106 Child Abuse Essay Topics

🏆 best essay topics on child abuse, ✍️ child abuse essay topics for college, 🎓 most interesting child abuse research titles, 💡 simple child abuse essay ideas, ❓ child abuse research questions.

  • Child Abuse: Risks, Causes, Effects, Treatment
  • Child Abuse and the Minimalist and Maximalist Perspectives
  • Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect
  • Identifying Child Abuse Scenario
  • The Portrayal of Child Abuse and Neglect in Media
  • Problem of Child Abuse in Modern Society
  • Child Abuse and Neglect in Ukraine
  • Causes and Results of Child Abuse Child abuse can be emotional, sexual, and physical, but all its forms may lead to severe psychological problems. The effects vary from social discomfort to dangerous pathologies.
  • Mandatory Reporting in Child Abuse and Neglect Mandatory reporting is the responsibility given to specific individuals in different states in the United States to report cases of child abuse and neglect to the responsible governmental bodies.
  • Child Abuse and Family Violence: A Personal Response In the author’s opinion, child abuse and family violence can be compared with a malignant tumor that slowly poisons and erodes the foundations of society.
  • Child Abuse Management: Multidisciplinary Approach This paper investigates the efficacy of multidisciplinary and non-multidisciplinary approaches in child abuse management.
  • Child Abuse in the Clothing Production Bangladesh’s garment production is projected to quadruple over the next twenty years, which means that millions of new women, young and old, will enter the garment industry.
  • Medical Examination for Children with Allegations of Child Abuse There are several functions of medical examination. They include collecting and documenting physical evidence of child abuse.
  • Impact of Child Abuse and Neglect on Perception of Reality in Adulthood Child abuse is a serious societal issue in the present socioeconomic situation of the majority of households worldwide.
  • Child Abuse or a Parental Discipline According to the state laws within the United States, physical discipline is recommended if it is solely for discipline and does not lead to the injury of a child.
  • Shaken Baby Syndrome and Child Abuse The attention of the world was first drawn to the shaken baby syndrome in the widely covered trial of Louse Woodward, a British nanny accused of killing Matthew Eappen, her charge.
  • The Problem of Child Abuse A practical approach to dealing with child abuse is to tackle the social, economic, and human factors that contribute to its prevalence.
  • Different Types of Child Abuse There are different types of child abuse. Only half of all cases are associated with physical violence. Neglect, beatings, and rape are the most common types.
  • Child Abuse and Its Impact on Society One of the most pressing issues affecting children worldwide is child abuse, which has garnered the attention of countries internationally.
  • Child Abuse Problem Overview According to social statistics that focus on child abuse and neglect rates in the United States based on victims’ race and ethnicity, it is possible to notice huge disparities.
  • Advocacy for Negligence and Child Abuse Amongst Black Teenagers Negligence and abuse amongst black teenagers require rehabilitation therapy and parental counseling to prevent further negative effects.
  • Child Abuse: Keep Kids Safe Child abuse is a case when a parent or guardian, regardless of whether through activity or neglecting to act, causes injury, intended damage, or danger of genuine mischief.
  • Child Abuse and Ways for Its Elimination This paper will discuss the problems of violence in various forms of manifestation to find the causes of their occurrence and a solution for them.
  • Different Factors and Approaches of Child Abuse and Neglect The discussion centers on the 5 articles cited that relate to child abuse and neglect. Important points are provided to identify the ideas of the reporters in the articles accordingly.
  • Child Abuse and Health of Nation: Cause and Effect The fact is that today, regardless of multiple attempts to create a beneficial environment for children, many of them experience various forms of domestic violence.
  • The Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse Preventing child abuse or addressing it promptly is much more efficient than handling the consequences which find their way into adulthood.
  • Child Abuse: Physical, Emotional, Social Effects The effect of child abuse and abandonment is repeatedly debated in regards to physical, emotional, interactive, and social significances.
  • Health Data Reporting: Child Abuse and Security Breaches The healthcare organization at times are obliged to report not only information related to the health status of a population but also to the security of healthcare data.
  • Child Abuse Problem and Perspectives on Child Abuse The abuse can be emotional, physical, or sexual. It can be an act of omission or commission that results in harm, potential for harm or threat of harm to a child.
  • Long-Term Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect Child abuse can be manifested in different forms; however, the most common forms are physical, emotional, and sexual harassment.
  • Child Abuse, Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence The paper analyzes three types of victimization: child abuse, sexual assault and domestic violence. It gives definitions, describes causes and effects of these crimes.
  • Adverse Effects and Prevention of Child Abuse
  • Child Abuse and Its Effects on Thousands of Children in the United States and Around the World
  • Behind Closed Doors: The Correlation Between Multiple Personality Disorder and Child Abuse
  • Child Abuse and Its Role in “Bastard Out of Carolina” by Dorothy Allison
  • Approaching Child Abuse From a Multi-Dimensional Perspective
  • Child Abuse and Lack of Communication in Marriages – The Main Factors of Failed Family
  • How Child Abuse Affects a Hero, a God, and a Monster in Greek Mythology
  • Child Abuse and Neglect Is Not About Being Psychical
  • Physical and Emotional Child Abuse and Neglect: The Effect on Physical, Emotional, and Social Development
  • Defining Child Abuse and Its Different Forms in the 21st Century
  • Child Abuse and Neglect: Recognizing the Signs and Symptoms
  • Localities, Social Services, and Child Abuse: The Role of Community Characteristics in Social Services Allocation and Child Abuse Reporting
  • Promoting Help for Victims of Child Abuse: Which Emotions Are Most Appropriate to Motivate Donation Behavior
  • Child Abuse and the Importance of Belonging Discussed in David Pelzer’s “A Child Called It”
  • How Child Abuse Has Been Conceptualized and Addressed in Terms of Policy and Law Since 1945
  • When Child Abuse Overlaps With Domestic Violence: The Factors That Influence Child Protection Workers’ Beliefs
  • The Developments, Forms, and Perception of Physical Child Abuse Through History
  • Mass Media’s Role and Possible Solutions to Child Abuse in the Philippines
  • Child Abuse: Cause and Effect on the Rest of Their Lives
  • Risk Factors for Child Abuse and Neglect Among Former TANF Families: Do Later Leavers Experience Greater Risk?
  • Child Abuse Prevention and Control: Can Physical, Sexual or Psychological Abuse Be Controlled Within the Household?
  • The Impact and Consequences of Child Abuse and Its Portrayal in Mark Twain’s Novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”
  • The Social Worker’s Role in Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect
  • Child Abuse: Too Much or Too Little Emphasis in Today’s Society
  • How the United States Is Dealing With Child Abuse Problem
  • Causes and Long-Term Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect
  • Neighborhood Poverty and Child Abuse and Neglect: The Mediating Role of Social Cohesion
  • Child Abuse and How It Relates to the Developmental Stages of Erickson
  • Dealing With the Effects of Child Abuse, Overcoming Obstacles, and Friendship in Barbara Kingsolver’s “The Bean Trees”
  • Neo-Liberal and Neo-Conservative Perspectives on Child Abuse
  • Child Abuse and Neglect of a County Welfare Department
  • The Gap Between Child Abuse and Parental Discipline
  • Child Abuse and Neglect: The Need for Change
  • Exposing Child Abuse and Neglect – Physical Violence Against Kids
  • Child Abuse and Its Effects on the Physical, Mental, and Emotional State of a Child
  • The Effect of Child Abuse and Neglect in an Urban Community
  • Child Abuse and Neglect: A Social and Public Health Concern Worldwide
  • Physical and Behavioral Indicators of Possible Child Abuse
  • Homosexual: Child Abuse and Sexual Identity
  • Child Abuse: Protecting Children From Abuse and Neglect
  • Protecting Our Children From Domestic Violence and Child Abuse
  • How Sexual Child Abuse Can Affect the Child’s Psychological Development
  • Child Abuse: Saddest and Most Tragic Problem Today
  • Juvenile Who Commit Homicide or Parricide and the Presence of Child Abuse
  • Child Abuse: The Four Major Types of Abuse, Statistics, Prevention, and Treatment
  • Relationship Between Domestic Violence and Child Abuse and How to Protect the Children From It
  • How the Government and Society Have a Responsibility to Help Child Abuse Victims
  • Child Abuse Victims and Whether or Not They Become Abusers in Adulthood
  • Modern Beliefs Regarding the Treatment of Child Abuse Victims
  • Children Are Suffering From a Hidden Epidemic of Child Abuse
  • Does Child Abuse and Neglect Lead to Bullying?
  • What Are the Negative Effects of Child Abuse?
  • Is There Correlation Between Child Abuse and Schizophrenia?
  • How Can Spanking Lead to Child Abuse?
  • Are Recovered Memories From Child Abuse Reliable?
  • What Are the Types of Child Abuse and How to Prevent Them?
  • Does Child Abuse Cause Crime?
  • What Does Victimology Say About Child Abuse?
  • How Can the Community Stop Child Abuse and Neglect?
  • Are There Any Biomarkers for Pedophilia and Sexual Child Abuse?
  • What Are the Devastating Clinical Consequences of Child Abuse?
  • Does Child Abuse Create a Psychopath?
  • How Do Child Abuse and Neglect Affect Childhood?
  • Why Should Child Abuse Be Addressed as a Social Problem?
  • How Does Child Abuse Affect Student’s Education?
  • What Are the Signs or Symptoms of Child Abuse?
  • How Do Children Carry the Weight of Child Abuse?
  • Is There a Link Between Child Abuse and Sexual Identity?
  • What Are the Effects of Child Abuse?
  • How Can Therapy Help Victims of Child Abuse?
  • Does Good Child Abuse Lead to Anxiety and Social Disorders?
  • What Are the Long-Term Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect?
  • Is There the Gap Between Health Care and Child Abuse?
  • How Can Child Abuse Be Prevented?
  • What Is the Connection Between Child Abuse and Delinquency?

