Essay Example on Child Abuse: Impacts on Mental Health

Introduction

Children have a right to protection from any harm, whether physical or emotional. Child abuse has been a matter of discussion for several decades. Child abuse or child maltreatment is of several forms, such as sexual, physical, or neglect, to mention a few. This paper will provide a discussion on the impact of child abuse in mental health majoring on the negative consequences of child abuse, conduct a literature review as well as a focus on the empirical and cultural considerations of this research.

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Child abuse has several effects on the child. Specifically, mental health, conducting this research is essential because it will help in demonstrating the challenges that children are faced with mentally whenever they undergo any form of abuse. Child maltreatment has different consequences, some of which are long term effects, abused children tend to have developmental problems. Child abuse can result in emotional effects. The development of children's brain is majorly influenced by the surrounding environment and the experiences which they go through from the community, families as well as caregivers.

Child abuse has an impact on the mental health of a child. That is, they are at the risk of developing psychiatric problems as well as disorganized attachment style. They have psychological issues such as lack of human connections, eating disorders, depression, as well as anxiety. The consequences of maltreating children tend to be devastating. The mental health of abused children is usually affected, which results in low self-esteem as well as dissociative conditions.

Literature review

Several researches have been conducted on the impact of child abuse on mental health. Individual research was conducted in 2011, a review of the physical and psychological health consequences of child abuse and neglect and implications for practice; it provided an overview of mental ad tangible health results of maltreated children for helping nurses in the identification of abuse and identifying the proper medical care. According to this research, child abuse is linked with several negative mental and health consequences that have an impact on a person in his life and the surrounding community. This article identifies that forms o child abuse include neglect, sexual, emotional as well as physical abuse.

Also, the mental health conditions of an abused child could include impulsivity, inattention, disturbances of conduct, aggressiveness as well as anxiety. Research has demonstrated that rib breakages in children age two years and below are majorly always as a result of abuse. According to the statistics of child protective services, 19% of the maltreatment cases are from physical damage, and 60% from neglect.

Specific scientific research shows that there is evidence for the neurobiological changes a raising from abuse during childhood and neglect, which seem to have an impact on behavior, development as well as health. According to Dykes (1986), physical damage, which is a form of child abuse in young children and infants, can lead to dysfunction of the brain or death. A research that was conducted in 1991 by McCurdy and Daro demonstrated that approximately 1383 children died as a result of physical abuse. Child neglect and abuse can lead to serious health difficulties which can significantly hamper the development of children and have along with a lasting effect.

Physical Abuse

Some studies of children who had been physically abused recorded neuromotor handicaps consisting of serious speech challenges, damage of the central nervous systems, physical deficiencies, growth and mental obstruction (Elmer and Gregg, 1967)

Retrospective research postulated that childhood abuse usually has consistent effects on earlier adulthood psychopathology who had experienced physical or sexual violence in childhood. At the same time, depressive disorders and anxiety disorders were recorded in its extremity in men and women who had earlier been sexually or physically abused. According to research that was conducted on adult mental health consequences of peer bullying and maltreatment in childhood, peers are an essential aspect when children are growing for socialization purposes. Physical and verbal abuse, as well as systematic social exclusion, can be regarded as peer abuse, which is considered to be bullying .this abuse results in an increased risk of self-harm, anxiety, depression as well as the attempt of suicide. Recent research showed that bullying could result in a long-term increase in inflammatory procedures.

According to Roberts et al., prior child sexual abuse was linked with several results in adulthood, consisting of members of nontraditional family-style and poor psychological state. Children who were sexually assaulted tend to withdraw from others and become antisocial. Adults tend to abuse children, but caregivers tend not to notice the signs, maybe because of ignorance or tending to imagine such a form of abuse cannot happen to their children. Children are mostly neglected at a younger age.

Specific research conducted showed that the number of boys was higher as compared to girls who were abused except those above the age of 15 years. According to Winship, parents are the most likely abusers of children, 5% of the cases being abuse from the mothers. According to research, 80 percent of children who were abused had a psychiatric disorder when they attained 21 years. Sexual abuse is the cause for an increase in the likelihood of developing a suicide attempt, anxiety as well as mood disorder.

