Protecting the Health & Well-Being of Our Nation's Children by Kaplan - Article Example

Running Head: PRINT MEDIA ARTICLE ANALYSIS Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code and Name: University: Date Submitted: Print Media Article Analysis Introduction Kaplan, M. A. & Inguanzo, M. M. (2010) Magazine article titled “Protecting the Health & Well-Being of Our Nation's Children: An Eval of Healthy Families America” tackles a monumental issue of the effects of child abuse on the child’s development across America. The article was published in the latest release of the new social worker, and is the base of this discussion on children’s emotional, social or personality development. The paper also incorporates ideas from other researches and professional scientists who have discussed child abuse as an impingement to proper and normal child development. The paper, therefore, looks into child abuse as a vice that challenges normal emotional, social or personality development of a child. The arguments presented in the media article are quite valid basing on the fact that so many authors have develops related arguments from their previous works including case studies, reviews and reports. Child abuse as from the argument of the article is a silent epidemic that devastates and destroys the lives of the US most vulnerable citizens. Children are regarded as vulnerable within the society because they face the wrath of the abusive community and have no say when it comes to seeking for justice. Argyle & Bolton (2005) in their article on the vulnerable groups within the community cited that children and women are highly vulnerable compared to adult men. The children are identified as facing the community where they are less engaged in the community practices and thus increase their vulnerability through segregation. Argyle & Bolton (2005) also noted that child development is subject to substantial elements, and the inter-personal relations are one of them. When children are segregated from the rest of the community, they are faced with challenges of personality development. Orme & Salmon (2002) noted that children need a role model during their development stage, and thus they do not develop their personality in order, when the community segregates them. In this case, Huntsingera & Jose (2009) also looked into the meaning of parental involvement in the schooling of their children in different cultures. Their assertions were that many of the students who prosper in their academic life have well established family backgrounds which are a guide to their learning process. The concept supports the magazine article by Kaplan, M. A. & Inguanzo, M. M. (2010) showing that to protect and guide the children, parents, guardians and all people who are close to these children have a critical role to play. Child abuse has also been noted in the article as a cause of physical and emotional trauma among children in their early adult life. The article notes that this has serious psychosocial consequences in the long term for the individual and society in general. It bases its argument from reports of clinicians in the fields of social work, public health and psychology, who have worked with and studied abused children and their families. Jay, Catania, Pollack, and Stall (2001) works support the arguments from this article. The paper looked into the long-term consequences of sexual abuse among children at their earlier age. The paper titled “understanding childhood sexual abuse as a predictor of sexual risk-taking among men who have sex with men: The Urban Men's Health Study” looked into a study which is quite relevant to the magazine article. It looked into the relationship between childhood Molestation and Adult Sexual Activity. The study looked into the characteristics of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and the prevalence of the same among gays or men who have sex with men (MSM). It, therefore, provided a strong link to sexual risks in adulthood and CSA. The study proposed a model to link sexual risk among MSM in their adulthood and CSA. The study used a telephone probability sample with identified 2881 participants. The study results summarize that one-fifth of the participants who reported to have been victims of CSA also attempted or were active in actual anal intercourse, in their adulthood. The men in this category were presupposed to have a higher likelihood of engaging in high-risk sex, which included unprotected anal intercourse. A multivariate analyses were conducted for the study which indicated that childhood sexual coercion had a strong link with sexual risks mediated for instance by patterns of sexual contacts, substance use, and partner violence. It can, therefore, be generalized that child abuse affects the development of the child in the long term. The article also proclaims that abused children develop learning difficulties. Learning difficulties are evident in a paper by Orme & Salmon (2002). The paper takes a closer look at children in their early age of schooling and how they cope with the respective learning styles. Kaplan, M. A. & Inguanzo, M. M. (2010) noted that children who are victims of abuse have a difficult time in establishing their learning styles and thus they lag behind in the learning process. These children are also noted to lack concentration in classes owing to the trauma that comes along with the abuse. Huntsingera & Jose (2009) in their article on in-depth investigations on child abuse noted that abused children normally show some development difficulties signs in their personality. These children are normally challenged in social relations with the research noting that they tend to be individualistic in nature. The children normally distance themselves in the presence of others and their relationship with others is normally sour and lacks some commitment. From the article, Child abuse has been noted as the highest killer of children among the United States population. It has been noted principally as a potential danger not only affecting emotional, psychological or physical development of the child, but also risking death. The article noted that, from the National mortality statistics reports, it was revealed that over 1,500 children die each year across the country resulting from child abuse and neglect. From the same, it was noted that an estimated 79% of the fatalities occur among under age children specially noting them to be at the age of four and below. The article, therefore, highlights that, this is a disaster which needs urgent attention and which should raise concerns among the involved parties and the government. The same can be justified from the works of Corby, Doig and Roberts (2001) who also have argued that death among under age children has mainly being a resultant feature of abuse among children. The magazine article also noted that mental health in adulthood has significant correlation with earlier childhood abuse. It notes that the country is producing adults who are not morally upright and their mental health shows significant abnormalities. It is clear that child abuse has to be dealt with as from this article because it relates to many other issues within the society which are running out of control and thus creating instability within the society. A close article by Welles, Baker, Miner and Brennan (2009) examines some of the possible consequences of molesting children at their younger