In this assignment, I am going to explain the long-term and short-term effects of child abuse. A child’s reaction to abuse and neglect can last a lifetime affecting them in many ways, such as physical, mental, psychological, and behavioral problems, and many more. These problems vary depending on the child and how severe the abuse is. In this assignment, I am going to mainly focus on the psychological and behavioral consequences of child abuse. Child maltreatment is categorized into 4 types: physical, emotional or psychological, sexual abuse, and neglect.
There are many short-term social effects of abuse on children such as lack of interactions which could result in the child struggling at school, very few friends due to the difficulty in establishing friendships, and poor social understanding. Due to a lack of social interactions, the child could begin to feel withdrawn from society, have low self-esteem, and require further educational support as a result of poor school performance. Secondly, abuse can affect the child's ability to socialize, learn and play alongside other children competently. The child may lack confidence and trust in their friends and may also display behaviors that are socially abnormal.
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Short-term physical side effects of child abuse include Bruises, cuts, grazes, broken bones, fractures, burns, scalds, and bite marks. Despite this, children have accidents, fall over, and have trips therefore a few bruises and bumps don’t necessarily mean they are being physically abused. Physical abuse can result in health problems such as vomiting, seizures, and drowsiness as a side effect. If the child is poisoned, drowned, or suffocated they will suffer from breathing problems which may be short term but may also be long term. If a baby is suffering from physical abuse then they may suffer from serve head injuries which result in short-term effects, such as swelling, bruising, head fractures, seizures, and breathing problems.
Head injuries can affect the child's behavior leading them to become irritable, sleepy, have abnormal breathing, and have unconsciousness. Whereas on the other hand, long-term effects of physical abuse include anxiety, behavioral issues, criminal behavior, depression and eating disorders, obesity, drug and alcohol problems and they may suffer from suicidal thoughts. A child is more likely to suffer from abuse if they are living in poor housing and poverty if their parents are drug and alcohol users, their parents have lifetime effects of childhood obesity themselves and may suffer from domestic abuse.
Due to childhood abuse, a long-term effect could be ADHD. This stands for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Children who are always on guard may have trouble concentrating. Having a traumatic experience as a child in which reveals real problems and symptoms that need to be faced and can be resembled those suffering from ADHD. Problems faced from a child with ADHD include disruptive behaviour, learning delay, poor social skills, challenging behaviour's, criminal behaviour, complex learning difficulties and many more. They may also experience visit tension and be overpowered with feelings. Kids who have encountered injury may experience difficulty with the unforeseen. Their requirement for control might be viewed as 'manipulative' or as continually needing things done in their direction. Moving between different activities might be hard. (Thomas, 2013) 11/21/2015 Parenting After Trauma: Understanding Your Child's Needs (© 2013 American Academy of Paediatrics and Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption)
Children who have experienced childhood neglect or emotional abuse can often display similar sets of behaviors and cognitive deficits that are also associated with ADHD. During the process of brain development, there are several parts within the brain that are affected by both ADHD and childhood trauma. The brain areas that are affected control and regulate emotions, decision-making, and social processing (Nakamura et al., 2001; Onitsuka et al., 2004; Snowden, Thompson, and Neary, 2004). Children who have suffered from different types of maltreatment may experience the challenge to maintain attention and concentration and struggle to process information, manage emotions and concentrate. All these effects are similar if not identical to the symptoms and behavioral traits associated with ADHD.
Childhood abuse can also lead to depression in later life. Scientists believe that a child who experiences any kind of abuse or neglect is at risk of depression. This is due to the change in structure and chemistry in the brain. Children who have been abused become more responsive or in some cases responsive to the environmental factors which affect their emotions. The hormones within the brain begin to recognize different degrees of stress which leads to abnormal behavior changes, such as depression. Symptoms of depression involve emptiness, sadness, upset, cognitive dullness, loss of pleasure in activities that were once enjoyed, sleep disturbances, suicidal thoughts, etc. The child will be fearful and will suffer from constant negative emotions. ‘The intergenerational transmission of abuse is invariably associated with the symptoms of depression. Abuse brings with it the vulnerability to depression.’ (Ellen McGrath, June 9, 2016) Childhood trauma can lead to PTSD. Children with PTSD may re-experience the trauma in their minds over and over again. They may also avoid anything that reminds them of the trauma or they may re-enact their trauma in their play (American Academy of Paediatrics. Parenting After Trauma: Understanding Your Child's Needs. Updated November 2015)
Child abuse and neglect can lead to many different attachment disorders during childhood and later life. There are four main types of attachments: secure attachment, ambivalent attachment, avoidant and disorganized attachment. This relates to the attachment theory by Bowlby & Ainsworth. He believed that the earliest bonds formed between the baby and caregiver were the most important and that children are born with an innate drive to form attachments with caregivers. ‘children who are securely attached as infants tend to develop stronger self-esteem and better self-reliance as they grow older. These children also tend to be more independent, perform better in school, have successful social relationships, and experience less depression and anxiety.’ (Cherry, 2019)
An example is Reactive Attachment Disorder. A child with reactive attachment disorder would have been subject to some kind of abuse or neglect. This negatively impacts the child and results in them failing to build up a healthy strong bond with their parents, primary caregiver, or parental figures. This leads to abnormal behavior, resulting in bitterness, irritability, sadness, frightfulness, and trouble communicating with grown-ups or peers. children who have encountered disregard in caregiving may encounter developmental delays in physical development. Older children may be in danger of dietary issues, anger issues, wretchedness, tension, challenges in school, and drug and alcohol abuse. (reactive attachment disorder, 2019)
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