Physical Violence in Childhood and its Cause

‘Child is the father of man,’ so says William Wordsworth in his poem, ‘The Rainbow.’ By saying so, the poet wanted to emphasise the fact that the behaviour or conduct of a grown up person is a result of the habits formed during childhood. Thus, childhood is the most crucial period in a person’s life when the habits or values inculcated therein more often than not define his or her personality in later life. If the child gets to enjoy a cocooned life with education and discipline being the lynchpins, he is likely to develop into a mature and righteous individual. On the other hand, if a child falls into bad company or is subjected to physical violence, the consequence of that can be severe – for the family, society and nation.

Studies have shown that Physical Childhood Violence can play havoc with the psychology of a person in the following ways:

•         Turn him into an introvert with limited social integration
•         Impact his cognitive abilities, render him incapable of pursuing education
•         Turn him disrespectful to others and be dismissive of good advice
•         Drive him to the world of crime
•         Render him irrational and a prisoner of his angst
•         Turn him to display unsocial or more sinister, anti social behaviour
•         Make him abusive, especially to children

Physical abuse of a child can be of many types, and are often carried out behind closed doors. This makes catching the culprits that much more difficult. The perpetrators of Physical Childhood Violence can range from – one’s parents, caregivers, teachers, relatives, or neighbours – to employers where the child is forced to work due to poverty, and people who are meant to protect a child – the police.

Among the myriad forms of child abuse such as emotional, sexual, social, exploitation and pure neglect, physical abuse can be treated as the most debilitating. It can render a child incapacitated – physically or mentally, and incoherent, besides scarring him for life. Such incidences are more prevalent in places where children are forced to work for a pittance or as bonded labours. Furthermore, as children are unaware of their rights or are simply incapable of voicing their concerns, institutions that are meant to prevent their abuse, do not render any help.

Although we have a plethora of laws to prevent such abuse of children they are mostly followed in their breach. And given our overworked judicial system and law enforcement machinery, bringing the culprits of Physical Childhood Violence to book has become a herculean task.

Steps to prevent child physical abuse

•         Ensure strict implementation of laws related to child abuse
•         Equip child support groups with adequate resources
•         Identify child abuse victims and provide them with institutional support
• ·       Make parents and teachers aware of the consequences of physical abuse

Researches on Sexual Abuse of Males

A major difficulty in the investigation of child sexual abuse and adult survivors is precisely assessing event. Rate (the number of cases happening in a given timeline, usually years) is communicated as a number or rate. For example, 100,000 per year or 1.5 per 1,000 children. Commonness, the proportion of a population, is normally communicated as a percentage. For example,  20% of all boys.

The number of incidents of sexual abuse of males depends on cases really reported. Notwithstanding, all researchers agree that only a small percentage of cases gets reported. Along these lines, frequency vastly underestimates the numbers (Peters, Wyatt and Finkelhor, 1986).

Commonness rates of sexual abuse of males are affected by a wide range of factors, including system of information gathering, type of sample. For example, clinical, likelihood or unlikelihood, college students, overall population, etc. and definition used for sexual abuse. For example, age limits, relationship and age difference and kind of abuse― contact vs. non-contact.

Therefore, it is not shocking that prevalence rates are no less than sexually abusive incidents prior to age 18 range from 6% to 62% for females and 3% to 31% for males (Wyatt and Powell, 1988). Moreover, the general precaution is that even in anonymous prevalence studies, males are usually under-spoken because of the factors working against acknowledgment. So, the number of people affected is quite large, even at the most minimal prevalence rates.

Why are men fundamentally under-spoken in both rate and prevalence? David Finkelhor (1984) recommends three reasons:

1. Boys grow up with the male ethic confidence. They have the capacity to deal and take care of themselves. But, abuse violates this ethic.
2. The disgrace of homosexuality and society’s tension about it creates fear in boys of being homosexual person since most culprits are male. And, many a times, parents understand this harmful process and do not report to authorities if a son discloses abuse to them.
3. Boys have more to lose by reporting. As, they are given or allowed more independence, and range of movement than girls. So, the boys feel scared about reporting would curtail this.

The Virginia Bureau of Child Protective Services Report (1989) includes different reasons. Some of them are:

1. Males in our culture are taught that men are not victims.
2. Boys fear being punished or held responsible for the abuse.
3. In many cases, boys do not perceive the activity as abusive.
4. Many male survivors who eventually self-identify as gay believe that they wanted the sexual activity to happen and see themselves as the seducer of the adult. Also, they feel responsible no matter how negative the outcome is.

Self-identified heterosexual men frequently harbor fears that something in them sets off all the abusing and questions about their sexuality haunt them. In some cases, this abuse comes from the women too. That is even more difficult to put across since they fear being held the culprit instead.

