problems associated with child abuse

The study focuses on sexual maltreatment and neglect of children. This paper concentrates on the case study of Philips family to point out the problems associated with child abuse. This study also explores other studies, which relates to the problem that the household faces to create a better understanding of the case presented. The problems revolving around Philips is mainly incest. The problem has caused shame, and Miss Philips is ashamed of talking about the father of her first-born daughter. Keke is going through what her mother had gone through at a young age. Keke learned to use narcotics from her parents and relatives. Keke was also sexually abused while she was still a child possibly because she had been distant from her mother- who depended on Philip for advice and everything he needed to do. Keke has also suffered sexual assault because she was not under close supervision and maternal care. This paper also relates the problems in the family of Philip with other issues being discussed in the other studies. This study further suggests areas that require further research that would build the society and provide a lasting solution to families like that of Philip.
Introduction
This study focuses on sexual maltreatment and neglect of children. Sexual abuse entails enticing or using force to involve in sexual activities irrespective of the child’s knowledge of what is happening. The activities could be physical in nature or suggestive. The physical, sexual assaults include rape while the indecent practices involve exposing children to abusive sexual literature such as pictures of nude people and pornographic videos (Cyr, Wright, McDuff, & Perron, 2002).

People abuse children sexually when they are encouraged to behave in sexually suggestive ways. Neglect refers to consistent failures in providing the basic needs (both psychological and physical) for children. It occurs during pregnancy because of maternal substance abuse. After childbirth, negligence involves failure to provide, protection, necessities emotional support, medical care and educational needs.
“The Amsterdam Sexual Abuse Case (ASAC)-study in day care centers: longitudinal effects of sexual abuse on infants and very young children and their parents, and the consequences of the persistence of abusive images on the internet” (Lindauer et al, 2014)
This case involves a scenario where a day care staff was suspected to have defiles 130 children in school. The Amsterdam children abuse case involved a study where the majority of the alleged defiled children were boys. Parents participated in the study to determine the symptoms exhibited by children who have been sexually assaulted (Lindauer et al., 2014). The study also concentrated on effects of persistently exposing of young children to pornographic materials. Lindauer et al., (2014) case study also included parents to hypothesize whether there are any relations between the past of parents and vulnerability of children to sexual abuse. The study also examined the influence of the abuse on the relationship between children and their parents. Furthermore, the study also examined the perception of parents who are informed of their children predicament. The study concluded that abused children have a negative relationship with their parents, it also explains that continuous exposure to vulgar materials leads to aggressive behavior and bad habits in boys. Besides, the study articulated the symptoms exhibited by sexually assaulted children.
This study is important for the case study involving the family of Philips because it explains the symptoms of sexually abused children. Knowing the symptoms is important for our case because Miss Philips is unsure whether Jeremy has ever been assaulted despite his crude behavior on girls. The article also provides the effects of sexual abuse (both physical and psychological) on the nervous system of children and social practices. The study explains that the results of sexual assault may consist of the inability to cope with emotions, post-traumatic stress, eating disorders, and depression. The effects of the abuse could be memory impairment, dissociation, and reductions in the brain’s social functioning. This theme reflects directly on Keke academic performance and behavior in class. The case study reveals that Keke daydreams mostly in class. The information provided by this study explains the reason behind Keke’s loss of attention in class. Information provided when preparing an intervention plan that would correct Keke’s poor social behavior from the cause perspective.
Some symptoms portrayed by Jeremy suggest the possibility of having been a victim of sexual abuse. Jeremy and Keke relate negatively with Miss Philips. Miss Philips past had a lot to do with incest thus according to (Lindauer et al., 2014), Miss Philips past has much influence on the current issues the children are facing.
The theme provided in the study by (Lindauer et al., 2014) explores the life Miss Philips lives currently. The study explains that children who acquire less of their parent’s affection may have difficulty maintaining a healthy relationship with people around them and even their children later in their lives. Miss Philip’s children are victims of sexual abuse; she has no positive relationship with the children and needs help in controlling the behaviors of her children to secure a home. An intervention plan that could be developed for the current situation in the family would provide solutions to the anxiety felt by Miss Philips bearing in mind that it came from the result of incest. The study on the effect of sexual abuse demonstrates the central problem in the case study involving the family of Phillip. This article also explains the dangers involved with sexually abusing children at an early age. The article is important because it defends the emotional status of children. The article also promotes close relations between family members by blaming the circumstances leading to rape on distant relationships with children.
