In the United States alone, “more than five children die every day as a result of abuse” (Tennyson Center for Children). That’s almost 2,ooo child deaths a year. However, many abused children do live to adulthood; and their life doesn’t suddenly fix itself. These children are scarred physically and emotionally. Without ever experiencing love or safety, they become quite lost when they began to live on their own. More often than not, the trauma that is experience in childhood handicaps them and destroys the possibility of a promising future. In The Elegance of the Hedgehog, the main character Renee was abused as a child. Many of the struggles she had to endure as a child impacted her actions and thoughts throughout the story. To gain further insight into child abuse, I read and analyzed two data based articles, an …show more content…
The combination of these sources along with the book lead me to understand that childhood abuse has many negative effects that can impact someone emotionally and physically for life, even causing disease. Questioning what negative effects could happen from child abuse began when I read The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. The book is about the internal struggles of two extraordinarily intelligent women. Renee’s a poor concierge who works at a rich apartment building. Despite being a part of the lower class, Renee is very intelligent. She struggles, however, with showing her true identity amongst the high class residents whom she feels may not appreciate her true self and could possibly fire her. As she works, she secretly categorizes all of the wealthy residents and analizes their behaviors and
In chapter one, Elizabeth D. Hutchison covers many points regarding the values and beliefs of children during their childhood. As children grow up into adolescences and adults their values often reflect on how they were raised during their childhood era. Children who suffer from neglect, shelter, abuse sexual, mental, or physical, abandonment ect... Often struggle when they enter the teenage stage and the adult hood age. Since they did not have anyone to guide them through life they often feel lost and do not know how to manage big changes that come into their life especially when a change in their life is positive. Many of these children who have suffered abuse or any issues are often placed in foster care at a young age.
She uses her story about growing up in the lower/middle class to appeal to the audience emotionally, to create sympathy and empathy with the audience who may share a similar
It is the tragic truth that many children have to face abuse while growing up, this influences the kind of person they become. Kerry Kletter’s novel, The First Time She Drowned, displays several forms of abuse a child may experience, many of which prove to have lasting effects on the characters. Through research, it is proven how abuse can affect a child's development. Whether the abuse is physical, verbal or sexual it changes a person, impacting their life. Abuse creates trauma for a person making their lives harder and changing the way they view the world.
Child abuse is a topic that is found in the general population, but is an underestimated problem. Abuse is evident both physically, psychologically, sexually, or even in the form of neglect. For example, in the memoir A Child Called "It", David Pelzer’s experiences of abuse by his mother are shared as well as his road to help. Although the majority of his experiences are physical, the emotional effects of abuse he faces are evident as he views himself in a way she has taught him too, and slowly loses hope and faith of a future or of being loved by anyone. There are many ways to help suffering children in the world, and some of it can even be done by starting at home.
Your childhood can be a cruel game of survival. Statistics show that 60% of adults report of experiencing difficult family circumstances or abuse during childhood, 20% of children in the United States will witness or experience a traumatic event before they turn four, and young children exposed to five or more significant adverse experiences in the first three years of childhood face a 76% likeliness of having one or more delays in their language, emotional, or brain development. (recognizetrauma.org/trauma.php) Early childhood trauma refers to traumatic experiences that occur to someone during the ages of 0-6. According to the psychodynamic view, loss of memory and dissociating one’s self from a stressful or traumatic event reduces emotional
Research has consistently found that child abuse and neglect (maltreatment) increases the risk of lower academic achievement and problematic school performance. These children have suffered significant emotional stress during critical periods of early brain development and personality formation, the support they require is reparative as well as
The Children's Bureau publicized in their last pole that every year 754,000 children are abused or neglected by a parent. This consists of abuses such as physical, mental, and neglect. The Glass Castle, a memoir by Jeannette Walls, tells stories that Jeannette remembers as a normality. However, it truly opens the reader’s eyes to a new standard for parental neglect.
While victims of child abuse are able to grow into successful adults, their traumatic experiences follow them forever. As John Balguy states, “Whatever parent gives his children good instruction and sets them at the same time a bad example, may be considered as bringing them food in one hand and poison in the
For instance, for this student, before reading this book, I would categorize this different types of abuse differently, from more severe to less severe, and perhaps giving less importance to those I viewed as less severe. But it is important to understand that for each of these victims, each abuse was very serious, very severe, and they should be treated equally. This book is also a great source of understanding for those who were perpetrators of abuse, especially against children, it will help them to understand the consequences of their actions, and how perhaps once act, have completely changed the life of a child. This book is also important to parents and those who work with children, when we, as adults understands the risks that children, adolescents and any person who is not able to protect themselves are facing, we hopefully can be more vigilant of children, women and any possible
It examines the effects of childhood abuse and neglect on later healthiness and mental well-being reflects the Victor-monster relationship in the modern era. The ACE score, a total sum of categories of abuse, is used to assess the cumulative stress on a child. The study reveals a “graded dose-response” relationship between an increased ACE score and negative health and well-being throughout one’s life (CDC). Because Victor insulted & humiliated, society assaulted and wounded, and the monster lived alone with no feelings of love and importance, he would have rated relatively high in this study (ACE). This is assuming society as a pseudo-parental entity, that teaches and influences in the absence of Victor.
And Brian will go to his neighbors house and steal their food. The abuse that the kids endure can affect how their brain develops. “Even if physical punishment does not result in serious physical injury, children may experience fear and distress, and this stress has been found to negatively impact brain structure, development and overall well-being” (Font). Even though the abuse they all experience is different, it all negatively affects them. Jeannette, Brian, and Maureen experience sexual abuse while Lori experienced physical abuse by the grandmother.
The short documentary “Child of Rage” presents an example of how experiencing abuse as a child can shape the child later in life and how some children can recover. The intrafamilial abuse that Beth experienced as a one year old affected her behavior later in her childhood when she was adopted. Beth was also able to recover from some of the effects of the child abuse she experienced once she was separated from her adoptive family and taken to a special home. Beth experienced intrafamilial abuse at the hands of her biological father after her mother passed away when she was one.
Maltreatment has a severe impact on a child’s current and future functioning and development regarding their emotional, social, cognitive, behavioral, and physical wellbeing.(Frederico 345). Different types of abuse, such as physical, emotional, and sexual have different consequences, but the consequences of all maltreatment, are likely to happen in three stages. Firstly, a child may have an initial reaction such as post-traumatic symptoms, painful emotions, and cognitive distortions. Secondly, children develop coping strategies that are aimed to help increase their safety or reduce their pain. Thirdly, a child 's sense of self-worth is damaged and develop the feeling of shame and hopelessness..
In the article “ The Developmental Impact of Child Abuse on Adulthood: Implications for Counselors,” Adultspan Journal explains the multiple effects of child abuse. The authors April Sikes and Dancia Hays explain how child abuse has an extremely negative effect on children as they transition into adulthood. These effects can be physical, social, and even mental. Being treated badly as a child increases the risks in social development. Some examples of this are substance abuse, criminal behavior, violence, and risky sexual behavior.
Each year in America alone, an estimate of two million children, ranging from infants to teenagers go through minor or major kinds of abuse which include neglect, physical, emotional, and sexual maltreatment. According to the National American Committee to Prevent Child Abuse, neglect represented 54% of confirmed cases of child abuse, physical abuse represented 22%, sexual abuse represented 8%, emotional maltreatment represented 4%, and other forms of maltreatment represented12%. It also indicates that child abuse is far more common in single-parent families than in families where both parents are