How Does Family Affect A Child

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Family plays a major role in a child’s life and his or hers social and emotional development. When abuse and neglect take a toll on a child’s life at such a young age, it can affect them physically and emotionally. When a child is maltreated, it affects their education, behavior, relationships, etc. and most likely follows them throughout life. According to the article “Effects of Chronic Maltreatment and maltreatment timing on children’s behavior and cognitive abilities,” over 900,000 children in the United States alone were victims of abuse and neglect in 2006(184). There are many factors that may alter the outcomes of a child who is or was abused, for example, the age the abuse and neglect began, how long it went on for, or if it was physical or emotional abuse.
Family has a major impact on a child’s life, especially in the early stages, because a child experiences so many firsts with family and they are the first ones to be around the child. If all a child knows is what the family taught him, then he may think that the abuse he experiences is normal and may grow to have behavioral issues mocking what he grew up with and may tend find himself in trouble. Post-traumatic stress …show more content…

More specifically, the age of when the abuse occurred and the duration of the abuse. Studies revealed that children who are maltreated tend to have lower IQ scores and do not do as well in school. Also, the timing the abuse occurred didn’t have a significant effect on behavioral and cognitive outcomes. The authors concluded that early intervention needs to occur in order to prevent victims of abuse to reciprocate on others or their own children. This is extremely vital because 1 out of 8 victims of abuse go on to abuse their own

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