Research Paper on Physical Child Abuse

Introduction

According to WHO physical abuse is defined as the deliberate use of physical strength against a child that adverse effects on the health of the child, survival, dignity or development. Child abuse involves beating, scalding, suffocating, strangling, shaking, hitting, burning, kicking, poisoning, and biting (Butchart, et al, 2006). In most cases, it is a form of punishment with an intention of correcting the child mistakes to make sure that he would not repeat it because he would be afraid of been beaten.

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Many countries with child abuse regulations consider the intentional infliction of severe injuries or actions that put the child in danger of severe injury or death to be unlawful. Many fractures or injuries at different phases of healing can be a sign of suspicion of abuse. Although the effects of physical child abuse may not be visible immediately, some of these action damages the dignity and integrity of a child. Child abuse has the long-term effect on the life of the individual who is subjected to physical torture. These may include mental and physical difficulties such as dissociative disorders, victimization, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, personality disorders, depression, eating disorders, and aggression and suicidal ideation (Butchart, et al, 2006).

Statistics and Facts on Physical Child Abuse

Facts and statistics on child abuse indicate an alarming rate in America. In most cases, physical abuse is inflicted by the parent or the caregiver with the aim of disciplining the child. Tracy (2017) explained that 3.3 million cases of child abuse are reported every year. It is easy to read statistics without grasping the human suffering behind the numbers. Child abuse can occur in any family regardless of race, social-economic status, or religion. in the United States, every 10 seconds, there is a report of child abuse and the worst case is that almost 5 children die daily (SPCC, 2018). The most affected are the children under the age of four because they cannot understand why they are being tortured by the caregivers or parents. Physical child abuse makes the individual rebellious at adulthood as research shows that 36% of imprisoned women in the US were physically abused during childhood (Tracy, 2017). Some causes of physical child abuse behavioral emotional or problems for example when a parent or caregiver is unable to control anger. Parents who beat their children may be undergoing Relationships or family problems. If an adult was experienced physical abuse as a child chances are that he would subject it to his children. Another cause is the parenting challenges for example when a parent does not understand what the child needs hence he responds in a way that would inflict pain on the child. Some parents may also have unrealistic expectations for their child and this could result in injuries if the child disappoints them.

A Case of Physical Child Abuse

Some actions that parents, caregiver or guardians do to the children in the excuse of making them disciplined causes them harm and can affect their lives in their adulthood. Physical abuse makes a child anxious and afraid of the person who subjects her to pain because she does not have the strength to defend herself. Some parents or caregivers beat their children because they want them to stop following a certain behavior. A Louse's story is an example of a case where a child was physically abused by her parent when she refused to do what her mother wanted. Her mother was a controlling woman who believed that everyone else was wrong and hence Louise was supposed to listen only to her. She also subjected her child to emotional abuse when she tried to isolate her from her friends arguing that they were a bad influence. At the age of 11, Louise mom's threatened that he would kick her out of the house (NSPCC, 2018). Things turned from bad to worse for Louise when her mother physically abused her and she fought back as a way of defending herself. Her mother threw her out of the house at night and she never cared where she would sleep. She had nowhere too and as a young child, she did not know what to do. Luckily she came across a phone box and decided to ask for help from Childline. The counselors helped her and her mother to solve their differences a later developed a positive relationship (NSPCC, 2018). The case shows that the pain and Struggle of a child who underwent physical abuse. One of the effects of physical child abuse is homelessness as Louise had nowhere to when her mother threw her out of the house.

Effects of Physical Child Abuse

Child physical abuse affects children both emotionally and physically in the short-term and extends during their adulthood. The magnitude of the effect depends on the duration the child was subjected to abuse and also the age. The extended corporal abuse of a kid continues, the more severe the effects will be. The short-term consequences are emotionally traumatic and painful for the kid. However, the long-term effects of physical abuse influence on the children their adult life, on their household and community at large. In the worst extreme situations, it can cause the death of the child.

Research conducted on the physically abused kids and their relatives demonstrate that physical child abuse is associated with major behavioral, psychological and physical problems experienced during adulthood Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2013). According to Malinosky-Rummell and Hansen (1993), when researchers compared non-abused kids with abused kids, they found that they experience substance abuse, emotional problems, self-injurious and suicidal behavior. They also suffer from interpersonal problems, aggressive and violent behavior, nonviolent criminal behavior, and academic and vocational difficulties.

Although most studies on the effects of physical abuse have concentrated on short-term consequences on juvenile behavior some have elaborated on the long-term effects.

