The Effects of Physical and Verbal Abuse on Children

One of the rising issues among children in our society today is the verbal and physical abuse they are receiving from their parents and guardians. This is creating unhealthy families and dysfunctional environments where children are the victims of these abusive homes. Another cause of concern is the psychological and emotional detachment abusive children have to endure. These affects occur when they have a history of being neglected or physically abused.
A UNICEF on child wellbeing reported that the United States and the United Kingdom are ranked lowest among industrial nations with respect to child well being.They also found that it’s more common for child abuse to occur in single-parent families than in families where both parents are present. This will only lead to more patterns of abuse in other relationships down the road. We are looking at children who will be scarred for the rest of their lives. As they are being raised in this environment, it will ultimately affect their future in society, their psychological behavior’s, and the emotional behavior. Many abusive homes do not realize the affects it has on their children’s future with society.A numerous amount of these children carry baggage’s of pain and scars on their body.
They leave home with being neglected and unloved during their upbringing. The common trail they take is an escape from that reality. In other words, abusive kids try to find something that will fill out their empty space. Usually turning to alcohol, drugs, parties, sex, and other things that puts them out of touch with their current reality. What this all leads to are serious illegal consequences. According to dreamcatchers, eighty percent of juvenile and adult prisoners were raised in violent homes.That is a staggering statistic when seeing the overpopulation of criminals in prison.

Another future consequence is the deprivation abused children will encounter in future relationships. They will be deprived of the necessary skills of a healthy relationship due to the distortion of their abusers. This can lead to repeated abusive patterns that was manifested in their upbringing. In other words, the behaviors they learned growing up will create abusive mentalities toward their future families, coworkers, and peers.Which repeats the same cycles that they experienced during their childhood. According to Pears and Capaldi, “they suggested that parents with poor discipline skills experience a great deal of stress and frustration in dealing with their children. When this stress is coupled with a history of physical abuse, the outcome is more likely to result in the transmission of abuse from one generation to the next” (Pears & Capaldi).
The statement proves that future abusive children will experience tough times staying disciplined with their future children.It’s very likely that they are going to pass on the same patterns of abuse on to the next generation of children. In order to overcome these future results, a close relative or a friend must report these problems must either to the police or a shelter home. It will at least begin a process of saving a child who needs to escape a dysfunctional reality. Not only that, they can receive medical attention and treatment on any physical wounds from their attackers. This leads to evidence that the child has been physically abused and give the police an opportunity to impose future jail time on their abuser.Another good example would be to come up with a variety of fundraisers for the community to participate in.
The money would go to building more group homes church events in the poverty communities, and an increase shelter homes. In the meantime, psychological behaviors play a big part in childhood upbringing. Children tend to develop fears against doing anything outside attackers control over their decisions. This occurs because they are afraid of being beaten or possibly killed. The child will begin to lose a sense of curiosity of the world and this causes them to stop trying new things.Which keeps them from ever achieving their intellectual potential. Another psychological concern is the physical stress.
If the child is continually exposed to multiple violent and trauma acts, they will be physically stressed out. When the child experiences this act over and over again, there are permanent psychological changes. A child having over-reactions to things that remind them of the original event can create difficulty in concentration and attention. There are emotional effects such as isolation and inability to trust other peers.This essentially can translate into low-self esteem and depression. In one long-term study, “as many as 80 percent of young adults who had been abused met the diagnostic criteria for at least one psychiatric disorder at age 21. These young adults exhibited many problems, including depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and suicide attempts”( Silverman, Reinherz & Giaconia, 1996).
NSCAW found that children who were placed out of home-care due to abuse or neglect were scored lower on measures of cognitive capacity, language development, and academic achievement.In other words, they experienced difficulties with their academics being neglected or abused by parents or relatives. Other factors related to child abuse is shyness. More abused children will tend to shy away from meeting new people. This creates antisocial traits as they grow up. Raised under these conditions leads to personality disorders and violent behavior as well. One of the violent behaviors in abusive children is disruptive disorder.
They develop a habit of excessive aggressiveness and irresponsible behavior towards their peers.According to Reshma Jirage, about 80 % of abused children are at higher risk of developing certain serious psychiatric problems and mental illnesses. Abused children are put at an unfair advantage due to these psychological distortions. It’s wrong for a child not to be raised under a healthy roof. Instead they are put in a position where the real values of a family are non-existent in their current lives. Every day is a battle of survival for them. As a solution, more educational institutions need to inform their students of this on-going issue in our society.
It could help prevent many children who are growing up in these type of homes to be aware of the psychological future effects of an abusive upbringing. People need to be aware that it’s happening around their towns, their neighborhoods, and their streets. Usually when a child grows up their emotional scars and physical scars disappear completely. Therefore, if they are never informed about future consequences of being abused, repeated behaviors will occur. If education is viewed in America as the source to success, then why not install this into a course for children to have an opportunity to save their lives.Isn’t it important as a society to make sure that our future generation receives every parental resource before they have any children? For the safety of abused children, a class about child abuse will only educate the minds of young adults to not repeat the same behavioral patterns as their parents or guardians. In addition to the psychological behaviors, there are emotional problems as well with the child.
Emotional abuse is defined as “any behavior which interferes with a child’s mental health or social development.This includes name-calling, shaming, shouting and yelling at the child, comparing the child to others in a negative manner, and making the child feel worthless or a failure. It also includes failing to give the child the affection and support necessary for the development of a child’s emotional, social, physical and intellectual well-being. This includes withholding physical affection, not telling the child he/she is loved and cared for, withdrawal of attention, and lack of praise and support. In other words, Emotional abuse causes more inner damage that ultimately destroys or impairs either the development of a positive sense of self. This type of abuse is the most prevalent and can be the most destructive of all types. Some of the reasons why parents act out in these inappropriate behaviors is the lack of poor parenting skills, lack of available resources, and unrealistic expectations from their children.
A child being constantly ignored, shamed, terrorized, or humiliated will suffer just as much abuse than if they are physically assaulted.Signs of this abuse can be seen by the child’s insecurity, poor self esteem, and suicide. They also grow up thinking that they are deficient in some way. Another common factor when being emotionally abused is the development of interpersonal problems. Always being corrupted into accepting their ideas or behaviors can toy with a child’s mind. The insults, ridicules, and imitating are all ways of degrading a child. All of these types of emotional abuse are usually based on power and control.
That’s why so many abusive children are never able to find out what their calling is in life. Cause their mind is filled with degrading thoughts about what their parents have labeled them as in society. It confuses them to the point where they believe that the emotional abuser’s statements are true. They also will struggle accepting positive compliments from their peers or friends. Furthermore, these problems must come to a stop, a few suggestions such as safe childcare opportunities and taking an abused child to a pediatrician are great ways to deal with child abuse.For safe childcare, this gives parents the opportunity to put your child into a daycare for a few hours. This would release any tension or stress on the parents from work.
Then when picking up the child their won’t be any emotional outburst on the child. The home would be peaceful and no permanent damage would be inflicted upon the child. More responsibilities are put on our parents, it would be wise to give the child some supervision in order for the parent to recuperate from other demands. On the other hand, children receiving help from certain health