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Sofia Ailyn Navarro

Ana Mendoza

ENGL 1302-215

28 February 2024

Types of Child Abuse, Impact, Prevalence and Prevention

Every day, somewhere in the world, people are abused, whether it be accidental or

intentional. Abuse is the cruel and violent treatment of a person. There are different types of abuse:

physical and mental. There are also different types of physical and mental abuse. For example,

physical abuse can be anything from being hit to being sexually assaulted, and mental abuse can be

anything from being guilt-tripped to being told to hurt yourself. Abuse cannot only happen to adults

and teens, but it can sadly also happen to children. Child abuse, like any other kind of abuse, has

many consequences, such as the loss of innocence, mental health issues to adulthood or longer, and

well-being in general. Due to the innocence of young children, they are easier targets for abuse and

violence. This is why more must be done to protect children by preventing or even catching abuse at

its early stages. Information about types of child abuse, its effects, and its prevention of it will be

mentioned below.

Child abuse is the cruel maltreatment of a child. A child can be abused in many ways,

whether it be physically or mentally, and, in some cases, it may even be both. According to the

article Psychological abuse: Impact on children, some examples of psychological abuse include

neglecting the child by avoiding the child’s needs, isolating them from others, exploiting/corrupting

them by encouraging them to do bad things, verbally assaulting them, and even bullying the child

(Shagufta Afroz and P.S.N. Tiwari 526). The article also states that psychological abuse of a child

can often be caused by a parent(s) having poor mental health, too much stress, or substance/alcohol
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addictions (Shagufta Afroz and P.S.N. Tiwari 527). Physical abuse of a child is what it sounds like;

it can mean anything like hitting the child, having other people hit the child, hurting the child’s body

in different ways, and even sexually abusing the child. According to the authors of the article Parent

Education in Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Programs, child sexual abuse is the involvement of

children in sexual activities through coercion/deception, which they cannot fully comprehend,

cannot consciously give consent for, including the age/maturity difference with the perpetrator, and

violate social taboos (TÜRK KURTÇA, T. 248). Child sexual abuse can not only be with physical

touch, but it can also be without touch. Physically, it can be through touching the child’s private

parts or even by sexually kissing them. Mentally, it could be exposing them to pornographic material

and using sexual terms to the child. Sadly, any of these forms of abuse can lead to years of hurt,

trauma, and even disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The impact of child abuse will leave the victims with many wounds, whether physical or

mental. These wounds may last for years, even until adulthood. According to The Impact of Child

Abuse Potential on Adaptive Functioning: Early Identification of Risk, “some effects victims may

face include long-term emotional, behavioral, and physical health problems” (Benjamin D. Freer et

al. 189). Because children’s brains are still underdeveloped, the trauma they may face in their early

years may cause developmental problems in different areas: adaptive functioning, communication,

cognition, and language. The authors of the article Adults traumatized by child abuse: What

survivors need from community-based mental health professionals state, recent research indicates

that adults with histories of childhood physical, sexual, and emotional abuse frequently present with

symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychiatric disorders that require

specialized treatment (Kim Harper et al. 362). The article also states that survivors of child abuse

have reported that problems in emotion regulation and interpersonal functioning are as common as
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PTSD symptoms, supporting the idea that the diagnosis of PSTD does not capture the whole picture

of mental health problems usually found in adults who have histories of child abuse (Kim Harper et

al. 362). These are the reasons why it is crucial to understand how common child abuse is. The

authors of the article Prevalence of Child Abuse and its Related Factors in Iran: A Systematic

Review state, based on a review of 22 articles related to the prevalence of child abuse in Iran, about

5%-58% of children are physically abused, 7%-92% are emotionally abused, and 6%-85% endure

neglect (70). This information was from the early 2000s, but child abuse continues to have high

numbers. More and more people have begun to take measures to prevent future child abuse from

happening.

Many victims of child abuse report enduring it once, but some children may endure it

multiple times, whether it is the same type of abuse or a different one. The authors of the article

