Tatianna Rios

Professor Sipin
English 110
Paper Four
December 1, 2014
Child Maltreatment and Its Affects
In the United States a lot of people are not aware of the severity of child maltreatment,
but it is a very serious issue that can result in different complications to the children and their
adult life such as: mental illness/chronic diseases, emotional distress, and even death. There are
four forms of maltreatment: physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and neglect. This
essay will help to inform and possibly prevent all forms of maltreatment.
Child maltreatment has four specific categories: physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual
abuse and neglect; all except emotion abuse are against federal law and state law. In chapter
three of A Coordinated Response to Child Abuse and Neglect: The Foundation for Practice it
states that The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) provides minimum
standards for defining physical child abuse, child neglect and sexual abuse under federal law.
(Office) The CAPTA gives specific definitions for sexual abuse and withholding of medically
indicated treatment but does not give any set definitions for the other types of maltreatment.
(Office) While under state law each state is responsible for providing its own definition of
maltreatment within civil and criminal contexts. (Office) Child protective services use those
definitions to tell whether or not a child has been maltreated and then if that is the case they will
intervene into the childs family life.
In 2005 899,000 of a totally of 3.3 million children were found to be victims of abuse, of
those children 16.6 percent were found to be victims of physical abuse. (Child Physical) Physical
abuse is characterized as non-accidental trauma (Child Physical) or physical injury to a child.
For example: punching, choking, beating, kicking, hitting child with object, etc; which will likely

result in lacerations, broken bones, bruises and many more injuries. Most times physical abuse
will result from punishing a child in an excessive way that may be too intense for the childs age,
in these situations the caregiver or parent may not have meant to hurt the child. (Office) In some
cases parents or caregivers may not be ready to handle a child because of a lack of parenting
skills which may become frustrated and can lead to physical violence. In other cases culture
practices where the child is hurt but are not being physically abused may come into play; these
practices are generally respected but if the injury is serious child protective services may have
to intervene. (Office) Disruptive disorders may result from physical abuse, such as oppositional
defiant disorder [and] conduct disorder. (McPhearson) Oppositional defiant disorder is when a
child or teenager has a persistent pattern of tantrums, arguing, and anger or disruptive behavior
(Mayo) toward their adults, teachers or caregiver. Conduct disorder is a more significant disorder
that can result from oppositional defiant disorder. (Mental Health: Oppositional) Conduct
disorder occurs when a child or teen displays wild and violent behavior that last a long time,
specifically behavior that disrupts the childs or familys everyday life. (Mental Health:
Conduct) Children resulting from physical abuse may develop other problems as well, such as:
excessive shyness, showing conflict toward children their age and/or the child may not do very
well in school. (McPhearson)
Emotional abuse is thought to be even more damaging than physical abuse, but it not the
most obvious maltreatment. Emotional abuse or psychological maltreatment is defined as a
pattern of behavior by a parent or caregiver that can seriously interfere with the childs cognitive,
emotional, psychological or social development. (Emotional Abuse) There are a few different
types of emotional abuse, like anything from verbally assault to neglecting the child. Verbal
assault is when the parent or caregiver is constantly belittling, shaming, ridiculing or verbally

threatening the child. (Emotional Abuse) Another type is rejecting: which is basically not
answering the childs needs. For example: not holding or showing affection to the child. In many
families parents may give/have a negative attitude toward their children here and there which is
not considered emotional abuse, what would make it emotional abuse is if it were constant.
Parents/caregivers may emotionally abuse their children because of poor parenting skills, stress
or maybe they themselves were abused when they were younger. (Emotional Abuse) Tara
McPherson found that some studies have shown that children who suffer from emotional abuse
have the worst outcome of all abuse and are better predictors of later problems. (McPhearson)
Children who suffer from emotional abuse tend to show psychological difficulties, but they can
also experience developmental problems, learning problems and sometimes speech disorders.
(Office) It was found that adults who were emotionally abused as children were more likely to
have anxiety, depression, interpersonal sensitivity and dissociation. (McPhearson) Emotional
abuse is more likely to cause long-term psychological problems than any other maltreatment.
Sexual abuse is a very difficult maltreatment to talk about because it occurs in children of
all ages, including infants every day. (Child Sexual) There were reported 83,800 victims of
sexual abuse in 2005, studies show that girls are more likely to be sexually abused but boys are
abused as well. (Child Sexual) Sexual abuse can include touching and non-touching offenses
such as sexual intercourse and exposing a child to pornographic material. (Office) Incest is a
very common factor as well, it can involve sexual abuse occurring among [close] family
members, but can also be committed by other relatives. (Office) The effects of sexual abuse
can extend far beyond childhood. (Child Sexual) Sexual abuse takes away the childhood of the
children that experience it, which creates a loss of trust and leaves them feeling guilt. (Child
Sexual) Children who are sexually abused are very likely to have psychiatric disorders and may

