Child Abuse
...y, have a lack of education, and live in high-risk neighborhoods. Abuse does happen to children that live among these conditions, but abuse happens everywhere. Abuse isn’t just limited to a certain population. Physical abuse occurs in every type of family and every ethnic, economic, and social background, and children can be subjected to child abuse regardless of their sex or age (Online). There are no boundaries of where it can and does occur. However, certain social and demographic factors seem to have a higher level of reported physical abuse. Children of single parents were 77 percent more likely to be harmed by physical abuse (Online). This could be because single parents have more stress and pressure of being a single parent. Other factors such as lower income or a distressing factor, such as having a child with an illness, seem to have higher rates of physical abuse as well. Adolescent physical abuse is abuse that occurs during the adolescent years. One type of adolescent abuse is that which starts in childhood and continues through adolescence. This form of physical abuse is thought to result from parental expectations of the child’s abilities to be too high. Another form may have actually started in childhood as physical punishment but then changes to physical abuse when the child reaches adolescence. This could come about from the adolescent wanting to separate from their parents but it becomes a struggle. This struggle becomes a conflict between the parent and the adolescent and may raise the parent’s behavior to that of physical conflict. Sexual abuse among children has a wide range of behaviors. It includes that of physical and genital fondling, molestation, exhibitionism, forcible and statutory rape, sexual assault, and commercial exploitation of children in pornography (Mayhall & Norgard 172). Sexual abuse towards a child can be from a complete stranger or someone the child knows, like a family member or family friend. A stranger often uses physical violence with sexual abuse. Sexual abuse frequently results in death of the victim when the abuser is a stranger. The abuser is often someone that wouldn’t be expected. They tend to be someone that is highly respected in the community or a family member. Sexual abuse only makes up a small portion of child maltreatment, this may be because it often goes unreported. Sexual maltreatment of a child, as already mentioned, includes many categories of sexual activity between an adult and a child that is considered sexual misuse of a child. Sexual activity with a family member is known as incest. In sexual abuse, adult involvement is different from other forms of maltreatment. Parents are seldom the primary perpetrator of the abuse (Mayhall & Norgard 177). Stepfathers and other adult caretakers were more likely to play a bigger role in the sexual abuse. But a parent who knows about the abuse and does nothing about it is failing to provide sexual safety for the child and so is indirectly involved. Child sexual abuse interferes with the normal child development and the child may not be able to cope emotionally, physically, or intellectually. Child neglect is also a form of child abuse. Parents and caretakers are expected to provide for a child’s basic needs. Failure to provide minimal care to the extent that it is hazards to the child’s health or safety is neglect. (Mayhall & Norgard 133) Infants are the most vulnerable to neglect of all age groups since the range of safety is less for an infant than any other age group. If an infant doesn’t have food, shelter, and stimulation, the infant is less able to get it without a caretaker. Parents and caretakers find infants to be easy to neglect since it is hard for them to make their needs known. Neglectful parents and caretakers disregard what infants need to grow. Although infants have the highest rate for neglect, children of all ages suffer from neglect as well. Neglect during the preschool years can often be detected because the child is outside the home. Neglect tends to be chronic rather than episodic (Mayhall & Norgard 136). A child neglected at this time may have constant hunger, poor hygiene, or inappropriate clothing. Children in the school age may suck their thumb, bite their nails, or have difficulty reading. Children who seem depressed and are noncommunicative may be suffering from neglect. Neglect during adolescence may be mislabeled because as being a trouble maker when actually they are struggling to meet their own needs. Forms of child neglect include many things such as: abandonment, lack of supervision, nutritional neglect, medical neglect, educational neglect, inappropriate clothing, shelter neglect, hygiene neglect, and failure to thrive. Emotional abuse occurs half as often as physical abuse. Some emotional issues that have emotional impact on the child are circumstances that may occur in the child’s home. Things such as alcoholism within the family, parents arguing, overly sever discipline by the parents, harsh and improper language, and non-support of the child’s interests. Emotional abuse/neglect is the failure of the parent or caretaker to provide for the appropriate emotional developmental needs of the child. (Mayhall & Norgard 156) Emotional abuse may occur along or separate from other forms of abuse. A child who grows up not feeling loved by his/her parents is emotionally neglected. ...