Some studies derive a relationship between childhood sexual assault and primary depression disorders. “A case study of a mother’s intertwining experiences with incest and postpartum depression” by Bongaard and Binder (2011) explains that majority of mothers who experience postpartum depression had been abused during their childhood. A special study explores how postpartum disorder collides with incest experiences. The study explores a case where a mother who had been assaulted sexually during her childhood keeps imagining her children being sexually assaulted. Bongaard and Binder (2011), proves that despite the ability to ignore such thoughts, her perception remains conscious of negative actions and emotions. Bongaard and Binder (2011) also suggested that uncontrolled behavior such as drug abuse is also associated with the impacts of incest especially to an addict who was assaulted at an early age. In a scenario where incest dominates the thought of a mother, such a woman actions are controlled by her perception of incest (Bongaard & Binder 2011). The study concludes that anxiety and incest are interrelated because a thought of incest leads to defensive actions such as anguish, which an individual unconsciously uses to, suppresses any idea that may lead to incest related behavior (Bongaard & Binder 2011).
The article on “a mother’s intertwining experiences with incest and postpartum depression” (Bongaard & Binder 2011) is important for the study of Phillip’s family since it reflects on impacts of incest which dominate ‘the Philips.’ Starting with Miss Philip to Keke, both are a victim of incest and rape. The stepfather and the uncles raped Miss Philip as early as the age of seven. Keke is another victim of rape at a very early age. Bongaard and Binder (2011) also explain how incest has affected the life of Miss Philips whose perception is dominated by incest thought. For instance, Miss Philips would not leave any of her children with her to the stepfather. Even though she forgave him, there still lack trust, which entangles from the mother’s imagination that her children would be raped. The study discourages incest at all cost terming the dangers involved with incest.
“Childhood abuse and criminal behavior: testing a general strain theory model” (TL, 2016)
This article draws on general strain hypothesis to create and test a model of the child maltreatment and bad behavior. Utilizing information from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health TL (2016) find that early youth physical and sexual mishandle are vigorous indicators of aggressive behaviors during puberty, for the full specimen and in conditions disaggregated by sex. This study in part demonstrates the impact of sexual manhandle among girls depends on closeness to the mother. The impact of youth sexual mishandle among boys, is more vigorous than among females and it continues in spite of controls (TL, 2016).
This article is related to the case study on the family of Philips because it also focuses on the root causes of bad behaviors among boys and girls, where sexually abuse is concerned. The article is important because it highlights the difference in causes of bad behavior among boys and girls. The highlighted differences are important for creating an intervention plan for correcting the behavior of Keke and that of Jeremy. The approaches will be different because TL (2016) proved the behaviors are propagated by opposing factors. Because of TL (2016), the readers are enlightened of the cause of Miss Philips drug abuse and impaired relationships.
“Adolescent Sexual Victimization, ADHD Symptoms, and Risky Sexual Behavior” (White & Buehler, 2012)
The article concentrates on the impact of sexual victimization, neglect and ADHD symptoms on the behavior of children. The study concentrates on college women who were sexually assaulted in their childhood. This study is important to the case study of Philips family because Miss Philips was a victim of sexual abuse in her childhood. The scenario seems to affect Miss Phillips because she cannot relate very well to her children. Miss Philips also has a problem maintaining marital relationship evident from the fact that she has three children all from different fathers whom she had never married. She feels the only way to correct children bad behavior is by spanking them. Miss Philips mother had also been arrested for abusing the kids physically. The emotional trauma the three children have gone through connects directly to the study of relationship attachment as related to parental affection. The study further illustrates that victims of neglect are likely to suffer brain related ailments such as post-traumatic stress disorders (White & Buehler, 2012). According to White and Buehler (2012), lack of parental affection may stimulate aggressive behaviors on children when they grow up.