Long term effects of child abuse: lessons for Australian paediatric nurses support this idea by stating

that children who experience one type of violence are more likely to experience another type and

more frequently (Felicity James and Dr. Janet Green 48-49). Research says that many measures

should be taken to help prevent child abuse, such as educating people on how to identify and help

victims before the abuse becomes too cruel, addressing the child’s household stability, spreading

word of healthy coping mechanisms, and especially making safe, nurturing environments as well as

participating in community activities (Felicity James and Dr. Janet Green 49). One of the most

important measure that must be taken is educating people on what child abuse is, what it can look

like, how it can affect someone, and how to correctly identify it. One way this can be done is by

learning how the survivors feel during and after their experiences. According to the article Possible

paths to increase detection of child sexual abuse in child and adolescent psychiatry: a meta-

synthesis of survivors’ and health professionals’ experiences of addressing child sexual abuse on a
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study conducted that consisted of child sexual abuse survivors, survivors went through periods of

confusion regarding what they had been a part of (because it was unwanted), and a growing need of

disclosing their experiences with others (Signe Hjelen Stige et al. 5) During these experiences, they

may not act like themselves. Speaking to survivors and gathering information on how it can look like

will help increase the detection of child abuse. For example, you may see a happy child suddenly not

want to talk to people for a long time, and that can be a sign that they are going through something.

Not only is it important to communicate with the suspected child abuse victim, but it is also

important to communicate with any adult caregiver in their lives, educating them on who the abuser

could be. Many people believe that children will only be abused by strangers, but they do not realize

that abusers can be as close as a friend or, in some cases, family members. People also fail to realize

that children can be abused by other minors, either going through phases of immaturity or being

older and acting on urges. According to pie charts on a study conducted on parents in the article

Preventing Child Sexual Abuse, What Parents Know?, only around 12% of parents knew that

abusers can be family members or even close friends. More is needed to be done to educate parents

on the prevalence of child abuse, what it can look like, and how to prevent it.

Child abuse is the maltreatment of children. There are two main types of abuse: physical and

mental. Examples of physical abuse include hitting, neglecting their physical needs, and even

conducting illegal, sexual acts toward the child. Examples of mental abuse include verbal assault,

neglecting their mental needs, and encouraging/exploiting them to do wrong. Child abuse is usually

caused by having an unstable home life, making parents stressed, which can lead to them taking their

negative emotions out on their children. Child abuse will have many effects. The brains of children

of young ages are still underdeveloped, so the abuse they endure can lead to developmental problems

in different areas, such as adaptive functioning, communication, cognition, and language. It can also
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lead to psychological disorders, such as PTSD. It is important to know about the prevalence of child

abuse as well as ways to prevent it. Not many people understand how common child abuse is, nor

how to identify it. By spreading awareness through child abuse survivors’ experiences and how

different abuse can look like, parents can be educated on how to prevent it by talking to their

children about these topics after spotting signs. One day, there will hopefully be better education on

child abuse as well as more awareness of it, but for now, parents should focus on educating

themselves and their children about it.

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Work(s) Cited

Afroz, S., & Tiwari, P. S. N. (2015). Psychological abuse: Impact on children. Indian

Journal of Health and Wellbeing, 6(5), 526–528.

https://doi.org/http://www.iahrw.com/index.php/home /journal_detail/19#list

Bakarman, M. A., & Eljaaly, Z. O. (2017). Preventing Child Sexual Abuse, What Parents

Know?. Annals of King Edward Medical University, 23(3). https://doi.org/10.21649

/akemu.v23i3.2010

Freer, B. D., Sprang, G., Katz, D., Belle, C., & Sprang, K. (2016). The impact of child abuse

potential on adaptive functioning: Early identification of risk. Journal of Family Violence,

32(2), 189–196. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-016-9863-6

Harper, K., Stalker, C. A., Palmer, S., & Gadbois, S. (2008). Adults traumatized by child

abuse: What survivors need from community-based mental health professionals.

Journal of Mental Health, 17(4), 361–374. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638230701498366

James, F., & Green, J. (2016). Long term effects of child abuse: lessons for Australian

paediatric nurses. Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing, 35(4), 42–49.

https://doi.org/https:// www.ajan.com.au/archive/Vol35/Issue4/5James.pdf

Salehian, M., Maleki-Saghooni, N., & Karimi, F. Z. (2021). Prevalence of Child Abuse and

its Related Factors in Iran: A Systematic Review. Reviews in Clinical Medicine, 8(2), 69–

78. https://doi.org/http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by/3.0

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Stige, S. H., Andersen, A. C., Halvorsen, J. E., Halvorsen, M. S., Binder, P.-E., Måkestad, E.,

& Albæk, A. U. (2022). Possible paths to increase detection of child sexual abuse in child

and adolescent psychiatry: A meta-synthesis of survivors’ and health professionals’

experiences of addressing child sexual abuse. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on

Health and Well-Being, 17(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/17482631.2022.2103934

TÜRK KURTÇA, T. (2022). Parent Education in Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Programs.

Psikiyatride Güncel Yaklaşımlar, 14(2), 247–254. https://doi.org/10.18863/pgy.983264