age. Their paper was based on a study conducted to assess childhood sexual abuse rates and the demographic of the same. It was also a study on how mental health correlates with earlier childhood sexual molestation among HIV-positive men in their adulthood and those who reported unsafe intercourse with fellow men in the past two years. A cross-sectional analysis was used for this study with baseline data collected from 593 HIV-positive gay men in total. In the results of the study, childhood sexual abuse was highlighted as prominent in 47% of participants with reports of those abused associating with more risky sexual contacts during their adulthood such as unsafe anal intercourse. The conclusions derived from the study argued that childhood sexual abuse history of an individual was prevalent mostly in HIV-positive men engaging in risky sexual behavior, in their adult life. The findings suggested that it is because of childhood sexual abuse that adults associate more with increased risk of sexual behavior that transmits serious infections. The article also supports the concept that there is a need to establish healthy parent-child interactions in the emotional, social, or personality development of a child. It adds that children who do not have regular interactions with their children normally do not experience normal development and do not enjoy positive emotional and physical growth and development. These children normally end up as juveniles or develop villainous characters. The same was noted from the works of Calvin (2001) with the consequences of child neglect being established a heavily correlated with involvement in criminal behaviors. Orme & Salmon (2002) also noted that children who have less contact with their parents are more likely to end up in rehabilitation centers for juvenile conduct or in prisons because of engaging in criminal acts. Burger (2010) noted that they engage in these acts in reaction to the less attention they get in their development. The child seeks to gain attention from the community and they react negatively by engaging in criminal acts to compensate for the inadequate attention they get from the community. The paper has established that in establishing solutions to the consequences emanating from poor child development resulting from abuse, there is a need for the community to establish appropriate strategies. In this case, community programs are established as a solution to train individuals who in turn can understand the best approaches of handling abuse children and facilitate appropriate growth and development. The paper identified that services include food and housing assistance, financial assistance, child care programs, substance abuse treatment programs, job training programs, and medical care services are of requirement in cases where abuse of children is evident. From the paper, it has been highlighted that research indicates that communities, which have engaged in Healthy Families America programs have succeeded in handling child abuse consequences and established appropriate approaches of enhancing normal child development. This is particularly true even in other scholars’ works who argue in favor of establishing programs to handle issues which relate to child abuse and its consequences. Burger (2010) in his latest article noted that most of the families have little ability to handle child development issues. Parents on the same note indicate that they need training to improve their skills in handling child issues and in supporting the prevention of child neglect. The programs are particularly helpful in improving the parents’ skills in handling developmental issues in children particularly the difficulties that children face. From the magazine article, it supports the argument that child abuse is a principal cause of abusive behaviors among children. The article supports the findings of the studies which show that adults who might have been victims of child abuse and neglect particularly during early childhood have a two and half times likelihood of engaging in the abuse of drugs and alcohol and committing crime. The comparison in this article also asserts that tendency to use illicit drugs is higher in victims of child abuse than in other children who are brought up in violence-free environments. The data given in the article is also suggestive that over two thirds of the adults currently undergoing treatment for drug or alcohol addiction collected from recovery programs in the U.S. are said to have a history of child abuse and neglect in their childhood development. From others works by Burger (2010) the same has been reported in that, children who were once victims of abuse develop delinquent behaviors including aggressiveness and abuse of substances in their later adult life. These children normally end up in rehabilitation centers where they are treated for various disorders and illnesses resulting from abuse of substances including drugs and alcohol. Conclusion Kaplan, M. A. & Inguanzo, M. M. (2010) Magazine article titled “Protecting the Health & Well-Being of Our Nation's Children: An Eval of Healthy Families America” tackles a massive issue of the effects of child abuse on the child’s development across America. It reveals that child abuse has severe consequences on the emotional, social, or personality development of a child. In support of this article, others scholars have written on the same topic arguing in favor of the points, issues and ideas raised in this article. The broad argument is that child abuse is a vice and should be controlled adequately and efficiently across the society. References Burger, K. (2010). How does early childhood care and education affect cognitive development? An international review of the effects of early interventions for children from different social backgrounds. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 25(2), 140-165 Calvin, W. (2001). Child abuse and its consequences, in Professor Ted I. K. Young. (Ed.) The Organizational Response to Social Problems (Research in Social Problems and Public Policy, Volume 8), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.363-393 Huntsingera, C. & Jose, P. (2009). Parental involvement in children's schooling: Different meanings in different cultures. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 24(4), 398-410 Corby, B., Doig, A. & Roberts, V. (2001). Public inquiries into abuse of children in residential care. London: Jessica Kingsley. Argyle, E. & Bolton, G. (2005). Art in the community for potentially vulnerable mental health groups. Health Education, 105(5), pp. 340 – 354. Orme, J. & Salmon, D. (2002). Child protection drama in primary school – an effective educational approach? Health Education, 102 (4), p.187 – 196. Kaplan, M. A., Inguanzo, M. M. (2010). “Protecting the Health & Well-Being of Our Nation's Children: An Eval of Healthy Families America.” THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER VOL. 17 No. 4 (Fall 2010). Jay, P., Catania, J., Pollack, L. & Stall, R. (2001). Understanding childhood sexual abuse as a predictor of sexual risk-taking among men who have sex with men: The Urban Men's Health Study. Child Abuse Neglect, 25(4), 557-84. Welles, S., Baker, C., Miner, H. & Brennan, J. (2009). History of childhood sexual abuse and unsafe anal intercourse in a 6-city study of HIV-positive men who have sex with men. American Journal of Public Health, 99 (6), 1079 – 86. Read More

