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Child Physical Abuse

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The physical abuse of children is a complex situation that you must thoroughly analyze from a social, cultural, and psychological standpoint. While how physical abuse is dealt with or viewed depends on the entity examining it, it’s typically universally agreed upon that physical abuse can be defined as a nonaccidental injury inflicted by a caregiver on a child. However, sometimes physical abuse can be perpetrated by a sibling, a peer, or the child may be a witness to physical violence. Physical abuse is something millions of children and adolescents face every day, with the Children’s Bureau (2011) citing that physical abuse ranks as the second most common type of child maltreatment. However, it’s critical to consider some physical abuse goes unreported, as well as the fact that some states define physical …show more content…

Some factors believed to influence physical abuse of children include relationship between parent and child, poverty, lack of proper support system, and social/cultural variables, such as different morals regarding corporal punishment or seeking medical treatment. Few parents are psychopathic, but rather many abusive parents often experienced abuse themselves. Thus their adulthood is characterized by low self-esteem, lack of responsibility for actions, and controlling and abusive behavior that is projected onto their children. Children who are younger, have disabilities, are premature, or have other health problems are often at a higher risk for physical abuse. While children of all ages face physical abuse, the Children’s Bureau found that children 7 and below make up nearly 58% of reported abuse cases. Physical abuse towards adolescents often results from their parents fear or anger towards the adolescents growing desire for dependence, freedom, and need for

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