Cite this post

  • Chicago (N-B)
  • Chicago (A-D)

StudyCorgi. (2022, July 14). 106 Child Abuse Essay Topics. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/child-abuse-essay-topics/

"106 Child Abuse Essay Topics." StudyCorgi , 14 July 2022, studycorgi.com/ideas/child-abuse-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . (2022) '106 Child Abuse Essay Topics'. 14 July.

1. StudyCorgi . "106 Child Abuse Essay Topics." July 14, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/child-abuse-essay-topics/.

Bibliography

StudyCorgi . "106 Child Abuse Essay Topics." July 14, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/child-abuse-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . 2022. "106 Child Abuse Essay Topics." July 14, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/child-abuse-essay-topics/.

These essay examples and topics on Child Abuse were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on December 27, 2023 .

Writing Universe - logo

  • Environment
  • Information Science
  • Social Issues
  • Argumentative
  • Cause and Effect
  • Classification
  • Compare and Contrast
  • Descriptive
  • Exemplification
  • Informative
  • Controversial
  • Exploratory
  • What Is an Essay
  • Length of an Essay
  • Generate Ideas
  • Types of Essays
  • Structuring an Essay
  • Outline For Essay
  • Essay Introduction
  • Thesis Statement
  • Body of an Essay
  • Writing a Conclusion
  • Essay Writing Tips
  • Drafting an Essay
  • Revision Process
  • Fix a Broken Essay
  • Format of an Essay
  • Essay Examples
  • Essay Checklist
  • Essay Writing Service
  • Pay for Research Paper
  • Write My Research Paper
  • Write My Essay
  • Custom Essay Writing Service
  • Admission Essay Writing Service
  • Pay for Essay
  • Academic Ghostwriting
  • Write My Book Report
  • Case Study Writing Service
  • Dissertation Writing Service
  • Coursework Writing Service
  • Lab Report Writing Service
  • Do My Assignment
  • Buy College Papers
  • Capstone Project Writing Service
  • Buy Research Paper
  • Custom Essays for Sale

Can’t find a perfect paper?

  • Free Essay Samples
  • Child Abuse

Essays on Child Abuse

Child abuse essay covers a topic that is brutal but needs to be written about. Criminal behavior poses a threat to society, and it's especially devastating when directed towards children. This painful subject is getting a lot of public attention in the past years, and writing child abuse essays are a way of shining light on this issue. While researching for your essay you will discover heartbreaking statistics – about 1 billion children were abused within the past year. The numbers and facts you will come across are unsettling. child abuse essay samples below will help you gather information for your essays and offer some guidelines when exploring this topic. Writing essays on child abuse is challenging in many ways, so it’s understandable if you need assistance, which we can provide you with.

This project aims to assess whether the primary schools in the UK implemented Eileen Munro’s Recommendations. It critically analyses the effectiveness of child protection in UK’s primary schools. The report advocates for review on child protection targets which enable both children and social workers a freedom to apply judgment as...

The discussion section elaborates the argument on whether any of Eileen Munro’s recommendations were implemented. To begin with, let us briefly review some of the endorsements. The Munro report changes the current child protection approach that is extremely rigid and incomprehensible because of the bureaucratic procedures that leave professionals glued...

Words: 1932

Putting up child protection ensures the safeguard of children from varying harmful activities that they are exposed to from their parents or the environment they live in. It is important to address issues that affect the children as a can severely impact the young ones both psychologically and also physically....

Words: 1200

Child Protection is a fundamental issue that has been addressed at various levels of governance. The United Kingdom is one of the many countries that are still grappling with how best to protect a child from any dangerous exposure. Prof Eileen Munro was tasked to come up with a report...

Words: 1648

Sexual assault is defined as an infringement of a person's sexual space by sexual touch without consent by coercion or physical force to engage in a sexual act against the person's will. It ranges from verbal sexual insults to the physical acts such as groping, rape, and sodomy and child...

Words: 1622

An Assessment of the Brothers` ACE Score and ACE that Might Indicate Future-Offending Behaviour ACE, also known as Adverse Childhood Experiences denotes to the stressful situations that young children encounter as they grow. The child can be either directly hurt through abuse or indirectly regarding the environment, which they are situated...

Words: 3789

Found a perfect essay sample but want a unique one?

Request writing help from expert writer in you feed!

In today’s world, cases of child abuse are on the raising trend globally. It’s a matter of great concern when people close to the children; physically, emotionally or sexually abuse them. In most occasions, guardians who are mentally stable and highly conscious of their actions continually and methodically abuse their...

Words: 1410

Child abuse has become a severe social and public health problem and many studies have revealed the alarming number of child abuse cases all over the world. The diverging parenting norms and standards of different cultures has made it difficult to arrive at an agreement on the definition of child...

Words: 1081

The article Preventing Child Sexual Abuse, What Parents Know? analyzes the out parental information with regards to the prevention of child abuse in Saudi Arabia. The study begins with a definition of a sexual offense which is regarded as the engagement of a child in sexual activities without...

Words: 1113

Child Abuse and Neglect Child abuse is any action performed by a parent, guardian, or caregiver that cause serious physical, sexual or emotional harm to a child. On the other hand, child neglect refers to maltreatment of a child due to failure by parent, guardian or caregiver to provide needed care....

Words: 1643

It is universally agreed among scientist, sociologist, physiologist, criminologist and other interested scholars that youths in the adolescence stage are more likely to engage in antisocial behaviors.  However, numerous studies are concerned with activities that teens are more apt to participate in the adolescent stage such as substance abuse and...

