Child Abuse Essay, Research Paper

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?The Broad effects which can be obtained by punishment in a man and beast are

the increase of fear, the sharpening of the sense of cunning, the mastery of the desires: so

it is that punishment tames man, but it does not make him ?better?? (Friedrich Wilhelm

Nietzch). Often times the scars that remain in the souls of an adult who was a battered

child are greater punishment than the incident of infliction of abuse. The physical abuse of

a child leads to the destruction of self esteem, a reduced ability to communicate socially

and interpersonally, and an inability to trust themselves and others.

Beating a child causes many negative life long side effects. The scars are not just

physical, but mental also. These blemish?s on their psyche make the abused less of a

person in the community and in his or her family. This is caused by their incredibly low

self esteem.

For one reason or another abused children find the abuse they endured throughout

childhood to be somehow their fault . This is a method of coping with the pain of

disappointment and dissatisfaction that is forced on them by their abuser. This form of

coping is carried with them throughout their entire life. They feel they are responsible for

anything that goes wrong, or is expected to happen that does not happen.

Another thing that abused children experience throughout their time of abuse is

constant negative reinforcement. Any feeling of good that may occur in their young lives is

immediately destroyed by the batterer. This creates a contradiction in their expansion of

self esteem. The negative fortification makes any feeling of self worth they experience

disappear. In turn they have feelings of worthlessness and an unjustified negative feeling

for themselves.

The result of this incredibly low self-esteem makes the abused suffer greatly in

many aspects of their life including their school. Along with a low feeling of self worth an

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abused child is likely to return very poor scores in their schooling. This is because they feel

that no matter how much effort is put forth they will not be successful.

Another side effect of this is severe depression. This may result in many things.

The worse scenario is suicide. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among 17 to 24

year olds ( O?Carrol Adolescent Behaviors). This makes the feeling of low self esteem a

?killer?. It is an option many people consider every day, as an opportunity to escape their

world.

A reduced ability to succeed in the work place is a very likely side effect of low

self esteem. A constant feeling of not being good enough makes the adult who was abused

as a child feel incompetent to fulfill the role of a ?boss? in their job. They find themselves

questioning their ability to make decisions for themselves, and can not see making

decisions that will effect everyone they work with. Because of this uncertainty they rarely

rise to a high level of management in their place of employment.

Something else that suffers in addition to the victims self esteem is their ability to

be a successful communicator. This is caused by constantly being ignored or neglected. In

many cases the abused does not even try to establish a social standing because they feel

the persistent stress of becoming a failure. This can be attributed to a lack of feeling love

throughout their adolescence.

Although emotional cruelty, or mind-battering, may often be unconscious, it is a

powerful weapon all the same. Parents can and do, quite literally, drive their child insane,

causing them such anguish and confusion that they can no longer function adequately in

their schools or in a social context ( Inglis 130). Not being able to have a successful

school career a child is told and feels as though they are a failure in their lives. And not

being able to communicate successfully in a school atmosphere makes for a very poor

personal and social life. It is said that the reason that you go to school is to learn what you

are taught by the teachers, but that is only half right. The other reason that schooling is so

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important is because that is where children and young adults learned to communicate and

get along with people of all races, religions and creeds.

Interpersonal Communication also suffers when a child is abused. One portion in

an abused life that is affected is their family communication. They fear that their emotions

will be rejected or corrected by other family members. They have a consistent

apprehension of being told that the way they feel about something is wrong making them

wrong. This creates an uneasiness when communicating in the family. So they ignore their

feeling to avoid confrontation.

Romantic interactions will also suffer. Low levels of marital satisfaction most is a

very common occurrence when one of the partners in a marriage were abused. This is

because in many cases the abused whiteness a very poor relationship with their parents. It

is very common in a house where abuse takes place for the parent that does not administer

the abuse to disagree with the abuse. So the abuser is looked down on by the spouse.

Many times this disagreement is not communicated to the abuser, so the child grows to

think little or no communication in areas of conflict is what is acceptable. This gives the

abused a very poor example for what communication levels should be for a romantic

relationship.

Friendship is effected greatly in children that are abused. They have a hard time

dealing with people who do not experience the abuse they do. They feel vulnerable to

criticism if they open up to someone who has not experienced what they do. As important

as friendship is in mental development in youth, the abused suffer greatly because of their

fear to communicate with their peers because of their dismay in confiding in another

person.

As a person grows throughout their life they learn to trust themselves. In an

abused child they rarely take this step. Survivors of childhood abuse and neglect, their

loved ones, and therapists are aware of the difficulty many survivors have engaging in

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trusting, consistent relationships with others (Romano Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).

Making trusting themselves with other people very rare. So a healthy relationship is

unlikely to develop.

The abused find it hard to trust themselves in a social setting because of a constant

fear of making a fool of themselves. They would rather live their lives without taking risks

in friendship because they find it hard to believe that they wont make any errors. Instead

they live their lives trying to ensure they to do what is socially ?right?.

This person lives their life in constant hesitation. This is because they dred being

judged negatively. This originates from their constantly being put down by their abusive

parent . As a child the things that they thought were good, they were told were bad so in

order to avoid criticism they keep to themselves.

Abused people find it laborious to trust others. They would rather avoid closeness

with outsiders than risk their emotions not being accepted by them. This is because the

trust they developed with the abusive parent was violated making it hard to take a chance

of rejection again. They find comfort in silence.

Fear of criticism is a major reason for lack of trust. The abused has had their entire

adolescent life judged by their parents, and many times their accomplishments are not

good enough for their family. They then find themselves being cautious with what they do

and say trying not to offend anyone. Even after they no longer live with the abuser there

us still a constant apprehension in disclosing information to others.

Child Abuse leaves life long scars on the victim. It has dramatic effects on every

aspect of their life. They have low self esteem which is caused by them blaming themselves

and constant negative reinforcement, which results in poor grades, depression and a

reduced ability to succeed in the workplace. Communication also suffers. Their social

communication level at work and school is very low. Interpersonal communication with

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family, significant others and friends is dramatically poor. The trust levels of the victims

with themselves and other people, an social contexts and their judging themselves makes it

hard to trust themselves. They also avoid closeness with others and fear criticism because

they have very little trust with others.