Child Abuse
The recent investigations of child abuse in America have become a
recent
epidemic that have had surprising discoveries. A survey taken in 1999
regarding
child abuse revealed that 22 percent of abused children were done
so physically,
8 percent sexually, 54 percent through neglect, and 16
percent by emotional
abuse. Psychological abuse can include a number of
different factors including
neglect and verbal abuse. The majority of abuse
that takes place is done so
psychologically rather than physically. Many
children are simply ignored by
their parents and have little or no
involvement with them because of this.
Children are also verbally abused
and therefore get "beaten down"
psychologically. Those who are abused
psychologically tend to be very dependent
and take care of themselves, have
poor self-esteem and confidence, and can have
a poor relationship with their
peers. On the other end of the spectrum, physical
abuse occurs in 30 percent
of child abuse cases. A very serious result of
physical abuse is known as SBS
(Shaken Baby Syndrome). This condition is cause
by violent shaking of a small
child, which in turn causes the brain to bruise
and eyes to bleed. Seizures,
partial or total blindness, paralysis, mental
retardation, and death are all
results of this form of abuse. The main reason
why this abuse occurs is the
parent’s frustration from a crying baby. The
parent doesn’t want to hit the
child, so they shake the child back and forth
to make him or her stop crying.
Children show many signs of physical abuse in
their day-to-day life. These
signs include: shying away from adult contact, lack
of trust, aggressive
behavior, self-destructive behavior, extended days away
from home, and even
suicide attempts. On average, fifteen out of every 1,000
children in the
United States are abused either psychologically or physically
each year. In
1999 1,185 children died from physical abuse. An important thing
to consider
regarding child abuse is the child abuser. There are many ways to
identify
whether or not someone is an abuser or not. Typically, a child abuser
is a
harsh disciplinarian, describes his or her child consistently in a
negative
way, the explanations of the child’s injuries are not probable, and
he or she
becomes defensive or refuses to explain when asked about the
child’s injury.
The abuser may have a social or psychological problem
such as depression or low
self-esteem. Other conditions may be that there is
an alcohol or drug-related
problem, some lack basic skills of normal child
development and parenting. Some
of the child abusers have unreasonably high
standards for the child to love up
to, and when the child can not live up to
them then he or she feels that it is
their duty to discipline the child. This
discipline may lead to child abuse.
Stress is another factor for child
abuse, but probably not the only factor. The
abuser may never have even had
the thought or the urge to abuse the child but
under so much stress sometimes
they do not understand that their punishment
would be considered abuse or
they do it not realizing what they are doing. The
abuser may show signs of
disregard for the child's needs, welfare, limited
abilities, and feelings.
Many abusive parents believe that children exist to
satisfy the parents needs
and that the child's needs are unimportant. The
children who don't satisfy
their parent’s needs may then become the victims of
abuse. Sexual abusers may
have unusual personality traits and behaviors that can
result in sexual
contact with a child. Sexual abusers may use threats, bribery,
coercion or
force to get the child to engage in sexual activities. This violates
the
natural trust between the child and adult, and if goes untreated may lead
to
emotional and mental problems later in life and the abused child may
become the
abuser. The child may not tell anyone because the abuser has
threatened him or
her not to tell. Although child abuse is something that has
just recently been
taken seriously, many advances have taken place to prevent
it. The CPS (Child
Protection Service) has grown by 40 percent over the
past two years. Public
awareness about this issue has grown enormously as
well. Child abuse is very
hard to get rid of completely because of human
nature. However, if people can
try and identify the problem before it grows
into a way of life, perhaps it can
become less common.