The underlying theory, which was used during this study, was based on etiology theories for child abuse, which was based on the environmental approach, which proposes that child maltreatment arises from social and ecological stress. A life full of fear and circumstances such as poverty, inadequate housing, unemployment, as well as the violent social environment is some of the leading factors which are considered in this research. According to this theory, child abuse is perceived as a sign of sorrow in a home that compromises its capability to raise and offer protection to its offspring.

All forms of violence that a child can face comes from the environment a child is being built in and affect the mental health of a child. For instance, if the parent physically abuses a child, this will result in anxiety, which later the child will transfer this into this or her academics, which may result in poor academic performance or dropping out of school as well as committing suicide. On the other hand, if the environment the child is living is not right and not secure, the child may be sexually abused by the people around her, which may lead to withdrawal and result in fear and depression.

Some researchers have posited that the problems which are exhibited by children who have been abused may have risen from dangers from the environment around the child. The environment plays a significant role in the mental health of a child. The situation in which a child lives in is an opportunity for the development of a child's attributes; continuous environmental interference may result in developmental disorders. Use of physical force, abuse by a family member repeatedly, coercion may result in an impact on mental health. For example, is a child have been emotionally or psychologically maltreated through being abused severally by the family members this child might develop low self-esteem and lose confidence in himself or herself which in turn may affect the future life of this child even if the child is skilled in any other sphere of life.

Childhood Maltreatment

Childhood maltreatment is linked to personality disorders, fear, depression, aggression, anger, anxiety disorder, and depression in adulthood. Living with only one natural parent may lead to sexual abuse in girls and boys, which may lead to mistrust when the person abused becomes an adult. Whenever children live in families who are ever engaging in domestic violence, their mind is usually affected, and they tend to live in fear. Additionally, children who grow up in less fortunate families in society typically have a low grade in schools, poor physical health, and lower cognitive ability.

Children who have an incident of abuse tend to be affected even in the later years of their lives. For instance, when a girl is sexually abused at a younger age, she may tend to hate the male gender and live in denial for all her life which may make her opt to live a single entity and not engage in a relationship with the male gender because of that traumatic experience she was exposed to at the tender age.

Though several studies have been conducted have several strengths, it also has weaknesses. Firstly, most research has suggested an under-reporting of the impact of child abuse on mental health. Secondly, the study does not account for adult violence that is research robustly shows that violence in child age is linked with adulthood violence majorly for women. Also, there has been little support from the government to support this area of research since it is costly in terms of finance. Several gaps have been identified through this study, which includes the exclusion of a particular class of people while favoring the poor children while conducting the research. This is according to the literature that has been reviewed above.

This research on the impact of child abuse on mental health will help fill these gaps through pointing out the effects of child abuse majoring on all forms of violence, pointing out the causes of child abuse basing on environmental theory this will help to shed light to parents and guards that they should be the key persons in providing security to their children at any time and anything that they undertake to have an impact on the children either positive or negative. Through this study, readers will understand the need for creating a conducive growing environment for children.

The questions that have guided this research on the impact on the impacts of child abuse on mental health were how do different forms of abuse impact the development of a child, how can we better select households at risk of harm to offer guidance and prevention strategies.

Ethical and Cultural Considerations

Child abuse research needs ethical and cultural considerations in the formulation of a research plan. The ethical review for this research on the impact of child maltreatment on mental health includes objectivity, where this research did not recommend a person known as peer-reviewed, and it tried to make sure that a particular cohort is excluded from the study.

Secondly, carefulness was considered when researching to avoid careless mistakes while conducting the literature review and providing credible results. Thirdly, confidentiality was observed to the latter by giving security to confidential data from the client, for instance, records of affected children from hospitals. While the cultural considerations included socioeconomic status and level of literacy.

The potential contribution to this area of research and implications for the social work field is laying a foundation for further study and analysis on the impact of child abuse of any form on the mental health of the child or even at a later stage in life. The intended final product of this product was to highlight the consequences that child abuse has on the mental health of an individual.

References

Beswick, K., Lynch, M. A., & Roberts, J. (1976). General practice observed. Child abuse and general practice. Br Med J, 2(6039), 800-802. Retrieved from https://www.bmj.com/content/2/6039/800.abstract

Dahake, P. T., Kale, Y., Dadpe, M., Kendre, S., Shep, S., & Dhore, S. (2018). Impact of child abuse & neglect on children: A review article. MIDSR Journal of Dental Research, 1(1).

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