Words: 1363

Over the years elderly mistreatment has been recognized as a social problem that has affected the society at large. The magnitude of the problem is uncertain but it is increasing in the United States and other countries in the world. Elderly abuse can be referred to as an intentional act...

Words: 1001

Related topic to Child Abuse

You might also like.

National Academies Press: OpenBook

Understanding Child Abuse and Neglect (1993)

Chapter: 1 introduction, 1 introduction.

Child maltreatment is a devastating social problem in American society. In 1990, over 2 million cases of child abuse and neglect were reported to social service agencies. In the period 1979 through 1988, about 2,000 child deaths (ages 0-17) were recorded annually as a result of abuse and neglect (McClain et al., 1993), and an additional 160,000 cases resulted in serious injuries in 1990 alone (Daro and McCurdy, 1991). However tragic and sensational, the counts of deaths and serious injuries provide limited insight into the pervasive long-term social, behavioral, and cognitive consequences of child abuse and neglect. Reports of child maltreatment alone also reveal little about the interactions among individuals, families, communities, and society that lead to such incidents.

American society has not yet recognized the complex origins or the profound consequences of child victimization. The services required for children who have been abused or neglected, including medical care, family counseling, foster care, and specialized education, are expensive and are often subsidized by governmental funds. The General Accounting Office (1991) has estimated that these services cost more than $500 million annually. Equally disturbing, research suggests that child maltreatment cases are highly related to social problems such as juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, and violence, which require additional services and severely affect the quality of life for many American families.

The Importance Of Child Maltreatment Research

The challenges of conducting research in the field of child maltreatment are enormous. Although we understand comparatively little about the causes, definitions, treatment, and prevention of child abuse and neglect, we do know enough to recognize that the origins and consequences of child victimization are not confined to the months or years in which reported incidents actually occurred. For those who survive, the long-term consequences of child maltreatment appear to be more damaging to victims and their families, and more costly for society, than the immediate or acute injuries themselves. Yet little is invested in understanding the factors that predispose, mitigate, or prevent the behavioral and social consequences of child maltreatment.

The panel has identified five key reasons why child maltreatment research should be viewed as a central nexus of more comprehensive research activity.

Research On Child Maltreatment Is Currently Undervalued And Undeveloped

Research in the field of child maltreatment studies is relatively undeveloped when compared with related fields such as child development, so-

cial welfare, and criminal violence. Although no specific theory about the causes of child abuse and neglect has been substantially replicated across studies, significant progress has been gained in the past few decades in identifying the dimensions of complex phenomena that contribute to the origins of child maltreatment.

Efforts to improve the quality of research on any group of children are dependent on the value that society assigns to the potential inherent in young lives. Although more adults are available in American society today as service providers to care for children than was the case in 1960, a disturbing number of recent reports have concluded that American children are in trouble (Fuchs and Reklis, 1992; National Commission on Children, 1991; Children's Defense Fund, 1991).

Efforts to encourage greater investments in research on children will be futile unless broader structural and social issues can be addressed within our society. Research on general problems of violence, substance addiction, social inequality, unemployment, poor education, and the treatment of children in the social services system is incomplete without attention to child maltreatment issues. Research on child maltreatment can play a key role in informing major social policy decisions concerning the services that should be made available to children, especially children in families or neighborhoods that experience significant stress and violence.

As a nation, we already have developed laws and regulatory approaches to reduce and prevent childhood injuries and deaths through actions such as restricting hot water temperatures and requiring mandatory child restraints in automobiles. These important precedents suggest how research on risk factors can provide informed guidance for social efforts to protect all of America's children in both familial and other settings.

Not only has our society invested relatively little in research on children, but we also have invested even less in research on children whose families are characterized by multiple problems, such as poverty, substance abuse, violence, welfare dependency, and child maltreatment. In part, this slower development is influenced by the complexities of research on major social problems. But the state of research on this topic could be advanced more rapidly with increased investment of funds. In the competition for scarce research funds, the underinvestment in child maltreatment research needs to be understood in the context of bias, prejudice, and the lack of a clear political constituency for children in general and disadvantaged children in particular (Children's Defense Fund, 1991; National Commission on Children, 1991). Factors such as racism, ethnic discrimination, sexism, class bias, institutional and professional jealousies, and social inequities influence the development of our national research agenda (Bell, 1992, Huston, 1991).

The evolving research agenda has also struggled with limitations im-

posed by attempting to transfer the results of sample-specific studies to diverse groups of individuals. The roles of culture, ethnic values, and economic factors pervade the development of parenting practices and family dynamics. In setting a research agenda for this field, ethnic diversity and multiple cultural perspectives are essential to improve the quality of the research program and to overcome systematic biases that have restricted its development.

Researchers must address ethical and legal issues that present unique obligations and dilemmas regarding selection of subjects, provision of services, and disclosure of data. For example, researchers who discover an undetected incident of child abuse in the course of an interview are required by state laws to disclose the identities of the victim and offender(s), if known, to appropriate child welfare officials. These mandatory reporting requirements, adopted in the interests of protecting children, may actually cause long-term damage to children by restricting the scope of research studies and discouraging scientists from developing the knowledge base necessary to guide social interventions.

Substantial efforts are now required to reach beyond the limitations of current knowledge and to gain new insights that can improve the quality of social service efforts and public policy decisions affecting the health and welfare of abused and neglected children and their families. Most important, collaborative long-term research ventures are necessary to diminish social, professional, and institutional prejudices that have restricted the development of a comprehensive knowledge base that can improve understanding of, and response to, child maltreatment.

Dimensions Of Child Abuse And Neglect

The human dimensions of child maltreatment are enormous and tragic. The U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect has called the problem of child maltreatment ''an epidemic" in American society, one that requires a critical national emergency response.

The scale and severity of child abuse and neglect has caused various public and private organizations to mobilize efforts to raise public awareness of individual cases and societal trends, to improve the reporting and tracking of child maltreatment cases, to strengthen the responses of social service systems, and to develop an effective and fair system for protecting and offering services to victims while also punishing adults who deliberately harm children or place them in danger. Over the past several decades, a growing number of state and federal funding programs, governmental reports, specialized journals, and research centers, as well as national and international societies and conferences, have examined various dimensions of the problem of child maltreatment.

The results of these efforts have been inconsistent and uneven. In addressing aspects of each new revelation of abuse or each promising new intervention, research efforts often have become diffuse, fragmented, specific, and narrow. What is lacking is a coordinated approach and a general conceptual framework that can add new depth to our understanding of child maltreatment. A coordinated approach can accommodate diverse perspectives while providing direction and guidance in establishing research priorities and synthesizing research knowledge. Organizational mechanisms are also needed to facilitate the application and integration of research on child maltreatment in related areas such as child development, family violence, substance abuse, and juvenile delinquency.

Child maltreatment is not a new problem, yet concerted service, research, and policy attention toward it is just beginning. Although isolated studies of child maltreatment appeared in the medical and sociological literature in the first half of the twentieth century, the publication of "The Battered Child Syndrome" by C. Henry Kempe and associates (1962) is generally considered the first definitive paper in the field in the United States. The efforts of Kempe and others to publicize disturbing medical experience with child abuse and neglect led to the passage of the first Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act in 1974 (P.L. 93-247). The act, which has been amended several times (most recently in 1992), established a governmental program designed to guide and consolidate national and state data collection efforts regarding reports of child abuse and neglect, conduct national surveys of household violence, and sponsor research and demonstration programs to prevent, identify, and treat child abuse and neglect.

