Child Abuse in America - Essay Example

? Section Review of Past Literature Child abuse is a problem reaching epidemic proportions. According to statistics, the number of child abuse increased over the past decade. Statistics stated that, at the present time, incidences of child abuse are accounted in every ten seconds. According an estimated 80 percent of abuse children carry physical, psychological, behavioral and societal consequence that last a lifetime (Hermes, 2010). Many sociologists believe that the experience often make the victims result to isolation. Because of this isolation, the abused child goes on and involves in alcohol, drugs and even crime. These affect their physical and psychological behaviors and consequently development and growth of children. These have contributed to continued pattern of abuse and probable harm to the society with counting cost factors such as medical bills, welfare cost and legal systems. Child abuse ultimately affects the society and a consistent need to support and protect the children is of the essence as they are at the heart of a bright future (Corby, 2006). Definition of Child Abuse Child abuse is the maltreatment of a person below the age of 18 regardless of their relation. There are different forms of child abuse, which are more, than the verbal or physical action. Child abuse is not always immediately recognizable and, as a result, thousands of cases go unreported each year. According to Child Protective Services and Dependency Action (2009), there are four most common types of abuse: physical, emotional, neglect and sexual abuse. Physical injury involves hitting, shaking, burning, human biting and strangling. The consequences of this abuse include the damage of child’s brain and psychology such as cognitive delays or emotional difficulties. These difficulties often show high risk of behavior, depressions, and anxiety, which lead to physical, and personal health problems (Wang and Holton, 2007). Sexual Abuse involves body contact, such as kissing and touching different body parts, forcing children to look at pornography, pressure for sex and abuse them as prostitutes (Clark and Adamec, 2007). It is estimated that about one out of six boys and 1 out of 4 girls are sexual abused. Emotional abuse is the act or omissions by an older person that cause psychological disorders. Humiliation, threats, yell, ignorance and blame are ways of emotional abuse (McClennen, 2009). Neglect is the letdown by a parent, or a protector to offer needed clothing, food, medical care, shelter and supervision to the degree that the child's health, safety and well-being are compromised (Bales, 2004). The data from US Department of Health and Human Service shows: National Child Abuse Statistics in 2010 Suffer Neglect 7.6% Emotional Abuse 4.2% Sexual Abuse 59.0% Physical Abuse 17.6% Causes of Child Abuse Several factors are believed to cause child abuse. The level of immaturity and strain may result them into abuse. These could be significantly enhanced by their unrealistic expectations, emotional problems, economic crisis and lack of parenting knowledge. Another factor is domestic violence and substance abuse. Hermes (2010) stated that "children who reside in homes where violence is rife typically end up becoming victims themselves, 50 to 70% of men who abuse their female partners also abuse their children". Alcohol and substance abuse also largely contribute to cases of child abuse as they affect their mental judgment and decision-making (Heitritter and Vought, 2006). Effects of Child Abuse It is approximated that 80 percent of children who are abused at the age of four die. Criminal behavior are sometime as a result of child abuse. Cases of men and women in penitentiaries who were maltreated as children were evident. Victims are more likely to experience teen pregnancy and involvement in unsafe sex putting them in greater risk of STD’s. Victims become venerable to various issues later in their life, such as emotional instability, behavioral problems, depression and violence (Kerry et al., 2006). Statistics of Child Abuse related deaths. The graph shows death rate due to Child Abuse from 1999 to 2010. Part 2 - Sociological Perspectives Sociology has been viewed as a study of how human associate socially, in groups or societies. Sociology is wide beginning from an encounter of two people in the streets to the whole world’s social progress. It can be depicted as a form of methodical study of social organization and interaction. The development and functioning, as well as the structure of human society, are more definition of sociology from different writers. Sociology perspective is how we view the society (Clark, 2007). Different people have different views, which are developments from cultural believes that each community believes in. Perspective is a matter of how you look at things. We may see a similar thing, but our view of these things is different from one individual to another. For example, child abuse is some communities is as an abuse while others believe a child must work for their living, however, young they are. In the American society and other westernized communities, however, need to feel their children are offered the best in life. In comparing the Caucasians and the African-American, the form of how they hand punishment is different (Bales, 2004). For instance, the African-American believe canning is effective while the Caucasians view this as barbaric. Over the years, several view are come up which have been used to combat many social problems. Family issues such as wife battering and child abuse are serious dilemmas that have left many people at an awe of how to fight them. From the theories created by several socialists, these societal problems