Another impact of ADHD is explained using attachment theory; the theory provides that the behavior of a parent of a guardian would influence the behavior of the child. This theory is important sine it explains the rowdy behavior by Jeremy. Jeremy is four-year-old, and there is no way he could be suffering from drug addictions. The behavior must be an emulation of what he sees her mother and people close to her doing. Jeremy also sleeps together with Keke who has been a victim of sexual assault for a long time. Attachment theory also explains that poor attachment which results from neglect are stubborn. Evidently, Jeremy and her mother were never close, and the case study shows that whenever Jeremy and Keke were downstairs, the mother was upstairs and the reverse. The distances in contact illustrate the distance in relation thus Miss Phillips will continually find it difficult to control behaviors of the children unless the distant relation is restored. Alexia who is still young feels close to Keisha and sees her as protection, unlike the two children who already feel the distance them and their mother. To repair the relationships Keisha needs to reduce harm on both Jeremy and Keke to restore positive relations.
Finally, the study of neglect explains the effects of neglect on brain development. This article explains the importance attending to children needs during their early stage of development. It states that neglect to infant’s controls children experiences in thought process and the neural pathways. The study presents a case where malnutrition (an impact of neglect) weakens neural cells and denatures the cells or reduces their functionality. In addition, the study suggests that close interactions with the parents enhance the verbal and emotional pathways in the neuron. The theme presented in this study is very instrumental to our case study in Philips family. It explains why Keke and Jeremy have a problem have relations problem and the possible explanations to Jeremy’s limit in vocabulary. It is important for the study of Philips family that this article mentions attention deficit disorder. The idea explains why Keke is so obsessed with attention and praises. Most likely, she gets less attention from her mother. The case study also illustrated that Keke seems to be bright but performs poorly. The provided theme is instrumental in defining Jeremy’s shortage of verbal speech and Keke’s reason for failure. The article encourages the importance of keeping the family together and protects children from neglect.
The problems revolving around Philips family consist of an inherited behavior (either through observation or through adaptation). Keke is going through what her mother had gone through at a young age. Keke learned to use narcotics from her parents and relatives. Keke was also sexually abused while she was still a child possibly because she had been distant from her mother- who depended on Philip for advice and everything he needed to do. Keke has also suffered sexual assault because she was not under close supervision and maternal care. The cycles of events are unlikely to continue unless immediate interventions are sought. Miss Philips also leaves Alexia with the farmer. Jeremy behavior is sexually suggestive as he touches women private parts. Miss Philips has no idea on the cause of the problem. It is likely that Jeremy could be learning the habits from Keke who has been a victim of sexual abuse for more than three years.
The continuous neglect is the main cause of incest within the family and sexual abuse on children (Cyr, Wright, McDuff, & Perron, 2002). Therefore, whatever intervention plan the family may require, the primary stage would be dealing with neglect and parental supervision of their children. The second stage would be creating a healthy relationship between children and the parents to encourage free communication that would allow children to report abusers and sexual assault they may suffer in the hand of relatives. Miss Philips must also attend rehabilitation to overcome her drug problems and reduce the risk of passing the behavior to the children.
None of the articles in the study explored the available solutions to fix the brain problems that could have been developed because of malnutrition. There is a need for studies that would enlighten readers whether the situation is reversible or permanent. The available remedies should also be researched to help the children who could be suffering the neural disorder due to malnutrition. The case study also illustrates the prevailing problem is likely to occur in less fortunate families.
References
Cyr, M., Wright, J., McDuff, P., & Perron, A. (2002). Interfamilial sexual abuse: brother–sister incest does not differ from father–daughter and stepfather–stepdaughter incest. Child Abuse & Neglect, 26(9), 957-973. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0145-2134(02)00365-4Lindauer, R. J., Brilleslijper-Kater, S. N., Diehle, J., Verlinden, E., Teeuw, A. H., Middeldorp, C. M., & … Verhoeff, A. (2014). The Amsterdam Sexual Abuse Case (ASAC)-study in day care centers: longitudinal effects of sexual abuse on infants and very young children and their parents and the consequences of the persistence of abusive images on the internet. BMC Psychiatry, 14(1), 295-306. doi:10.1186/s12888-014-0295-7
Røseth, I., Bongaard, R., & Binder, P.-E. (2011). A case study of a mother intertwining experience with incests and postpartum depression. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being, 6(3), 10.3402/qhw.v6i3.7244. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3136228/TL, W. (2016). Childhood abuse and criminal behavior: testing a general strain theory model. – PubMed – NCBI. Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved 15 November 2016, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23787294White, J. j., & Buehler, C. c. (2012). Adolescent Sexual Victimization, ADHD Symptoms, and Risky Sexual Behavior. Journal Of Family Violence, 27(2), 123-132.