ABUSE

Health and Social Care

Health and Social Care

Abuse

Abuse is about power and control and includes physical abuse, emotional abuse, and psychological abuse. Physical abuse includes hitting, punching, kicking, slapping, choking, grabbing, restraining, or harming with a weapon. Emotional abuse includes name-calling, insults, or any verbal factors that contribute to the lowering of individual's self-esteem. Facets of psychological abuse include public humiliation, being kept away from friends and family, as well as restricting travel and social functions. Children who witness abuse has a higher propensity to become victims or abusers when they are older. Children who witness abuse may also show signs of aggression be avoidant, and have difficulty sleeping. Abuse against women is a universal phenomenon. It is evident that, in many countries, it can be estimated that one of every three women will experience some abuse in an intimate relationship (Mahoney, 2001, 143).

Types of Abuse

Physical Abuse

The obvious impact of physical abuse is the effect of the injuries on the health and physical development of a teenage woman. In addition, cognitive and academic development may be delayed, resulting in poor academic performance. Examples include difficulty with problem solving and an inability to distinguish right from wrong. She may also internalize emotions related to the abuse, resulting in anxiety and depression, or they may externalize their emotions, displaying aggressive behaviors (Jouriles, 1996, 223).

Sexual Abuse

In addition to the behaviors common to all the typologies, teenage victims of sexual abuse often experience psychosomatic and physiological symptoms and complaints. They may believe that the abuse physically harmed their body, may have a distorted body image in addition to low self-esteem, or may receive the message from society that they are “damaged goods” or unlovable. They may reenact the abuse on younger children or become promiscuous in an effort to regain control of their bodies. In cases of incest, the role confusion is that it often accompanies compounded abuse. For example, a young girl may be groomed by her father to feel more powerful and sexually desirable than her mother. In addition, the unoffending parent plays a key role in the impact of incest on the child by believing or denying the child's disclosure of abuse. The parent's disbelief confirms the child's suspicions that he or she is to blame for the incidents. Failure to believe the child also influences the parent's ability to protect the child, and it may result in the child's removal from the home. As sexually abused children grow into adulthood, they may experience depression, suicidal thoughts, eating disorders, self-mutilating behaviours, substance abuse, and additional victimizations (Baldry, 2003, 713).

Neglect

Studies suggest that children who can be neglected suffer very significant adverse consequences during childhood and into adulthood. The most likely cause for this is unmet basic, developmental needs. Young children and infants are dependent on their parents to meet their needs, and parents' failure to do so can cause their children to have poor self-concepts, physical deficiencies, developmental delays, and lower academic scores. These children may exhibit developmental lags in language and cognitive ...