the children and impairs their growth and development relatively. In western countries, the governments make it a priority to curb such actions and even remove the children from the custody of their biological parents in an attempt to offer them safe and secure living. Sexual abuse is one of the most prevalent form of child abuse in the modern society. Sexual abuse refers to a case in which an adult or an adolescent exposes a child to several abuses that seek to gain them sexual stimulation. These would include exposing children to explicit content, raping children or even forcefully introducing children into sex slavery. In sex slavery, an adult employs a child to have sexual relations with grown men thus deriving financial benefits from such illicit engagements. Sexual molestation is among the most heinous of crimes and forms of child abuses. Sexually abused children offer suffer prolonged side effects depending on the nature and extent of the abuse. Children have underdevelopment mental and psychological features. Their conceptualization of such acts of aggressions is therefore limited to their exposure and maturity. The effects of such abuses are both physical and psychological. Rape often results in physical extensive injury of the children owing to the fact that the children have underdeveloped genitals. The forceful entry of the sexual organs thus results in extensive tissue damages that often result in death of the children. Besides such evident physical injuries, the children also suffer extensive psychological injuries. Among the most common effects of rape, include self-blame. The victims of rape always believe it is their fault and live a life full of blame, which affect their trust on the people they later interact with in life. Female rape victims always have a difficulty trusting men later in life am occurrence that impairs their maturity as they exhibit reserve approach to dating and marriage. Rape victims also suffer from guilt, insomnia, flashbacks, and any other thing related to the ordeal. Such things as smell, objects and visits to the doctor often remind them of the ordeal and they tend to refrain from such. Additionally, rape victims may equally suffer from sexual dysfunctions and self-injury (Lewis, Loeb, Rodriguez, Rosado & Shaw, 2000). Most of these effects are psychological and therefore portray the extent of psychological damage that sexual abuse may have on their victims. The effects are even worse on children who have underdeveloped features capable of withstanding the psychological trauma. Some children face prolonged exposure to sexual abuse, such children thus grows to assume that it is the normal way of growing up in the society. As they grow, they therefore develop misconstrued realities a fundamental feature that affects their relationship with their peers among others they interact with in the society. The effects of their prolonged exposure thus overwhelm them when they eventually realize that they are different and their view to reality is indeed subjective. Such children thus become poor friend while others often become perpetrators of similar violence to either their children or any other child they interact with in the society (Starr, 1979). Additionally, they develop mistrust to adults, as they possess reserved dispositions to anyone who reminds them of their ordeals. It is equally factual that such children often have shorter lifespans. The children risk acquiring sexually transmitted infections, which claim their lives at tender ages. However, those lucky enough to escape with infections suffer heightened psychological trauma thereafter thus impairing their mental stability, growth and development of other psychological and physical body features. Gabora, Joab & Spanos, (1993) explain that emotional or psychological abuse is yet another form of child abuse that has long lasting effects on the psychological development of children. Such abuses include yelling at the children, harsh criticisms, rude attitude and vilification of their personalities among many other forms of non-physical abuses. Caregivers often have diverse personalities and their interaction with the children depend on their psychological stability. At times, a parent or a teacher may offer very harsh criticism of a child’s behavior coupled with strong abusive terms. Such actions cause long lasting negative impressions on the children since they are criticism on their personalities. The ego is a vital aspect of human growth that Sigmund Freud explains in his psychological development theory. The ego dictates human actions and demands. Harsh criticism to the ego often has far-reaching effects on the development of the individuals since they feel belittled (Black, Heyman & Smith, 2001). Victims of psychological abuse often exhibit withdrawal from the rest of the society. They restrain their interaction with their peers and often internalize the abusive words. Extensive exposure to such maltreatments often results in the children fighting back by abusing their assaulters. This way, the children acquire the negative personalities and have a higher likelihood of becoming abusers later in life. in most cases, by fighting back the children initiate violence as thus resulting in physical abuse as their assaulters who are always adults launch scathing physical attack through beating. Neglect is an equally widespread form of child abuse that may cause lasting psychological discrepancies, as the children feel unwanted by their societies. Another more prevalent form of child abuse is physical abuse. This refers to any form of aggression that present a potential physical injuries or even death of the children. Any action that may therefore result in broken bones, burns, lacerations, scratches and bruises among other is considered a physical abuse. Such may occur at home as parents and guardians punish their children or at school as teachers punish the students. Most countries in the west have banned corporal punishments and have dedicated hotline numbers to help curb the spread and prevalence of physical abuse to children (Clarke, Gould, Harvey, Heim, Majer & Nemeroff, 2012). Exposure to such abuses also has extensive psychological and physical effects on the children. Key among such is the physical tissue damage. Just as explained earlier children have underdeveloped body tissues and organs. Extensive and uncontrolled physical aggression can therefore result in the damage of such tissues and breakage of bones. Through such, the children often suffer extensive pain that cause them both physical and psychological trauma. The effects of such extensive injuries therefore last long and affect their development and personality traits they acquire later in life (Cicchetti, Hornung, Pollak & Reed, 2000). Among the common effects of physical abuse to children, include broken trust. Children often trust their teachers and parents among other close caregivers (Rasch & Wagner, 1989). They develop very strong attachments to such people that the subsequent injuries resulting from the physical abuses destroy their trust both to such people and to the rest of the society. Some children have violent parents who besides having constant squabbles in the house often include the children in such and therefore extend them into the violence. Such children suffer from extensive damage on their self-esteem. They acquire low self-esteem that affects their subsequent relationships with the rest of the society including their own children and spouses. In retrospect, such physical abuses as humiliations, slaps in the face, spanks and beatings have long lasting psychological effects on the children since they injure both their dignity and integrity. In brief, child abuses are vices that deter the creation of cohesive societies and the effective development of personalities. The effects of child abuse last long and just as explained by Erik Erikson in his theory of development often affect subsequent growth stages of the victims. Reference Black, D., Heyman, R., & Smith, A. (2001). Risk factors for child psychological abuse. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 6(2-3), 189-201. Retrieved from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359178900000227 Carnes, M., Kuo, D., Sheridan, J., & Springer, K. (2003). The long-term health outcomes of childhood abuse: an overview and a call to action. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 18(10), 864-870. Retrieved from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1494926/#__ffn_sectitle Cicchetti, D., Hornung, K., Pollak, S., & Reed, A. (2000). Recognizing emotion in faces: developmental effects of child abuse and neglect. Developmental Psychology, 36(5), 679- 688. Retrieved from: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=fa356cc5-9796-4ba2- b059- 30a5eb08a803%40sessionmgr15&vid=1&hid=18&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLHVyb CZzaXRlPWVob3N0LWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#db=pdh&AN=2000- 15399-012 Clarke, J., Gould, F., Harvey, P., Heim, C., Majer, M., & Nemeroff, C. (2012). The effects of child abuse and neglect on cognitive functioning in adulthood. 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Retrieved from: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=08400750-ff7b-48ba-800f- 4a2c4c6eb72c%40sessionmgr4&vid=1&hid=18&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLHVybC ZzaXRlPWVob3N0LWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#db=s3h&AN=6390802 Starr, R. (1979). Child abuse. American Psychologist, 34(10, 872-878. Retrieved from: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=84e85067-02ce-46a1-96b8- 846040bffa6d%40sessionmgr13&vid=1&hid=18&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLHVybC ZzaXRlPWVob3N0LWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#db=pdh&AN=1980- 09921-001 Read More