Jay, Catania, Pollack, and Stall (2001) works support the arguments from this article. The paper looked into the long-term consequences of sexual abuse among children at their earlier age. The paper titled “understanding childhood sexual abuse as a predictor of sexual risk-taking among men who have sex with men: The Urban Men's Health Study” looked into a study which is quite relevant to the magazine article. It looked into the relationship between childhood Molestation and Adult Sexual Activity.

The study looked into the characteristics of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and the prevalence of the same among gays or men who have sex with men (MSM). It, therefore, provided a strong link to sexual risks in adulthood and CSA. The study proposed a model to link sexual risk among MSM in their adulthood and CSA. The study used a telephone probability sample with identified 2881 participants. The study results summarize that one-fifth of the participants who reported to have been victims of CSA also attempted or were active in actual anal intercourse, in their adulthood.

The men in this category were presupposed to have a higher likelihood of engaging in high-risk sex, which included unprotected anal intercourse. A multivariate analyses were conducted for the study which indicated that childhood sexual coercion had a strong link with sexual risks mediated for instance by patterns of sexual contacts, substance use, and partner violence. It can, therefore, be generalized that child abuse affects the development of the child in the long term. The article also proclaims that abused children develop learning difficulties.

Learning difficulties are evident in a paper by Orme & Salmon (2002). The paper takes a closer look at children in their early age of schooling and how they cope with the respective learning styles. Kaplan, M. A. & Inguanzo, M. M. (2010) noted that children who are victims of abuse have a difficult time in establishing their learning styles and thus they lag behind in the learning process. These children are also noted to lack concentration in classes owing to the trauma that comes along with the abuse.

Huntsingera & Jose (2009) in their article on in-depth investigations on child abuse noted that abused children normally show some development difficulties signs in their personality. These children are normally challenged in social relations with the research noting that they tend to be individualistic in nature. The children normally distance themselves in the presence of others and their relationship with others is normally sour and lacks some commitment. From the article, Child abuse has been noted as the highest killer of children among the United States population.

It has been noted principally as a potential danger not only affecting emotional, psychological or physical development of the child, but also risking death. The article noted that, from the National mortality statistics reports, it was revealed that over 1,500 children die each year across the country resulting from child abuse and neglect. From the same, it was noted that an estimated 79% of the fatalities occur among under age children specially noting them to be at the age of four and below.

The article, therefore, highlights that, this is a disaster which needs urgent attention and which should raise concerns among the involved parties and the government. The same can be justified from the works of Corby, Doig and Roberts (2001) who also have argued that death among under age children has mainly being a resultant feature of abuse among children. The magazine article also noted that mental health in adulthood has significant correlation with earlier childhood abuse. It notes that the country is producing adults who are not morally upright and their mental health shows significant abnormalities.

It is clear that child abuse has to be dealt with as from this article because it relates to many other issues within the society which are running out of control and thus creating instability within the society.

Read More