Child Abuse and Neglect

The Effects of Child Abuse “Child abuse is more than bruises and broken bones… [it] also leaves deep, lasting scars” (Saisan). There are many forms of child abuse, but all the types can hurt children now and in the future. There is neglect, which is the most common; it is when a guardian fails to give a child what is needed to live such as food and shelter. Physical abuse is when someone hurts a child and causes physical health problems. There is emotional abuse or neglect which is when a person puts down a child or fails to give adequate love and attention.

Research performed by some authors has also shown that children who are abused have the tendency of becoming abusive parents themselves. Some abused children find it difficult to build a healthy relationship with people resulting from their abuse experiences. Child abuse is everywhere in the world, it occurs in all cultures, races and it is a problem that attention has not being fully focused on, therefore child abuse should be prevented and stopped. Child abuse is described as a harmful behavior on the children whether physically or mentally. The most common type of abuse is the physical abuse, this is because it is easily identifi... ... middle of paper ... ... for Disease Control and Prevention, 14 Jan. 2014.

6 May 2011. Web. Saison, Joanna. “Child Abuse and Neglect.” Help Guide of Child Abuse. Robert Segal 12 Nov. 2011.

Office on Abuse and Neglect, Children’s Bureau. 2003. Web. 13 March 2014. “Effects of Neglect on Children.” nspcc.org.

Smith, Melinda. "Child Abuse & Neglect." : Recognizing, Preventing and Reporting Child Abuse. Help Guide, Aug. 2013. Web.

Web. 22 Apr. 2011. Wetzstein, Cheryl, et al. Child Sexual Abuse.

"National Child Abuse Statistics | Childhelp." Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse | Childhelp. Web. 22 May 2011.

In addition, single parents are at risk to abuse children along with substance abuse (Gosselin, 2014). Also, poor parent-child relationships and disabilities increase a caregiver’s risk to abuse (Gosselin, 2014). Abusers usually will manipulate the child into keeping child abuse a secret from others (Gosselin, 2014). There are many reasons to why the child will feel helpless to tell on the abuser including embarrassment, no one will believe them, and threats were made towards the child if they did open (Gosselin, 2014). Children under the age of one are at the highest risk of abuse (Gosselin, 2014).

(2010). Understanding child maltreatment. Web. 23 May 2015. http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/CM-factsheet-a.pdf Newberry, P. (2008, September 15). Olympian goes public with sexual abuse.

It is an even more unfortunate situation when there are children involved. The psychological effects from the dissolution of a marriage are harder on children because they usually feel it is their fault that mommy and daddy are not together anymore. However, there are some instances where divorce is less stressful on the children, even the whole family unit, than the actual marriage itself. Lets explore both scenarios. Divorce can cause stress and anxiety on a child of any age.