However, the federal government's leadership role in building a research base in this area has been complicated by changes and inconsistencies in research plans and priorities, limited funding, politicized peer review, fragmentation of effort among various federal agencies, poorly scheduled proposal review deadlines, and bias introduced by competing institutional objectives. 1 The lack of comprehensive, long-term planning for a research base has resulted in a field characterized by contradictions, conflict, and fragmentation. The role of the National Center for Child Abuse and Neglect as the lead federal agency in supporting research in this field has been sharply criticized (U.S. Advisory Board, 1991). Many observers believe that the federal government lacks leadership, funding, and an effective research program for studies on child maltreatment.

The Complexity Of Child Maltreatment

Child maltreatment was originally seen in the form of "the battered child," often portrayed in terms of physical abuse. Today, four general categories of child maltreatment are generally recognized: (1) physical

abuse, (2) sexual abuse, (3) neglect, and (4) emotional maltreatment. Each category covers a range of behaviors, as discussed in Chapter 2.

These four categories have become the focus of separate studies of incidence and prevalence, etiology, prevention, consequences, and treatment, with uneven development of research within each area and poor integration of knowledge across areas. Each category has developed its own typology and framework of reference terms, revealing certain similarities (such as the importance of developmental perspectives in considering the consequences of maltreatment) but also important differences (such as the predatory behavior associated with some forms of sexual abuse that do not appear in the etiology of other forms of child maltreatment).

In addition to the category of child maltreatment, the duration, source, intensity, timing, and situational context of incidents of child victimization are now recognized as important factors in studying the origin and consequences of child maltreatment. Yet information about these factors is rarely requested or recorded by social agencies or health professionals in the process of identifying or documenting reports of child maltreatment. Furthermore, research is often weakened by variation in research definitions of child maltreatment, bias in the recruitment of research subjects, the absence of information regarding circumstances surrounding maltreatment reports, the absence of measures to assess selected variables under study, and the absence of a developmental perspective in many research studies.

The co-occurrence of different forms of child maltreatment has been examined only to a limited extent. Relatively little is known about areas of similarity and differences in terms of causes, consequences, prevention, and treatment of selected types of child abuse and neglect. Inconsistencies in definitions often preclude comparative analyses of clinical studies. For example, studies of sexual abuse have indicated wide variations in its prevalence, often as a result of differences in the types of behavior that might be included in the definition adopted by each research investigator. Emotional abuse is also a matter of controversy in some quarters, primarily because of broad variations in its definition.

Research on child maltreatment is also complicated by the fragmentation of services and responses by which our society addresses specific reports of child maltreatment. Cases may involve children who are victims or witnesses to single or repeated incidents of child abuse and neglect. Sadly, child maltreatment often involves various family members, relatives, or other individuals who reside in the homes or neighborhoods of the affected children. Adult figures may be perpetrators of offensive incidents or mediators in intervention or prevention efforts.

The importance of the social ecological framework of the child has only recently been recognized in studies of maltreatment. Responses to child abuse and neglect involve a variety of social institutions, including commu-

nities, schools, hospitals, churches, youth associations, the media, and other social structures that provide services for children. Such groups and organizations present special intervention opportunities to reduce the scale and scope of the problem of child maltreatment, but their activities are often poorly documented and uncoordinated. Finally, governmental offices at the local, state, and federal levels have legal and social obligations to develop programs and resources to address child maltreatment, and their role is critical in developing a research agenda for this field.

In the past, the research agenda has been determined predominantly by pragmatic needs in the development and delivery of treatment and prevention services rather than by theoretical paradigms, a process that facilitates short-term studies of specialized research priorities but impedes the development of a well-organized, coherent body of scientific knowledge that can contribute over time to understanding fundamental principles and issues. As a result, the research in this field has been generally viewed by the scientific community as fragmented, diffuse, decentralized, and of poor quality.

Selection of Research Studies

The research literature in the field of child maltreatment is immense—over 2000 items are included in the panel's research bibliography, a portion of which is referenced in this report. Despite this quantity of literature, researchers generally agree that the quality of research on child maltreatment is relatively weak in comparison to health and social science research studies in areas such as family systems and child development. Only a few prospective studies of child maltreatment have been undertaken, and most studies rely on the use of clinical samples (which may exclude important segments of the research population) or adult memories. Both types of samples are problematic and can produce biased results. Clinical samples may not be representative of all cases of child maltreatment. For example, we know from epidemiologic studies of disease of cases that were derived from hospital records that, unless the phenomenon of interest always comes to a service provider for treatment, there exist undetected and untreated cases in the general population that are often quite different from those who have sought treatment. Similarly, when studies rely on adult memories of childhood experiences, recall bias is always an issue. Longitudinal studies are quite rare, and some studies that are described as longitudinal actually consist of hybrid designs followed over time.

To ensure some measure of quality, the panel relied largely on studies that had been published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature. More rigorous scientific criteria (such as the use of appropriate theory and methodology in the conduct of the study) were considered by the panel, but were not adopted because little of the existing work would meet such selection

criteria. Given the early stage of development of this field of research, the panel believes that even weak studies contain some useful information, especially when they suggest clinical insights, a new perspective, or a point of departure from commonly held assumptions. Thus, the report draws out issues based on clinical studies or studies that lack sufficient control samples, but the panel refrains from drawing inferences based on this literature.

The panel believes that future research reviews of the child maltreatment literature would benefit from the identification of explicit criteria that could guide the selection of exemplary research studies, such as the following:

For the most part, only a few studies will score well in each of the above categories. It becomes problematic, therefore, to rate the value of studies which may score high in one category but not in others.

The panel has relied primarily on studies conducted in the past decade, since earlier research work may not meet contemporary standards of methodological rigor. However, citations to earlier studies are included in this report where they are thought to be particularly useful and when research investigators provided careful assessments and analysis of issues such as definition, interrelationships of various types of abuse, and the social context of child maltreatment.

A Comparison With Other Fields of Family and Child Research

A comparison with the field of studies on family functioning may illustrate another point about the status of the studies on child maltreatment. The literature on normal family functioning or socialization effects differs in many respects from the literature on child abuse and neglect. Family sociology research has a coherent body of literature and reasonable consensus about what constitutes high-quality parenting in middle-class, predominantly White populations. Family functioning studies have focused predominantly on large, nonclinical populations, exploring styles of parenting and parenting practices that generate different kinds and levels of competence, mental health, and character in children. Studies of family functioning have tended to follow cohorts of subjects over long periods to identify the effects of variations in childrearing practices and patterns on children's

competence and adjustment that are not a function of social class and circumstances.

By contrast, the vast and burgeoning literature on child abuse and neglect is applied research concerned largely with the adverse effects of personal and social pathology on children. The research is often derived from very small samples selected by clinicians and case workers. Research is generally cross-sectional, and almost without exception the samples use impoverished families characterized by multiple problems, including substance abuse, unemployment, transient housing, and so forth. Until recently, researchers demonstrated little regard for incorporating appropriate ethnic and cultural variables in comparison and control groups. In the past decade, significant improvements have occurred in the development of child maltreatment research, but key problems remain in the area of definitions, study designs, and the use of instrumentation.

As the nature of research on child abuse and neglect has evolved over time, scientists and practitioners have likewise changed. The psychopathologic model of child maltreatment has been expanded to include models that stress the interactions of individual, family, neighborhood, and larger social systems. The role of ethnic and cultural issues are acquiring an emerging importance in formulating parent-child and family-community relationships. Earlier simplistic conceptionalizations of perpetrator-victim relationships are evolving into multiple-focus research projects that examine antecedents in family histories, current situational relationships, ecological and neighborhood issues, and interactional qualities of relationships between parent-child and offender-victim. In addition, emphases in treatment, social service, and legal programs combine aspects of both law enforcement and therapy, reflecting an international trend away from punishment, toward assistance, for families in trouble.

