What are causes and effects of child abuse?

Answer 1

The causes of child abuse are many: * The parents has grown up in an abusive environment themselves and can pass it onto their own children. * Alcohol and drug abuse. * Some Single mothers tryiing to struggle on their own can collapse under the pressure of caring for a child and lose control because of the lack of training or any support system to help her to know how to deal with a young child. * Some Young women who have more than one child by different fathers. This means she is immature, does not have the tools to raise a child, may be lonely and generally put herself before her child and thus, risky her child to verbal/physical abuse. * Mental Illness can also be a factor and the mother or father can't cope with their own depression and have nothing left to give to their children. * Financial problems are a great pressure on a parents or parents as we all know raising children can be expensive ... clothing, food, medical bills, education, etc. * Neglect by a parent that does not adequately provide for various needs such as clothing, food, hygiene, the emotional needs of the child or medical care and education (failure to enroll their child in school.) * Fetal alcohol syndrome. * Sexual abuse is most often someone that child knows such as an uncle, brother, father, step-father or boyfriends that the child's mother may bring into the home. * Psychological abuse (aka: emotional abuse) can involve belittling or shaming a child and may have extreme measures of punishment or withholding any affection from that child. Emotional abuse is just as damaging to a child as physical abuse. Wikipedia ... According to the (American) National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse, in 1997 neglect represented 54% of confirmed cases of child abuse, physical abuse 22%, sexual abuse 8%, emotional maltreatment 4%, and other forms of maltreatment 12% According to a UNICEF report on child well-being in the United States and the United Kingdom ranked lowest among first world nations with respect to the well being of their children. This study also found that child neglect and child abuse are far more common in single-parent families than in families where both parents are present. Recently a study conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that 1 in 50 infants in the United States are victims of nonfatal neglect or abuse. In the US, neglect is defined as the failure to meet the basic needs of children including housing, clothing, food and access to medical care. Researchers found over 91,000 cases of neglect over the course of one year (from October 2005- September 30, 2006) with their information coming from a database of cases verified by protective services agencies. Children with a history of neglect or physical abuse are at risk of developing psychiatric problems, or a disorganized attachment style. Disorganized attachment is associated with a number of developmental problems, including dissociative symptoms, as well as anxiety, depressive, and acting-out symptoms. A study by Dante Cicchetti found that 80% of abused and maltreated infants exhibited symptoms of disorganized attachment. The effects of child abuse vary, depending on its type. A 2006 study found that childhood emotional and sexual abuse were strongly related to adult depressive symptoms, while exposure to verbal abuse and witnessing of domestic violence had a moderately strong association, and physical abuse a moderate one. For depression, experiencing more than two kinds of abuse exerted synergetically stronger symptoms. Sexual abuse was particularly deleterious in its intrafamilial form, for symptoms of depression, anxiety, dissociation, and limbic irritability. Childhood verbal abuse had a stronger association with anger-hostility than any other type of abuse studied, and was second only to emotional abuse in its relationship with dissociative symptoms. More generally, in the case of 23 of the 27 illnesses listed in the questionnaire of a French INSEE survey, some statistically significant correlation were found between repeated illness and family traumas encountered by the child before the age of 18 years. These relationships show that inequality in terms of illness and suffering is not only social. It has also its origins in the family, where it is associated with the degrees of lasting affective problems (lack of affection, parental discord, the prolonged absence of a parent, or a serious illness affecting either the mother or father) that individuals report having experienced in childhood. There are a number of treatments available to victims of child abuse. Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, while developed to treat sexually abused children, is now used for victims of any kind of trauma. It targets trauma-related symptoms in children including Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), clinical depression, and anxiety. It also includes a component for non-offending parents. Several studies have found that sexually abused children undergoing TF-CBT improved more than children undergoing certain other therapies. Data on the effects of TF-CBT for children who experienced only non-sexual abuse was not available as of 2006. Abuse-focused cognitive behavioral therapy was designed for children who have experienced physical abuse. It targets externalizing behaviors and strengthens prosocial behaviors. Offending parents are included in treatment, to improve parenting skills/practices. It is supported by one randomized study. Child-parent psychotherapy was designed to improve the child-parent relationship following the experience of domestic violence. It targets trauma-related symptoms in infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, including PTSD, aggression, defiance, and anxiety. It is supported by two studies of one sample.