Do Sexually Abused Kids Become Abusers?

It is generally believed that young boys who are victims of sexual abuse become abusers as they grow. Investigations of pedophiles recommend that this pattern has been observed, however new research demonstrates that the danger may be smaller than already suspected.

Approximately one in 10 male victims of child sexual exploitation in a U.K. study later went ahead to abuse kids as grown-ups. Anyhow, the danger was far greater for sexually exploited youngsters who originated from extremely useless families. Family history of roughness, sexual misuse by a female, maternal disregard and absence of supervision were all connected with a triple expanded danger that the abused would eventually turn into an abuser.

The study is reported in the February 8 issue of The Lancet – “The message here is that sexual victimization alone is not sufficient to suggest a boy is likely to grow up to become a sex offender,” study author and psychiatrist Arnon Bentovim tells WebMD. “But our study does show that abused boys who grow up in families where they are exposed to a great deal of violence or neglect are at particular risk”.

Also, Bentovim and colleagues from London’s Institute of Child Health recognized 224 adult male victims of child sexual abuse or physical violence in childhood, whose adolescence medical and social service records were available for audit. They then searched arrest and prosecution records to determine their later criminal activity. The majority of the subjects were 20 years old or older when the study was conducted.

Twenty-six of the 224 sex abuse victims (12%) later committed sexual offense and in pretty much all cases, their victims were kids. Abused children who came from families where violence was common were more than three times as liable to end up abusers just like the individuals who experienced neglect from the mother or sexual abuse by females.

However, abusers and non-abusers experienced similar levels of physical abuse as children and there were a few significant differences in the severity or characteristics of the sexual abuse they suffered.

“It is clear that prevention of sexual abuse involves not just treating the victim, but ensuring that the family environment is safe,” Bentovim says. “If you leave a child in a family situation where he continues to be subjected to abuse, even if it is not sexual, you are probably wasting your time.”

Child health specialist Paul Bouvier, MD, tells WebMD “the real incidence of abused boys becoming pedophiles themselves is probably higher than the U.K. study suggests because it only included sexual predators who had been caught”.

There was an editorial by Bouvier where he argues that much can be learned by studying child sexual abuse victims who do not go on to become sexual predators or experience a long-lasting trauma.

“It is quite important to know the risks for these children to have a bad outcome,” he tells WebMD. “But it is also important to look at those who are resilient and who don’t become abusers later in life. What are the characteristics of those who evolve beyond this experience and go on to have a meaningful life?”

Healing From Abuse – 5 Ways

Healing from abuse can feel like a never-ending walk across pitch-dark. Facing the reality that you are (or were) abused and suffer (or suffered) from trauma is a big realization. Most of the time, it takes us a while to begin the process of healing from abuse or even begin to accept that it happened.

There are lots of ways of healing from the abuses such as through therapy and spiritual healing. Recently, I realized abuse is never deserved and that isn’t what real love looks like. Also, discovered that true healing from abuse doesn’t take place overnight and that out of sight is never really out of mind. All this takes a high amount of time, patience and commitment to accept what happened to you and now is the time to let it go.

So, I found some ways that will help you in the process of healing and regaining the lost hope. Here are five suggestions that will assist you.

1. Talk to someone you trust

Generally, it takes time to open up to a therapist or doctor about the abuse. Many of us feel that if you would share your story with people, they might think it was your fault. But, you must not blame yourself, it wasn’t your fault actually. Don’t be afraid to seek therapy and talk to your best friend, teacher, doctor, therapist or mentor. They are the best people around who will support you, understand you and will help gain a fresh mind for living your life normally.

2. Explore healing through the creative arts

Are you a person with creative mind? Do you enjoy being creative? Maybe, you can find healing through art therapy, learning how to dance, play an instrument or taking a sculpture class. Writing and painting are quite powerful tools to release any kind of emotions and let go of stress and pain. So, just allow your brain and imagination to be free and remove all the barriers from your creativity.

3. Exercise

A very powerful and useful tool for anyone who has been abused is physical exercise. It releases all the repressed stress. So, find an regimen which you can follow 2-3 times a week for the much-needed emotional release.

4. Spirituality

Explore your spiritual side through meditation or yoga. Find a book on meditation, mindfulness or intuition. When you will go through it, there will be tons of ways to develop your spirituality. So, look for the one that works for you and practice it on a daily basis. Spirituality is such a personal experience that no one can take away from you.

5. Get a pet or plant

No doubt, when people say animals are man’s best friend and help someone in healing, they are right. Pets bring so much comfort and unconditional love in our lives. But, if you don’t want to bring or commit to an animal, then you must try getting a plant. They are lovely and provide a calm ambiance in a home.

Try these very simple suggestions and help yourself to heal your wounds. Take care and live a normal life because it’s not your fault at all.