Charge To The Panel

The commissioner of the Administration for Children, Youth, and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services requested that the National Academy of Sciences convene a study panel to undertake a comprehensive examination of the theoretical and pragmatic research needs in the area of child maltreatment. The Panel on Research on Child Abuse and Neglect was asked specifically to:

The report resulting from this study provides recommendations for allocating existing research funds and also suggests funding mechanisms and topic areas to which new resources could be allocated or enhanced resources could be redirected. By focusing this report on research priorities and the needs of the research community, the panel's efforts were distinguished from related activities, such as the reports of the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, which concentrate on the policy issues in the field of child maltreatment.

The request for recommendations for research priorities recognizes that existing studies on child maltreatment require careful evaluation to improve the evolution of the field and to build appropriate levels of human and financial resources for these complex research problems. Through this review, the panel has examined the strengths and weaknesses of past research and identified areas of knowledge that represent the greatest promise for advancing understanding of, and dealing more effectively with, the problem of child maltreatment.

In conducting this review, the panel has recognized the special status of studies of child maltreatment. The experience of child abuse or neglect from any perspective, including victim, perpetrator, professional, or witness, elicits strong emotions that may distort the design, interpretation, or support of empirical studies. The role of the media in dramatizing selected cases of child maltreatment has increased public awareness, but it has also produced a climate in which scientific objectivity may be sacrificed in the name of urgency or humane service. Many concerned citizens, legislators, child advocates, and others think we already know enough to address the root causes of child maltreatment. Critical evaluations of treatment and prevention services are not supported due to both a lack of funding and a lack of appreciation for the role that scientific analysis can play in improving the quality of existing services and identifying new opportunities for interventions. The existing research base is small in volume and spread over a wide variety of topics. The contrast between the importance of the problem and the difficulty of approaching it has encouraged the panel to proceed carefully, thoroughly distinguishing suppositions from facts when they appear.

Research on child maltreatment is at a crossroads—we are now in a position to merge this research field with others to incorporate multiple perspectives, broaden research samples, and focus on fundamental issues that have the potential to strengthen, reform, or replace existing public policy and social programs. We have arrived at a point where we can

recognize the complex interplay of forces in the origins and consequences of child abuse and neglect. We also recognize the limitations of our knowledge about the effects of different forms of social interventions (e.g., home visitations, foster care, family treatment programs) for changing the developmental pathways of abuse victims and their families.

The Importance Of A Child-Oriented Framework

The field of child maltreatment studies has often divided research into the types of child maltreatment under consideration (such as physical and sexual abuse, child neglect, and emotional maltreatment). Within each category, researchers and practitioners have examined underlying causes or etiology, consequences, forms of treatment or other interventions, and prevention programs. Each category has developed its own typology and framework of reference terms, and researchers within each category often publish in separate journals and attend separate professional meetings.

Over a decade ago, the National Research Council Committee on Child Development Research and Public Policy published a report titled Services for Children: An Agenda for Research (1981). Commenting on the development of various government services for children, the report noted that observations of children's needs were increasingly distorted by the "unmanageably complex, expensive, and confusing" categorical service structure that had produced fragmented and sometimes contradictory programs to address child health and nutrition requirements (p. 15-16). The committee concluded that the actual experiences of children and their families in different segments of society and the conditions of their homes, neighborhoods, and communities needed more systematic study. The report further noted that we need to learn more about who are the important people in children's lives, including parents, siblings, extended family, friends, and caretakers outside the family, and what these people do for children, when, and where.

These same conclusions can be applied to studies of child maltreatment. Our panel considered, but did not endorse, a framework that would emphasize differences in the categories of child abuse or neglect. We also considered a framework that would highlight differences in the current system of detecting, investigating, or responding to child maltreatment. In contrast to conceptualizing this report in terms of categories of maltreatment or responses of the social system to child maltreatment, the panel presents a child-oriented research agenda that emphasizes the importance of knowing more about the backgrounds and experiences of developing children and their families, within a broader social context that includes their friends, neighborhoods, and communities. This framework stresses the importance of knowing more about the qualitative differences between children who suffer episodic experiences of abuse or neglect and those for whom mal-

treatment is a chronic part of their lives. And this approach highlights the need to know more about circumstances that affect the consequences, and therefore the treatment, of child maltreatment, especially circumstances that may be affected by family, cultural, or ethnic factors that often remain hidden in small, isolated studies.

An Ecological Developmental Perspective

The panel has adopted an ecological developmental perspective to examine factors in the child, family, or society that can exacerbate or mitigate the incidence and destructive consequences of child maltreatment. In the panel's view, this perspective reflects the understanding that development is a process involving transactions between the growing child and the social environment or ecology in which development takes place. Positive and negative factors merit attention in shaping a research agenda on child maltreatment. We have adopted a perspective that recognizes that dysfunctional families are often part of a dysfunctional environment.

The relevance of child maltreatment research to child development studies and other research fields is only now being examined. New methodologies and new theories of child maltreatment that incorporate a developmental perspective can provide opportunities for researchers to consider the interaction of multiple factors, rather than focusing on single causes or short-term effects. What is required is the mobilization of new structures of support and resources to concentrate research efforts on significant areas that offer the greatest promise of improving our understanding of, and our responses to, child abuse and neglect.

Our report extends beyond what is, to what could be, in a society that fosters healthy development in children and families. We cannot simply build a research agenda for the existing social system; we need to develop one that independently challenges the system to adapt to new perspectives, new insights, and new discoveries.

The fundamental theme of the report is the recognition that research efforts to address child maltreatment should be enhanced and incorporated into a long-term plan to improve the quality of children's lives and the lives of their families. By placing maltreatment within the framework of healthy development, for example, we can identify unique sources of intervention for infants, preschool children, school-age children, and adolescents.

Each stage of development presents challenges that must be resolved in order for a child to achieve productive forms of thinking, perceiving, and behaving as an adult. The special needs of a newborn infant significantly differ from those of a toddler or preschool child. Children in the early years of elementary school have different skills and distinct experiential levels from those of preadolescent years. Adolescent boys and girls demon-

strate a range of awkward and exploratory behaviors as they acquire basic social skills necessary to move forward into adult life. Most important, developmental research has identified the significant influences of family, schools, peers, neighborhoods, and the broader society in supporting or constricting child development.

Understanding the phenomenon of child abuse and neglect within a developmental perspective poses special challenges. As noted earlier, research literature on child abuse and neglect is generally organized by the category or type of maltreatment; integrated efforts have not yet been achieved. For example, research has not yet compared and contrasted the causes of physical and sexual abuse of a preschool child or the differences between emotional maltreatment of toddlers and adolescents, although all these examples fall within the domain of child maltreatment. A broader conceptual framework for research will elicit data that can facilitate such comparative analyses.

By placing research in the framework of factors that foster healthy development, the ecological developmental perspective can enhance understanding of the research agenda for child abuse and neglect. The developmental perspective can improve the quality of treatment and prevention programs, which often focus on particular groups, such as young mothers who demonstrate risk factors for abuse of newborns, or sexual offenders who molest children. There has been little effort to cut across the categorical lines established within these studies to understand points of convergence or divergence in studies on child abuse and neglect.

The ecological developmental perspective can also improve our understanding of the consequences of child abuse and neglect, which may occur with increased or diminished intensity over a developmental cycle, or in different settings such as the family or the school. Initial effects may be easily identified and addressed if the abuse is detected early in the child's development, and medical and psychological services are available for the victim and the family. Undetected incidents, or childhood experiences discovered later in adult life, require different forms of treatment and intervention. In many cases, incidents of abuse and neglect may go undetected and unreported, yet the child victim may display aggression, delinquency, substance addiction, or other problem behaviors that stimulate responses within the social system.

