Child Abuse and its Effects on the Child

Words by Raelynn Ng Wei Ting

6 December 2020

What is child abuse? In our current society, it seemed that the prevalence of child abuse has risen over the years and with public campaigns to raise awareness on child abuse, more cases have been uncovered. In Singapore, the number of cases for child abuse has increased and hit more than 1,000 cases since 2018. Child abuse is any form of maltreatment, be it physical, emotional, mental, sexual or even neglect to a child that might harm or poses danger for the child. It can be “invisible” to others if it comes in either the mental or emotional form of abuse. Physical abuse is still the most common type of abuse with at least 660 cases of it out of the 1088 cases in total, followed by neglect and sexual abuse (“Child Abuse Investigations”, 2020). It is alarming that there might be other cases of child abuse not brought to light since emotional and mental abuse are hard to detect, especially if these children are forced to suffer in silence. When detecting physical abuse, it might be more obvious for people within or outside of the household to take notice that a child is being abused, prompting them to take the appropriate actions to remove the children from these abusive situations. Mental and emotional abuse, which includes neglect, are harder to notice when these children go about their daily lives and some of them might not know that they are being subjected to these forms of abuse, thinking that it is the norm. Some signs of emotional abuse can be hurling verbal insults, instilling self-doubts in a person, emotional manipulation and inducing fear (“Emotional Abuse”, 2020). It is also crucial to note that the sexual abuse can go undetected since the child might be afraid and embarrassed to speak about it to someone else or is threatened by his/her abuser to keep quiet about it. Effects of abuse on children According to a factsheet by the U.S Child Welfare Information Gateway, there can be long-lasting effects and consequences when it comes to child abuse and neglect. These effects of abuse will follow these children throughout their lives, and some might not even recover from the trauma they have experienced given the varying degrees of abuse. Child abuse can affect a child in terms of his/her physical, psychological, emotional and social development. These children might undergo extreme stress during abusive situations and some might develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). They are also at a higher risk of developing health problems such as diabetes, malnutrition or brain damage (Widom et al., 2012). Additionally, these children would have insecure attachment styles with their caregivers, which would then affect a child’s social functioning and how he/she handles interpersonal relationships later in life (Unger & De Luca, 2014). He/she might find it hard to trust others as he/she might have felt betrayed by the people she could trust or even fall into the situation of learned helplessness and that no one can save them from what they are experiencing. Some of them might turn to alcohol and drug abuse or have unhealthy sexual practices in an attempt to “escape” from the trauma they have experienced in their childhood. With more parents and caregivers experiencing stress in the modern-day society, it is therefore important that we educate the public to raise awareness on child abuse and look out for signs or symptoms of a child going through child abuse and neglect. Children should not be used as a tool for abuse just to relieve one’s stress or be subjected to unfavorable conditions and neglect just because the parents or caregivers are too busy to care for them. We as the public should also be more aware and keep a lookout for signs that these children are living in abusive environment and try to rescue or prevent the continuation of the abuse by reporting to the authorities or relevant institutions.

REFERENCES:

1. Child Abuse Investigations. (n.d.). Ministry of Social and Family Development. Retrieved October 20, 2020, from https://www.msf.gov.sg/research-and-data/Research-and-Statistics/Pages/Child-Abuse-Investigations.aspx

2. Emotional Abuse. (n.d). Psychology Today. Retrieved December 12, 2020, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/emotional-abuse

3. Long-Term Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect. (2019, April). Child Welfare Information Gateway. Retrieved from https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/long_term_consequences.pdf

4. Unger, J.A.M., & De Luca, R.V. (2014) The Relationship Between Childhood Physical Abuse and Adult Attachment Styles. Journal of Family Violence, 29, 223–234. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-014-9588-3

5. Widom, C. S., Czaja, S. J., Bentley, T., & Johnson, M. S. (2012). A prospective investigation of physical health outcomes in abused and neglected children: new findings from a 30-year follow-up. American journal of public health, 102(6), 1135–1144. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2011.300636