Child Abuse: Why does it happen? and how does it affect children

I was hiding in the corner, staring at my dad so fearfully, scared of what he was about to do. He had already hit me multiple times already, to the point where my bruises had bruises. This was the most fear I had ever felt in my life, the tears coming from my eyes as I begged my dad to just stop. 

 

This was my experience with abuse as an 8-year-old child. No child should ever have to go through an experience like this, yet millions of kids do daily. But why? What causes this abuse to happen? Well, there are many different factors that go into this like parental factors, environmental factors, and even the child itself is a factor in why abuse happens. Abuse regardless of how small or large of a scale can also have very negative effects on children for the rest of their lives. 
 

 

Children Factors 

The child is the smallest contributing factor to abuse but it is still a reason why abuse happens. Things like the child’s mental, social, and emotional development play a factor in why abuse happens. Meaning that children who are younger are more vulnerable to abuse because they are easier to abuse because they are less developed, and the parents have more control over them. 

This is also true with children who are disabled. They are often seen as more vulnerable and easier targets for the parents to abuse because they can get away with it easier. Often with abuse and disability, the abuse is more verbal towards the disabled person rather than physical but that doesn’t mean that the physical abuse doesn’t happen. 

 

Children who are in foster homes are also a bigger target for abuse compared to other children too. This is because children are often in foster care because they don’t have any stable guardians, so there is no one who will really stop the foster parent from trying to abuse a kid. 

 

Parental Factors 

A parent being Mentally unwell is the most common reason for abuse to occur. Regardless of what causes the parent to be unwell, it makes them more likely to end up hurting a child when they get mad or annoyed with them. The most common mental disorder associated with a higher risk of abuse is depression and bipolar disorder. 

Being a single parent is another parental factor. It is often harder to handle a kid by yourself than with having your other partner too. This stress can cause parents to become more physical and verbal more easily. 

There was a survey done about single-parent households that shows that single parents are overall a lot more likely to abuse and hurt a child compared to two-parent households. 

Substance abuse can also cause a parent to be abusive to their children too. Parents who are addicted to any type of substance often get annoyed at small things a child will do and, in some cases, this will cause them to get physical. There is a statistic that shows that about 40% of all the reported abuse cases each year have some sort of substance abuse involved. 

 

Environmental Factors 

Contrary to popular belief, the environment can play a big role in contributing to abuse. Many think that it has no effect but that is nowhere near true. Environmental stress from poverty can make a parent more likely to neglect and abuse their kid. Where a kid is in an environment also plays a role in the abuse. Children who are in city areas are actually less likely to be abused compared to people in more rural areas. A lot of people also think of abuse as usually only being physical but that isn't completely true. Another big part of abuse is verbal, whether that is name calling or even just telling your kid that you hate or despise them.

If a family is cut off and disconnected from the community around them, they are at a higher risk of abuse happening. If they don’t interact with the community, it makes it seem to the children that the parents are in absolute control. This is similar to how cults are often segregated from any of the communities around where they are because it often makes the person who is in charge of the cult seem like their authority is absolute. 

 

How it Affects the Victims 

As someone who was a victim of abuse, I can tell you some of the effects it has had on me that last even to this day. One of these is not being able to trust people almost at all anymore. It's very difficult after someone you trusted abuses you to try and trust again, this is likely the longest-lasting effect for me personally.  

Another long-term effect of abuse is the stress of abuse causing the child's brain to not develop fully and this can lead to several bad things that can stay with them for the rest of their 
 lives and in some cases, it can completely ruin their future. 

 

How does this info help you? 

Knowing what can cause child abuse is valuable because it can help you make informed decisions in your life. If you notice that you are in a bad financial situation, addicted to a substance, or mentally unwell, then you could make the decision to wait to have a child if you were thinking about it. No child should have to go through this and making an informed decision on if you’d be a good parent could help less children to end up in situations like this.