can be dealt with, they include, functional structural and conflict theory. The functionalist perspective theory emphasizes on correlations of societal issues bringing to focus how one part of the society influences the other. According to this theory, society is an organization of interrelated parts that work jointly to preserve a state of social balance. For example, each social entity has a say in each significant function of the society. These entities include family, education, political, religion and economic. Where, family functions by reproducing, and nurturing social aware children while the education forms a platform for culture and social knowledge transmission. Politics on the other hand, gives a means for governing the society, religion provide an outlet for worship of a higher as well as provide avenue for moral guidance and lastly economics avenues for manufacture, allocation and use of supplies as well as services. An example for social dysfunction is the surfacing of single-parent hood, resulting in failing in school of their children and dropping out of school because there parent are not around to supervise what they are doing in school. Child abuse is an example of social dysfunction. Abusing a child can result into mental or psychological problems to the child. Children who are abused by their parent, guardians, or relatives may grow to imitate the same abuse to their children. It would be in order to say that this inheritance results into growth of dysfunctional society. When a child grows without guidance and morals, there high chances that he or she will result into retrogression of the society around them. In analyzing the problem of child abuse through functional theory of perceptive, it shows that children being the group that make the next generation of a society need to be brought in a manner that is going to build them from a ground up but not in a destructive nature that may lead to the end of a society. Through this theory, parents get to understand that how they bring u their children is going to affect who they will grow to be in the future. Conflict theory of perception; on the other hand, view a society as a composition of groups with different interest competing for substances such as power and resources. This theory analysis this by looking at which group has more power of achieving more prosperous settings in the society. This theory was generated by Karl Marx, who suggested that all societies go through economic growth, the need to grow the agriculture sector and industrialization resulting for the need to generate profit leading to system of capitalism. This leads to a separation into classes of those who own the production firms and those who work to gain wages from these firms. Although earlier this theory brought conflicts among American sociologists who were in favor for functionalist theory, it was later accepted due to the need of developing a society. They further expanded this theory but made it appear purely based on economic. This theorist suggested that conflict in the society result from the different groups in the society, which are competing in one way or another. The existing groups around the world include racial, political, economic, religion and political. These continuous competitions in the society, from these groups form the bases for the ever-changing nature of the society. This theory describes the need for people to develop themselves economically in order to have a place in society. The higher you are in the society, more like people will treat a person with respect and dignity that any person deserves. Furthermore, this theory creates positive aspects in the society designed to control masses and conserving society and social order. This theory gives way for making laws and hence people are given leeway to fight for what they deserve. Today there are laws governing how a child should be treated. Child Abuse in Social Theory According to Isom (1998), Albert Bandura was born in 1925 but did not develop the social learning theory in 1972. Bandura obtained a well-known achievement award from the American Psychological Association and a scientist award from the California State Psychological Association. He was known as the father of cognitive theory and wrote several books about it. One of the books that he wrote in 1973 was called A Social Learning Analysis; four years later, Bandura published one of his most famous books: The Social Learning Theory. In this book, Bandura states: "The social learning and imitation theory suggested that people obtained competencies and modes of behavior through response consequences" (The Social Learning Theory, 1998). According to Isom (1998), Bandura believed aggression reinforced by family members was the most prominent source of modeling. Bandura reports that children use the same aggressive tactics that their parents illustrate when dealing with others. Bandura's social learning theory also looked at the topic of child abuse because child abuse victims often become abusers later on their lives. Thus, they repeat the cycle of violence. Bandura considered the social leaning theory to be instrumental in our society. "The social learning theory holds that people are not born as violent individuals but rather they learn violent behavior by watching and imitating the behavior of other" (Suztte Baker, 2011). Another explanation from Baker (2011) looking at child abuse states that individuals who have experienced violence and gone through abusive childhoods are more likely to grow up to become child and spouse abusers than individuals who experience little or no violence during their own childhood. The social learning theory suggests that child abuse is a learned behavior. According to Neuberger et