Aggressive and Violent Behavior

Most violent and abusive individuals may have been physically abused during their upbringings. According to a research conducted by the Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health 1-7 % girls and 8-10% boys who experienced childhood physical abuse are aggressive and violent (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2013). Adolescent violence involves youths who show hostile behaviors towards their friends and family members have a strong correlation with how they are treated during childhood (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2013). Aggressive adolescent boys in housing accommodations exhibit advanced rates of physical abuse than boys who were brought up in their own houses. This is because, in residential houses, boys are all subjected to physical abuse and the row up knowing it as a common activity (Malinosky-Rummell & Hansen, 1993). Similarly, boys who beat their girlfriends were beaten by their parents or caregivers during childhood.

In a study conducted on the children who report being beaten by their parents in school, it showed that parents use the method to discipline their kids because they were also beaten by their parents (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2013). It is a life cycle that is passed on from one generation to another. Perpetration of abuse by these people may be weakened by traits of their social relationships, childhood maltreatment, current stressors, cognitive and emotional factors. Roscoe and Benaske suggested that child physical abuse is connected to domestic violence for both males and females because they experience violence and pain at a tender age. Individuals who were brought up in a chaotic family are likely to emulate it since they think it is the best way to solve differences. For instance, a study conducted by Straus to examine whether there is a relationship between childhood physical abuses and domestic violence during their adulthood. The survey involved 1,146 American families. The number of men who were hit by their parents had a higher rate of physically abused their wives. Men who were physically abused at their teenage had twice the rate of violence toward their partners than did non-abused males. The rate of females was different because women who were abused had a lower chance of abusing their partners. Although some abused their partners, this cannot be directly related to childhood abuse because some women who were not abused during their upbringing also hit their partners.

Non-Violent Criminal Conduct

Physically mistreated children exhibit significantly aggressive behavior disorders, non-compliance, and other externalizing conducts than do non-abused individuals. Similarly, a survey by Alfaro on juvenile delinquency exposes that physically mistreated adolescents exhibit more legal problems than do the non-abused comparison (Malinosky-Rummell & Hansen, 1993). The survey combined both violent and non-violent delinquencies and concluded that abused adolescents were more likely to engage in these behaviors than the non-abused adolescents (Malinosky-Rummell & Hansen, 1993). Moreover, the findings also indicated those family variables such as parent-child relationship difficulties and spousal violence because they play significant roles in the impact of externalizing behaviors.

Substance Abuse and Emotional Behaviors

People who were physically abused during their childhood tend to abuse alcohol such as alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine. There is proof of the connection between substance abuse and juvenile physical abuse. Cavaiola and Schiff performed a reflective chart evaluation of 500 adolescent participants who had been admitted to a rehabilitation treatment program. They found that 30 percent of their participants had been sexually or physically abused had a higher rate of substance abuse than that in the overall population (Malinosky-Rummell & Hansen, 1993). The findings also revealed that abused children began substance abuse such as alcohol at an earlier age than had non-abused drug abusers in the same package. Moreover, the researchers noticed a high rate of parental drug abuse (75 percent) revealed by the abused population, a finding sustained by another survey on adolescent addicts (Malinosky-Rummell & Hansen, 1993).

Physically abused adolescents also experience poor emotional and mental health. Undergoing juvenile adversity and trauma, such as sexual or physical abuse, is a threat cause of borderline depression, personality disorder, anxiety, and other psychiatric conditions. One research utilizing ACE statistics found that about 58% of cases of suicide and 54 % of depression and tries in women were related to negative childhood involvements (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2013). Child abuse also adversely affects the improvement of emotion regulation, which often continues into adulthood or adolescence.

Sexual Child Abuse

Sexual child abuse is an issue that has gained much focus in the few years. Sexual abuse cases are often not reported and hence the number of people who suffer is bigger. Sexual child abuse can be defined as any sexual overt, act, or covert, between a kid or an adolescent and an adult or an adolescent. There are various forms of child abuse because in some cases it can be a violent act done by a stranger or involve seduction by a family member. The most common form of childhood sexual abuse is incest and mostly occurs during childhood. According to Hall and Hall (2011), in 2006 childhood sexual abuse victims were 28 to 33 percent of women and 12 to 18 percent of men. Almost 90% of childhood sexual misuse children know the offender in some way because almost 68% of children are abused by relatives (SPCC, 2018). It is vital that therapists understand the symptoms and long-term consequences related to sexual child misuse to aid a...