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child s basic physical needs (food, water, shelter, attention to per-
sonal hygiene) as well as his or her emotional, social, educational,
and medical needs. It also includes failure to provide adequate
supervision.
Emotional Abuse. Emotional abuse of a child includes acts or omis-
sions by the parents or caretakers that can cause serious behav-
ioral, cognitive, emotional, or mental disorders in the child. This
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26 Breaking the Cycle of Abuse
form of maltreatment includes verbal abuse (including constant
criticism, belittling, insulting, rejecting, and teasing); placing
excessive, aggressive, or unreasonable demands on a child that
are beyond his or her capabilities; and failure to provide the emo-
tional and psychological nurturing and positive support necessary
for a child s emotional and psychological growth and develop-
ment providing little or no love, support, or guidance (National
Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse, 1987).
Psychological maltreatment. While sometimes coming under the
heading of emotional abuse, this term is often used by profession-
als to describe a concerted attack by an adult on a child s develop-
ment of self and social competence, a pattern of psychically
destructive behavior. Under this definition, psychological mal-
treatment is classified into eleven behavioral forms:
1. Rejecting behaviors that communicate or constitute aban-
donment of the child, such as a refusal to show affection
2. Isolating preventing the child from participating in normal
opportunities for social interaction
3. Terrorizing threatening the child with severe or sinister
punishment, or deliberately developing a climate of fear or
threat
4. Ignoring where the caregiver is psychologically unavailable
to the child and fails to respond to the child s behavior
5. Corrupting caregiver behavior that encourages the child to
develop false social values that reinforce antisocial or deviant
behavioral patterns, such as aggression, criminal acts, or sub-
stance abuse
6. The denial of emotional responsiveness
7. Acts or behaviors that degrade children
8. Stimulus deprivation
9. Influence by negative or inhibiting role models
10. Forcing children to live in dangerous and unstable environ-
ments (e.g., exposure to domestic violence or parental conflict)
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Assessing Your Risk Factors 27
11. The sexual exploitation of children by adults and parents who
provide inadequate care while under the influence of drugs or
alcohol
Physical abuse. The physical abuse of a child includes any nonacci-
dental physical injury or pattern of injuries inflicted upon a child
(under the age of eighteen) that may include beatings, burns,
bites, bruises, fractures, shaking, or other physical harm.
Child sexual abuse. Child sexual abuse means any exploitation of a
child for the sexual gratification of an adult. It includes any con-
tact between an adult and a child or an older child and a younger
child for the purposes of sexual stimulation that results in sexual
gratification for the older person. This can range from nontouch-
ing offenses, such as exhibitionism and child pornography, to
fondling, penetration, incest, and child prostitution. A child does
not have to be touched to be molested.
These forms of abuse can occur separately but often occur in
combination. (For example, emotional abuse is almost always a part
of physical abuse.)
Risk Factor #2: If You Witnessed Abuse or Violence
When You Were Growing Up
Witnessing excessive fighting in the home, seeing parents lose their
tempers easily, and being exposed to violence in the neighborhood
while growing up are harmful to children even if they are not the
direct victims. Children are more aggressive and are more likely to
grow up to become involved in violence either as an abuser or as a
victim if they witness violent acts. According to the 1994 APA s
Presidential Task Force on Violence and the Family, these circum-
stances put children at greater risk for becoming victims of violence
or participating in violence later on. In particular it was found that
boys who witness their fathers abusing their mothers are at an extreme
risk of using violence in their own homes as adults.
Children who are routinely exposed to violence and abuse (either
by experiencing it or witnessing it) are also likely to develop patterns
of coping that contribute to adult revictimization. Most survivors
learn to shut down awareness of emotions to protect themselves from
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28 Breaking the Cycle of Abuse
overwhelming emotional pain and betrayal. When a child has to con-
strict awareness of danger and access to emotions in order to survive
he or she essentially disables self-protective mechanisms. With emo-
tions and awareness of danger disabled in service of survival, the
now-grown survivor is lacking crucial tools that are necessary in adult
relationships. He or she cannot access feelings that tell how he or she
is doing in relation to someone else, therefore, he or she may become
involved with dangerous people.
Risk Factor #3: There Is a History of Abuse or Neglect
in Your Family
Child abuse and neglect are intergenerational. This means that if one
person in your family was sexually abused, for example, the likeli-
hood is very strong that someone else in the family was, too. And the
person who is being accused has more than likely sexually abused
other members of the family as well as others outside of the family.
The perpetrator was more than likely sexually abused, perhaps by a
family member. The same holds true for neglect and emotional and
physical abuse. (Recent research shows that a high percentage of bat- [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]