al. (1983, p. 262-268), violence in one's family of orientation is seen as predictive of violence in one's family of procreation." Solutions to Child Abuse in America Harsher punishments should be established by the government to tackle the issue of child abuse. This will help in lowering the number of cases of child abuse that are witnessed in America. The government should establish policies and legislations that address the issue of child abuse. The legislations should be on how to deal with those who exploit children. Children are humans, and all people have a right to live freely in a peaceful world without people interfering with their lives. Since all people, including children have a right to live free from violence, harm and exploitation, government policies should be focused in creating an environment where tranquility transcends. The perpetrators of these children right should, therefore, face severe punishment that befits the crime of harming an innocent and vulnerable child. People that have been caught exploiting children have been sternly punished for their crimes as some have been imprisoned for lengthy periods in jail. Any person caught, be it a relative, guardian or stranger harming a child has been punished according to stipulations to be a lesson to the perpetrators and society at large. This has proved effective in discouraging the act in the society. The government has empowered some organizations to oversee the protection of children. Such organizations have been given special powers to protect children rights and take actions against child abusers. Organization such as the United Nation Children Education Fund (UNICEF) is mandated to protect the rights and interests of children in society and is recognized by governments globally. They have been instrumental in identifying child abuse cases and reporting the perpetrators as well as helping the affected kids. These organizations ensure that children rights are observed and upheld and they exist in all states in the US. They have been critical in identifying child abuse cases, as they have branches, which are grass roots based, thus quickly identify occurrences of such cases. These organizations has however been ineffective since it has reported loads and loads of cases that are been ignored. Counseling and therapy is another solution that has been attempted to solve the child abuse problem. This is applied to both the adversaries and the victims. For the children, counseling and therapy helps the child to overcome the trauma of the abuse received. This has been one of the effective solutions that is used to guide children through the difficult moments they encounter. However, even though the child’s family may take this action to help the kid sometimes it is not effective. Some time the child tends to have low self-esteem, performance in school drops, develops as aggressive attitude, loses interest in objectives in life, and always has an angry mindset. Therapy and counseling is critical as it helps in tackling the psychological effects the children encounters in the long-term. Counseling is also crucial to the perpetrators as it helps to guide them to overcome their twisted mind. Imprisoning child abusers is not, enough on its own. The aggressor needs to realize that their actions may affect the child life forever. They should be guided to understand that whatever they did to the child is not right. If they comprehend this, they avoid repeating the vice and at other times serve as counselors to other through their testimonies. Counseling is one the techniques of helping a child overcome trauma and help correct the perpetrator’s behavior (Shally-Jensen, 2011). Alternative Solutions to Child Abuse Instead of waiting for sexual abuse to take place, the society should ensure that it puts measures in place to prevent the cases from happening. This is an alternative for the solutions, which are in place and mainly focus on dealing with the issue after it has occurred. Use of social theories and the application of scientific methods can be used to determine if cases of child abuse will occur in the society (Turner, 2001). The use of these methods will enable the society to prevent cases of child abuse that would have otherwise occurred when the method is not employed. This will utilize the skills of social sciences and the theories for the good of the community. The theories will be used to determine the segments of society that have the highest likelihood of abuse cases to occur. This will enable the society to take measure to prevent such cases ensuring that the welfare of the children is guarded (Opdycke, 2008). Since there is a high prevalence of cases of child abuse among the poor, an alternative solution to address this will be to create opportunities for this class to realize a better life. This will be through putting measures in place that will elevate the living standards of this class hence improving the quality of life. This will have a psychological effect on the group, which will positively influence the children living among the group. Economic empowerment in the society will ensure that cases of child abuse are significantly reduced among the society. This step will not only improve the quality of life in the society, but will ensure that cases of child abuse are eradicated for good. 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Total Estimated Cost of Child Abuse and Neglect in the United States. Prevent Child Abuse America. Chicago, Illinois: p. 1-5. Retrieved from . “We Can Do Better.” (2010). Child Abuse and Neglect Deaths in America. Every Child Matters Education Fund. Washington D.C. p. 1-24. Retrieved from < http://www.everychildmatters.org/storage/documents/pdf/reports/wcdbv2.pdf>. Read More