also suffer from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. (McPhearson and Young, pg. 233) Anxiety and
suicidal tendencies in children who are sexually abuse is very high. (McPhearson) Children and
adolescence who are sexually abused may exhibit aggression, sleeping problems, depression,
withdrawal from family and friends, etc. (Child Sexual) Sexual abuse can affect the normal
function of these childrens everyday lives.
According to the American Humane Associations article titled Child Neglect:
Child neglect is the most prevalent form of child maltreatment in
the United States. According to the National Child Abuse and
Neglect Data System (NCANDS), of the approximately 899,000
children in the United States who were victims of abuse and
neglect in 2005, 62.8 percent (564,765 children) suffered from
neglect alone, including medical neglect (USDHHS, 2007).
According to NCANDS, 42.2 percent of child maltreatment
fatalities in the United States in 2005 occurred as a result of
neglect only.
Child neglect is described as failure to provide for a childs basic needs (has to be ongoing)
which may result from meaningful harm. Not providing sufficient clothing, medical care, and
food are some examples of child neglect; many States establish religious exemptions for parents
who choose not to seek medical care [] due to religious beliefs. (Office) Most times child
neglect can be physically noticeable by school teachers, daycare providers and relatives when
they see poor hygiene, poor weight gain or absence from school. (Child Neglect) There are four
different kinds of neglect such as educational, physical, medical and emotional neglect.
Educational neglect is when the parent or caregiver fails to enroll their child into school or
provide home schooling, also called truancy, which can lead to abnormal development of the
child. (Office and Child Neglect) Physical neglect is failure or refusal to provide necessities like
food, clothing and shelter which can endanger the childs well-being. (Child Neglect) Medical
neglect is the failure to provide appropriate health care for a child, thus placing the child at risk

of being seriously disables or disfigured or dying. (Child Neglect) Poverty may become a factor
in medical neglect, but there is a fine line between having financial problems and just refusing
medical care. Emotional neglect is when the parent or caregiver does not provide affection or
attention, engaging in extreme spousal abuse while around children, and/or allowing and
encouraging drug or alcohol use. (Office) People who were neglected during their childhood
reported current symptoms of anxiety, depression, somatization, paranoia and hostility.
(McPhearson)
Failure to thrive is just one example of a result of emotional abuse, sexual abuse and
neglect, which is when infants and children are much smaller or shorter than children their age
because of Medical problem or environmental factors. (Ntzenadel, pg. 642) Children two
months to 16 years old neglect can be a cause of failure to thrive syndrome. (Ntzenadel, pg.
646) An example of an adult who was severely affected by maltreatment was Johann Jack
Unterweger, better known as The Vienna Strangler. Unterweger was an Australian serial killer
who murdered prostitutes in several countries by strangling them with their own underwear, it is
thought that he did this because of his mother who was arrested several times for prostituting.
Once his mother was arrested in 1953 Jack Unterweger went to live with his grandfather in
Austria, who was later deemed as unfit to raise Jack, he described him as an abusive alcoholic.
(Johann) His grandfather was constantly bringing girlfriend and prostitutes home, but there was
only one bed so Jack was nearby while his grandfather would have sex with these women. Jack
did could not remember any positive feelings toward his childhood, and did not like to speak
about it. (Johann) He was a very smart man who became a very successful writer at the end of
his time in prison and when he was released. His early crime of murdering an 18 yr. old girl with
her bra lead police to suspect Unterweger for the murders that occurred in the 1990s. (Johann)

All child maltreatments can be damaging in many different ways, as this essay shows,
and should be stopped. One would think with so much education and exposure to facts about
maltreatment it would cease to exist, but that is not the case. (McPhearson) The affects of all
types of maltreatment can be very severe and even life threatening. It is encouraged that people
inform others about physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect to help identify
signs of these maltreatments while also helping to stop future abuse.

Work Cited
"Child Neglect." American Humane Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.americanhumane.org/children/stop-child-abuse/fact-sheets/childneglect.html>.
"Child Physical Abuse." Child Physical Abuse. American Humane Association, n.d. Web. 9
Nov. 2014. <http://www.americanhumane.org/children/stop-child-abuse/factsheets/child-physical-abuse.html>.
"Child Sexual Abuse." American Humane Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.americanhumane.org/children/stop-child-abuse/fact-sheets/child-sexualabuse.html>.
"Emotional Abuse." American Humane Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.americanhumane.org/children/stop-child-abuse/fact-sheets/emotionalabuse.html>.
Johann "Jack" Unterweger (The Vienna Strangler). N.d. YouTube. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoCJsDen0zg>.
Mayo Clinic Staff. "Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)." Mayo Clinic. N.p., n.d. Web. 10
Nov. 2014. <http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/oppositional-defiantdisorder/basics/definition/con-20024559>.
"Mental Health: Conduct Disorder." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/mental-health-conduct-disorder>.
"Mental Health: Oppositional Defiant Disorder." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/oppositional-defiant-disorder>.
McPhearson, Tara. "A Literature Review of the Psychological Effects of Child Maltreatment."

Psychological Effects of Child Maltreatment. N.p., Mar. 2002. Web. 9 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.cyc-net.org/cyc-online/cycol-0302-mcpherson.html>.
Ntzenadel, Walter. "Failure To Thrive In Childhood." Deutsches Aerzteblatt International
108.38 (2011): 642-649. CINAHL Plus with Full Text. Web. 26 Nov. 2014. (JOURNAL)
Office on Child Abuse and Neglect, Children's Bureau. Goldman, J., Salus, M. K., Wolcott, D.,
Kennedy, K. Y.. "A Coordinated Response to Child Abuse and Neglect: The Foundation
for Practice." Chapter Three: What Is Child Maltreatment. U.S. Department of Health &
Human Services, 2003. Web. 9 Nov. 2014.
<https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/usermanuals/foundation/foundationc.cfm>.
Young, Alexandra, adeyoung@uq.edu.au, Justin Kenardy, and Vanessa1 Cobham. "Trauma In
Early Childhood: A Neglected Population." Clinical Child & Family Psychology Review
14.3 (2011): 231-250. Education Source. Web. 29 Nov. 2014. (JOURNAL)