Child Abuse: Social Violence & Its Impact on Victims - Essay Sample

Introduction

Child abuse has been a consistent family problem that has been witnessed all over the world, making it a social concern. This has encouraged research and studies within family and family science. Reports on child abuse relate to poorly fed children, children being prematurely abandoned, illegal genital mutilation, and other sexual related abuse. Victims of social violence and abuse stand a chance of suffering from the effects of these abuses. These effects may range from physical disabilities to psychological torture (Devaney, 2011). This literature, therefore, focuses on determining the long term and complex needs of children and families that experience challenges and effects arising from child abuse and domestic violence.

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Poor Concentration: Effects of Violence and Abuse on Children and Families

As a result of trauma originating from violence, children and family members suffer from poor concentration in their daily routine activities. Children undergoing violence and abuse are challenged with a poor concentration in school, which eventually contributes to poor class performance. Emotional instability resulting from child abuse such as malnutrition, abandonment, and sexual abuse may initiate diversion of concentration during class activities. Nevertheless, women undergoing abuse and violence also experience reduced concentration in their daily activities (Herrenkohl et al., 2013). Psychological imbalance possessed by these victimized persons keeps them thinking about their past victimization and abuse instead of their duties and responsibilities.

Disabilities: Mental and Physical Consequences of Abuse

Additionally, disabilities may also arise from past experiences of abuse and victimization. Many children have become mentally and physically unstable due to sexual violence, such as rape. This is evidenced through most of the youthful females not wanting to be associated with men since they believe all men are rapists. Moreover, children who possess a positive history of abuse, such as genital mutilation, often have feelings of being different from their fellows (Devaney, 2011). Consequently, this mental detachment has contributed to unhealthy social behaviors by these victims, exposing them to mental imbalance dangers.

Homelessness: Impact of Abuse on Employment and Self-Independence

According to previously conducted research and data from relevant concerned authorities, most victims of violence and abuse are sometimes left homeless. This is often brought about by a total lack of concentration during work and daily activities, which act as sources of income to these individuals. In the long run, these victims are relieved of their duties since they can no longer achieve their job objectives. Eventually, they are left without incomes to facilitate their daily bills and expenses, such as rents. Due to trauma effects resulting from abuse, a good number of women victims are often left with limited life skills, which are necessary for self-independence (Sousa et al., 2011).

Eventually, exposure to health complications and infections has been widely considered as the most significant implication associated with abuse and violence mostly to children. Sexually related violence and abuse usually expose victims to sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV & Aids and other sexually transmitted infections. In the long run, the nature of the life of the involved victims is interfered with. As a result, they regret being alive, which may occasionally become a reason for suicide.

Conclusion

In conclusion, to reduce the implications associated with abuse and violence on the victims, services such as regular and continuous counseling need to be conducted to concerned parties. Moreover, emergency housing aid and financial assistance programs to the homeless should also be implemented by the responsible authorities. Most importantly, strict legal regulations accompanied by harsh penalties, should also be enacted to protect the vulnerable members of society, such as children and women. To achieve a maximum outcome on the above-mentioned possible solutions, public awareness programs that aim at informing the public on dangers and penalties associated with violence and abuse need to be conducted.

References

Devaney, J. (2008). Chronic child abuse and domestic violence: Children and families with long-term and complex needs. Child & Family Social Work, 13(4), 443-453. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2206.2008.00559.x

Herrenkohl, T. I., Sousa, C., Tajima, E. A., Herrenkohl, R. C., & Moylan, C. A. (2008). Intersection of child abuse and children's exposure to domestic violence. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 9(2), 84-99. https://doi.org/10.1177/152483800831479

7Sousa, C., Herrenkohl, T. I., Moylan, C. A., Tajima, E. A., Klika, J. B., Herrenkohl, R. C., & Russo, M. J. (2010). Longitudinal study on the effects of child abuse and children's exposure to domestic violence, parent-child attachments, and antisocial behavior in adolescence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 26(1), 111-136. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260510362883