Finally, an ecological developmental perspective can enhance intervention and prevention programs by identifying different requirements and potential effects for different age groups. Children at separate stages of their developmental cycle have special coping mechanisms that present barriers to—and opportunities for—the treatment and prevention of child abuse and neglect. Intervention programs need to consider the extent to which children may have already experienced some form of maltreatment in order to

evaluate successful outcomes. In addition, the perspective facilitates evaluation of which settings are the most promising locus for interventions.

Previous Reports

A series of national reports associated with the health and welfare of children have been published in the past decade, many of which have identified the issue of child abuse and neglect as one that deserves sustained attention and creative programmatic solutions. In their 1991 report, Beyond Rhetoric , the National Commission on Children noted that the fragmentation of social services has resulted in the nation's children being served on the basis of their most obvious condition or problem rather than being served on the basis of multiple needs. Although the needs of these children are often the same and are often broader than the mission of any single agency emotionally disturbed children are often served by the mental health system, delinquent children by the juvenile justice system, and abused or neglected children by the protective services system (National Commission on Children, 1991). In their report, the commission called for the protection of abused and neglected children through more comprehensive child protective services, with a strong emphasis on efforts to keep children with their families or to provide permanent placement for those removed from their homes.

In setting health goals for the year 2000, the Public Health Service recognized the problem of child maltreatment and recommended improvements in reporting and diagnostic services, and prevention and educational interventions (U.S. Public Health Service, 1990). For example, the report, Health People 2000 , described the four types of child maltreatment and recommended that the rising incidence (identified as 25.2 per 1,000 in 1986) should be reversed to less than 25.2 in the year 2000. These public health targets are stated as reversing increasing trends rather than achieving specific reductions because of difficulties in obtaining valid and reliable measures of child maltreatment. The report also included recommendations to expand the implementation of state level review systems for unexplained child deaths, and to increase the number of states in which at least 50 percent of children who are victims of physical or sexual abuse receive appropriate treatment and follow-up evaluations as a means of breaking the intergenerational cycle of abuse.

The U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect issued reports in 1990 and 1991 which include national policy and research recommendations. The 1991 report presented a range of research options for action, highlighting the following priorities (U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, 1991:110-113):

This report differs from those described above because its primary focus is on establishing a research agenda for the field of studies on child abuse and neglect. In contrast to the mandate of the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, the panel was not asked to prepare policy recommendations for federal and state governments in developing child maltreatment legislation and programs. The panel is clearly aware of the need for services for abused and neglected children and of the difficult policy issues that must be considered by the Congress, the federal government, the states, and municipal governments in responding to the distress of children and families in crisis. The charge to this panel was to design a research agenda that would foster the development of scientific knowledge that would provide fundamental insights into the causes, identification, incidence, consequences, treatment, and prevention of child maltreatment. This knowledge can enable public and private officials to execute their responsibilities more effectively, more equitably, and more compassionately and empower families and communities to resolve their problems and conflicts in a manner that strengthens their internal resources and reduces the need for external interventions.

Report Overview

Early studies on child abuse and neglect evolved from a medical or pathogenic model, and research focused on specific contributing factors or causal sources within the individual offender to be discovered, addressed, and prevented. With the development of research on child maltreatment over the past several decades, however, the complexity of the phenomena encompassed by the terms child abuse and neglect or child maltreatment has become apparent. Clinical studies that began with small sample sizes and weak methodological designs have gradually evolved into larger and longer-term projects with hundreds of research subjects and sound instrumentation.

Although the pathogenic model remains popular among the general public in explaining the sources of child maltreatment, it is limited by its primary focus on risk and protective factors within the individual. Research investigators now recognize that individual behaviors are often influenced by factors in the family, community, and society as a whole. Elements from these systems are now being integrated into more complex theories that analyze the roles of interacting risk and protective factors to explain and understand the phenomena associated with child maltreatment.

In the past, research on child abuse and neglect has developed within a categorical framework that classifies the research by the type of maltreatment typically as reported in administrative records. Although the quality of research within different categories of child abuse and neglect is uneven and problems of definitions, data collection, and study design continue to characterize much research in this field, the panel concluded that enough progress has been achieved to integrate the four categories of maltreatment into a child-oriented framework that could analyze the similarities and differences of research findings. Rather than encouraging the continuation of a categorical approach that would separate research on physical or sexual abuse, for example, the panel sought to develop for research sponsors and the research community a set of priorities that would foster the integration of scientific findings, encourage the development of comparative analyses, and also distinguish key research themes in such areas as identification, incidence, etiology, prevention, consequences, and treatment. This approach recognizes the need for the construction of collaborative, long-term efforts between public and private research sponsors and research investigators to strengthen the knowledge base, to integrate studies that have evolved for different types of child maltreatment, and eventually to reduce the problem of child maltreatment. This approach also highlights the connections that need to be made between research on the causes and the prevention of child maltreatment, for the more we learn about the origins of child abuse and neglect, the more effective we can be in seeking to prevent it. In the same manner, the report emphasises the connections that need to be made between research on the consequences and treatment of child maltreatment, for knowledge about the effects of child abuse and neglect can guide the development of interventions to address these effects.

In constructing this report, the panel has considered eight broad areas: Identification and definitions of child abuse and neglect (Chapter 2) Incidence: The scope of the problem (Chapter 3) Etiology of child maltreatment (Chapter 4) Prevention of child maltreatment (Chapter 5) Consequences of child maltreatment (Chapter 6) Treatment of child maltreatment (Chapter 7)

Human resources, instrumentation, and research infrastructure (Chapter 8) Ethical and legal issue in child maltreatment research (Chapter 9)

Each chapter includes key research recommendations within the topic under review. The final chapter of the report (Chapter 10) establishes a framework of research priorities derived by the panel from these recommendations. The four main categories identified within this framework—research on the nature and scope of child maltreatment; research on the origins and consequences of child maltreatment; research on the strengths and limitations of existing interventions; and the need for a science policy for child maltreatment research—provide the priorities that the panel has selected as the most important to address in the decade ahead.

1. The panel received an anecdotal report, for example, that one federal research agency systematically changed titles of its research awards over a decade ago, replacing phrases such as child abuse with references to maternal and child health care, after political sensitivities developed regarding the appropriateness of its research program in this area.

Bell, D.A. 1992 Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism . New York: Basic Books.

Children's Defense Fund 1991 The State of America's Children . Washington, DC: The Children's Defense Fund.

Daro, D. 1988 Confronting Child Abuse: Research for Effective Program Design . New York: The Free Press, Macmillan. Cited in the General Accounting Office, 1992. Child Abuse: Prevention Programs Need Greater Emphasis. GAO/HRD-92-99.

Daro, D., and K. McCurdy 1991 Current Trends in Child Abuse Reporting and Fatalities: The Results of the 1990 Annual Fifty State Survey . Chicago: National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse.

Fuchs, V.R., and D.M. Reklis 1992 America's children: Economic perspectives and policy options. Science 255:41-46.

General Accounting Office 1991 Child Abuse Prevention: Status of the Challenge Grant Program . May. GAO:HRD91-95. Washington, DC.

Huston, A.C., ed. 1991 Children in Poverty: Child Development and Public Policy . New York: Cambridge University Press.

Kempe, C.H., F.N. Silverman, B. Steele, W. Droegemueller, and H.R. Silver 1962 The battered child syndrome. Journal of the American Medical Association 181(1): 17-24.

McClain, P.W., J.J. Sacks, R.G. Froehlke, and B.G. Ewigman 1993 Estimates of fatal child abuse and neglect, United States, 1979 through 1988. Pediatrics 91(2):338-343.

National Commission on Children 1991 Beyond Rhetoric: A New American Agenda for Children and Families . Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

National Research Council 1981 Services for Children: An Agenda for Research . Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect 1990 Child Abuse and Neglect: Critical First Steps in Response to a National Emergency . August. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. August. 1991 Creating Caring Communities . September. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

U.S. Public Health Service 1990 Violent and abusive behavior. Pp. 226-247 (Chapter 7) in Healthy People 2000 Report . Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The tragedy of child abuse and neglect is in the forefront of public attention. Yet, without a conceptual framework, research in this area has been highly fragmented. Understanding the broad dimensions of this crisis has suffered as a result.

This new volume provides a comprehensive, integrated, child-oriented research agenda for the nation. The committee presents an overview of three major areas:

  • Definitions and scope —exploring standardized classifications, analysis of incidence and prevalence trends, and more.
  • Etiology, consequences, treatment, and prevention —analyzing relationships between cause and effect, reviewing prevention research with a unique systems approach, looking at short- and long-term consequences of abuse, and evaluating interventions.
  • Infrastructure and ethics —including a review of current research efforts, ways to strengthen human resources and research tools, and guidance on sensitive ethical and legal issues.

This volume will be useful to organizations involved in research, social service agencies, child advocacy groups, and researchers.

READ FREE ONLINE

Welcome to OpenBook!

You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

Show this book's table of contents , where you can jump to any chapter by name.

...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

Switch between the Original Pages , where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter .

Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

View our suggested citation for this chapter.

Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

Get Email Updates

Do you enjoy reading reports from the Academies online for free ? Sign up for email notifications and we'll let you know about new publications in your areas of interest when they're released.

  • Call to +1 844 889-9952

85 Child Neglect Research Topics & Essay Examples

📝 child neglect research papers examples, 🏆 best child neglect essay titles, ❓ child neglect research questions.

  • Family Violence: Adult-Child Sexual Abuse Psychology essay sample: This paper explores the risk and protection factors for child abuse in the light of Macro-system, microsystem, mesosystems; and programs that target the prevention of child abuse.
  • Child Abuse: Perpetrated by Parents on Children Psychology essay sample: ‘Child neglect’ is an ambiguous and all-encompassing term used to describe actions perpetrated by parents on children which are universally deemed harmful by society.
  • Social and Emotional Outcomes of Child Abuse Psychology essay sample: This can be further and in a meaningful manner determine the results by paying attention to a sound and the experience of the child.
  • Understanding Child Abuse and Neglect Psychology essay sample: A paper explores reasons for the prevalence of child abuse in society and possible remedies. Child abuse is an activity that subjects a child to physical, emotional, or sexual trauma.
  • Abuse and Neglect: An Orientation Psychology essay sample: Child abuse and neglect are severe issues, affecting the most vulnerable section of the population and often causing permanent trauma.
  • Child Neglect and Abuse: Causes, Effects, Prevention, and Treatment Psychology essay sample: Child maltreatment is a broad and complex concept that entails a wide range of problematic issues, including neglect, sexual, physical, and emotional abuse.
  • The Long-Term Impact of Abuse and Neglect on Children Psychology essay sample: The purpose of this paper is to explain the impact of abuse on children, examine how different types of abuse impact a child’s cognitive and socio-emotional development.
  • Neglect and Abuse in "Romanian Orphanage" Video Psychology essay sample: This article focuses on the video "Romanian Orphanage" - a good example of how emotional neglect negatively affects the development of young people.
  • Child Abuse and Neglect in Daycares Psychology essay sample: Millions of children face acts of negligence in various forms. During the tender age, the child needs and depends on the parent or caregiver critically.
  • Identifying Child Abuse and Neglect: Teacher Training Psychology essay sample: Apart from physical and psychological trauma, the experience of abuse or neglect impacts executive functioning and cognitive skills, potentially causing difficulties in learning.
  • Child Emotional Neglect and Its Risk Factors Psychology essay sample: Child emotional neglect is a common phenomenon observed in terms of raising healthy children. Negligent parents experience the same attitude from their parents in childhood.
  • Child Abuse and Neglect: “A Child Called It” Psychology essay sample: This paper compares symptoms of abuse detailed within the work by Dave Pelzer known as “A child called It” and analyzes them using recognized guidelines for child abuse victims.
  • Child Neglect: Impact on Self-Esteem in Adulthood Psychology essay sample: Cchild neglect, abuse, and lack of acceptance harm the children's self-esteem and contribute to difficulties in their adult life.
  • Experience of Childhood Trauma from Child Abuse/Maltreatment Psychology essay sample: This paper aims to analyze the experience of childhood trauma from child abuse/maltreatment, outcomes included, and relevant literature search results and annotated bibliography.
  • Childhood Maltreatment and Behavior Problems Psychology essay sample: The research centers on examining whether or not early childhood maltreatment (before the age of four) affected the long-term behavioral deviations.
  • Child Neglect and Its Impact on Self-Esteem of a Young Adult Psychology essay sample: The investigation of the theme of child neglect and its mediating effect on the self-esteem of young adults can be conducted with the help of a quantitative questionnaire.
  • Child Neglect Might Affect a Child’s Self-Esteem in Adulthood Psychology essay sample: The results of the natural observation applied to show that parents should draw more attention to their children in order to eliminate the risk of cultivating a problematic adult.
  • Experience of Trauma from Child Maltreatment Psychology essay sample: Summing up the findings of various researchers as well as using databases, studies confirm an undeniable influence of maltreatment on the later development and life of a child.
  • Child Abuse and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Psychology essay sample: The given case illustrates child abuse and neglect as a problem involving not only a child and a parent but also grandparents.
  • Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect Psychology essay sample: Child abuse and neglect are cases when an underaged individual's emotional needs are overlooked and three out of eight children in the United States are affected by this problem.
  • Child Neglect Types and Its Impact on Children: Physical, Medical, Educational and Emotional Neglect
  • Abortions Problems: Child Neglect and Financial Exploitation
  • Exposing Child Neglect and Abuse: Physical Violence Against Kids
  • Physical and Emotional Child Abuse and Neglect: The Effect on Physical, Emotional, and Social Development
  • Contemporary Quebec Cinema Social Problem of Child Abuse Child abuse and neglect have been an issue that has occasionally gained attention and measures to address them.
  • Child Neglect, Abuse, and Juvenile Delinquency
  • Early Childhood and the Effects of Child Neglect and Abuse: Physical and Psychological
  • The Neglect, Abuse, and Absence of Parental Care in the Childhood and Its Effect on Adult Life
  • Drug Abuse and Child Neglect: Origins of Child Neglect
  • Childhood Trauma: Child Neglect and Abuse
  • Child Neglect in the United States: The Rate of Severe Violence
  • Sociology. Family Violence and Child Abuse The phenomenon of child abuse is defined as causing any kind of offensive contact on the body of a child. It also includes any transaction which may disgrace the child.
  • Prevention of Child Maltreatment and Child Neglect
  • Child Neglect, Child Abuse, and Domestic Violence
  • Child Neglect Raises Taxes: Fighting Poverty
  • Fighting Poverty Reduces Child Neglect Cases
  • Cultural Cohabitation and Child Neglect Among Kalabari People
  • Stopping Child Neglect and Abuse With the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act
  • Nursing Debate: Childhood Obesity Is a Form of Parental Neglect This paper is a nursing debate on the topic: Childhood obesity is a form of parental neglect and should be punishable by law.
  • Violence Prevention: Child Abuse and Child Neglect
  • Physical and Emotional Abuse and Child Neglect
  • Abuse and Emotional Child Neglect
  • Child Neglect and Its Consequences
  • Child Neglect and Children’s Health
  • The Short and Long Term Consequences of Child Neglect and Sexual Abuse
  • Child Neglect and Adoption: Warning Signs of Adopted Child Abuse and Neglect
  • Identifying Child Physical Abuse and Child Neglect: Scars
  • Canadian Law: Systematic and Methodical Inquiry in to Child Abuse Canada became a U.N. Convention signatory in 1991 and agreed to uphold the rights of children. Canada is therefore accountable with regard to children rights.
  • The Relationship Between Poverty, Child Neglect, and Abuse
  • Child Abuse and Child Neglect by Parents and Other Caregivers
  • Child Neglect and Deprivation: Food Restriction as a Form of Child Abuse
  • The Cause and Effects of Child Neglect
  • The Laws Monitoring and Stopping Child Neglect in the United States
  • Long-Term Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect
  • Child Neglect and Its Effects on Children: Physical, Psychological, Emotional, Behavioral, and Social
  • Criminal Law Crimes Against Children The paper looks at the criminal offences committed against children, laws safeguarding the rights of children and ways of protecting a child from abuse.
  • Child Neglect: Emotional Neglect Is a Failure of Parents or Caregivers to Respond to a Child’s Emotional Needs
  • Effects of Child Neglect and Abuse for Children and Adolescents
  • Childhood Neglect: The Effect of Child Neglect on Adolescents
  • Child Neglect: A Differential Analysis by Parent Gender and Family Structure
  • Child Neglect and Its Therapeutic Interventions
  • Child Neglect, Parental Substance Abuse, and Domestic Violence
  • Child Neglect: The Rate of Severe Violence Reported by the Children
  • Child Neglect and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
  • How Child Neglect and Abuse Affect Childhood?
  • How Can the Community Stop Child Neglect and Abuse?
  • Child Neglect and Juvenile Delinquency: What Are the Links?
  • How to Distinguish Between Child Neglect and Deprivation Abuse?
  • How Serious Is Child Neglect and Abuse in the United States?
  • Do Childhood Experiences of Child Neglect Affect Delinquency Among Child Welfare Involved-Youth?
  • What Are Abuse, Child Neglect, and Financial Exploitation?
  • Child Abuse and Child Neglect: What Is Different?
  • How Do States Protect Children From Child Neglect?
  • Is Child Neglect a Social Problem?
  • Child Neglect: What Happens to a Neglected Child?
  • How Does Child Neglect During Infancy Affect Cognitive Development in Young Children?
  • Does Child Neglect and Abuselead to Bullying?
  • What Are the Four Types of Child Neglect?
  • Do Child Neglect and Abuse Affect an Individual Later in Life?
  • Who Are These Parents Involved in Child Neglect?
  • What Is Considered Child Neglect?
  • How Does Child Neglect Affect Children?
  • What Are Examples of Childhood Neglect?
  • How Does Child Neglect Affect Society?

Cite this page

Select style

  • Chicago (A-D)
  • Chicago (N-B)

PsychologyWriting. (2023, September 24). 85 Child Neglect Research Topics & Essay Examples. https://psychologywriting.com/topics/child-neglect-research-topics/

"85 Child Neglect Research Topics & Essay Examples." PsychologyWriting , 24 Sept. 2023, psychologywriting.com/topics/child-neglect-research-topics/.

PsychologyWriting . (2023) '85 Child Neglect Research Topics & Essay Examples'. 24 September.

PsychologyWriting . 2023. "85 Child Neglect Research Topics & Essay Examples." September 24, 2023. https://psychologywriting.com/topics/child-neglect-research-topics/.

1. PsychologyWriting . "85 Child Neglect Research Topics & Essay Examples." September 24, 2023. https://psychologywriting.com/topics/child-neglect-research-topics/.

Bibliography

PsychologyWriting . "85 Child Neglect Research Topics & Essay Examples." September 24, 2023. https://psychologywriting.com/topics/child-neglect-research-topics/.

  • Intelligence
  • Sigmund Freud
  • Psychotherapy
  • Abraham Maslow
  • Child Abuse

Home / Essay Samples / Crime / Child Abuse

Child Abuse Essay Examples

Realizing human rights: combating violence against children.

Violence Against Children Essay: Making Human Rights Real - “It is easy to bring strong children than to mend broken adults” Did you know that every person in the world has human rights? Even children have rights. Human rights are things that every person should...

The Tragic Case of Genie Wiley: the Story of Feral Children

Feral Children are children who are brought up with inadequate contact with other human beings and can instead, be raised outside in the wild through possible animal activities. Such isolation is either done intentionally or by fate in which something may have happened to the...

The Impact of Different Types of Abuse on Children

Sexual and physical abuse is related to grey matter volume loss in corpus callosum, the prefrontal cortex, the visual cortex and hippocampus (Sheffield et al. , 2013) and reduced cortical thickness in brain regions implicated in emotional processing (Gold et al. , 2016) These reductions...

Spanking Children - Both Obedience and Physical Abuse

Should Parents Spank Their Kids For Discipline? As a kid, we probably get spanked by our parents before. Is that the right way to discipline your child? Kids are annoying sometimes even when adults tell them to stop, but they never stop. Kids that are...

The Way Corporal Punishment Affects Children

Corporal punishment towards children has been a controversial topic for many years. It’s the use of physical force with the intention of causing a child to experience pain, but not injury for the purpose of correction or control of the child’s behavior. This common form...

Analysis of Two Agencies Related to Child Abuse and Maltreatment

The name of the agency that I chose is Arizona Families F. I. R. S. T. During the lecture, we have discussed the parent’s risk factors of child maltreatment and the possible outcomes of the risks. When drawing a comparison between non-abusive parents and physically...

The Terrible Story of Child Abuse

Imagine being afraid to go home after school everyday because you know what awaits you when you walk in the door. Look around you. All these people that you see seem average, right? There are guys, girls, dark skin, fair skin, tall, and short. 325....

View on Symbolism in 'The Juniper Tree’’ Sad Story

The story of ‘‘The Juniper Tree’’ is a fairy tale by Grimm Brothers, it is a sad story full of trauma, repression and suspense. This is a story of boy whose mother died and his father married another women. Step mother has insecurities and do...

The Reasons for Child Homicide Across the UK

Child homicide occurs in consistent patterns across the UK and these patterns help professionals solve and prevent child homicide cases. The relationships between the victim(s) and the perpetrator(s) are found to more commonly be familial ties more often than stranger(s). Negligence is one of the...

Representation of Residential School Trauma in "Indian Horse"

A good childhood experience reflects greatly upon how you act as you get older, school life for a child should be memorable and should be able to apply the teachings to their own lives, but unfortunately, that's not what Saul Indian Horse can relate to....

Trying to find an excellent essay sample but no results?

Don’t waste your time and get a professional writer to help!

  • Forensic Science Essays
  • Identity Theft Essays
  • Juvenile Delinquency Essays
  • Hate Crime Essays
  • Rape Essays
  • White Collar Crime Essays
  • Cyber Crimes Essays
  • Sexual Harassment Essays
  • Criminal Justice Essays

About Child Abuse

Child abuse or child maltreatment is any act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, it can be sexual abuse or exploitation, physical, sexual, and/or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child or children, especially by a parent or a caregiver.

Approximately 5 children die every day because of child abuse. 1 out of 3 girls and 1 out of 5 boys will be sexually abused before they reach age 18. 14% of all men and 36% of all women in prison were abused as children. A report of child neglect is made every ten seconds. More than four children die daily due to child neglect. Approximately one-third of child neglect cases are a result of substance abuse problems.

samplius.com uses cookies to offer you the best service possible.By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .--> -->