Sexual Abuse and Young Children Essay -- Child Abuse Essays

As reported in Child Maltreatment 2013, away of the estimated 905,000 victims of child abuse and leave off reported in the United States in 2013, 8.8% were victims of cozy abuse. 1 This means that in that year over 79,600 children were informally mistreat in the United States. thither is general agreement among mental health and child protection professionals that child sexual abuse is not uncommon and is a serious problem in the United States. 2 inner abuse has a very broad definition. According to the American Psychological Association, a primordial characteristicis the dominant correct of an adult that allows him or her to force or coerce a child into sexual activity. 3 The Child Abuse saloon and Treatment Act defines sexual abuse asA. the employment, use, persuasion, inducement, enticement, or coercion of any child to engage in, or assist any other soul to engage in, any sexually explicit consume or simulation of such conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depic tion of such conduct or B. the rape, and in cases of caretaker or inter-familial relationships, statutory rape, molestation, prostitution, or other form of sexual exploitation of children, or incest with children 4There are many assorted types of sexual abuse, some much extreme than others. Sexual abuse falls into two categories contact and non-contact. 5 Sexual abuse involving contact may allow in fondling a childs genitals, masturbation, oral-genital contact, digital penetration, and vaginal and anal intercourse and non-contact sexual abuse could include exposure, voyeurism, and child pornography. 6 All sexual abuse, no offspring how severe or batty by definition, is damaging to the young child and can affect his/her neurological and psychological development and health, and affect him/her throughout life. Sexual abuse negatively affects a young childs neurological development. It causes toxic stress, a type of stress which children are unable to manage by themselves. 7 Accor ding to the U.S. plane section of Health and Human Services, exposure to toxic stress during early childhood can impair and disrupt development of conceiver circuits, which can cause an individualistic to develop a low threshold for stress, thereby becoming overly reactive to adverse experiences throughout life.8 game levels of stress hormones can to a fault affect the childs immune system and cause cog... ... Symptoms Attempts to touch the genitals of others Sexualized play Detailed and age-inappropriate knowledge of sexual activity Excessive masturbatory behaviour Reluctance to undress Avoidance of touch Increased startle response Hypervigilance Extreme fluctuations in heart rate (above snow bpm or downstairs 60 bpm) Sleep disturbance (bed wetting, nightmares) Drastic change in appetite somatic complaints Enuresis/encopresis Substance use jade/exhaustionEmotional Symptoms turnabout to younger developmental stage Lack of affect Withdrawal/depression Anxiety/irritabilit y/fear Phobias Excessive guilt feelings Feelings of helplessness Low self-assertion Obsessive ideas Self-hate Hyperalertness DissociationBehavioral Symptoms Abrupt change in behavior or personality Aggression Excessive weeping Over compliance take adjustment problems/sudden drop in school performance Temper tantrums Truancy or runaway behavior Self-mutilating/self-destructive ideation/gestures/attempts Flashbacks/Avoidance Nightmares Lack of send/social isolation/lack of friendships HyperarousalChildTrauma.org Sexual Abuse and Young Children Essay -- Child Abuse EssaysAs reported in Child Maltreatment 2013, out of the estimated 905,000 victims of child abuse and neglect reported in the United States in 2013, 8.8% were victims of sexual abuse. 1 This means that in that year over 79,600 children were sexually abused in the United States. There is general agreement among mental health and child protection professionals that child sexual abuse is not uncommon and is a serious problem in the United States. 2 Sexual abuse has a very broad definition. According to the American Psychological Association, a central characteristicis the dominant position of an adult that allows him or her to force or coerce a child into sexual activity. 3 The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act defines sexual abuse asA. the employment, use, persuasion, inducement, enticement, or coercion of any child to engage in, or assist any other person to engage in, any sexually explicit conduct or simulation of such conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct or B. the rape, and in cases of caretaker or inter-familial relationships, statutory rape, molestation, prostitution, or other form of sexual exploitation of children, or incest with children 4There are many different types of sexual abuse, some more extreme than others. Sexual abuse falls into two categories contact and non-contact. 5 Sexual abuse involving contact may include fondling a childs genitals, masturbation, oral-genital contact, digital penetration, and vaginal and anal intercourse and non-contact sexual abuse could include exposure, voyeurism, and child pornography. 6 All sexual abuse, no matter how severe or mild by definition, is damaging to the young child and can affect his/her neurological and psychological development and health, and affect him/her throughout life. Sexual abuse negatively affects a young childs neurological development. It causes toxic stress, a type of stress which children are unable to manage by themselves. 7 According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, exposure to toxic stress during early childhood can impair and disrupt development of brain circuits, which can cause an individual to develop a low threshold for stress, thereby becoming overly reactive to adverse experiences throughout life.8 High levels of stress hormones can also affect the childs immune system and cause cog... ... Symptoms Attempts to tou ch the genitals of others Sexualized play Detailed and age-inappropriate knowledge of sexual activity Excessive masturbatory behavior Reluctance to undress Avoidance of touch Increased startle response Hypervigilance Extreme fluctuations in heart rate (above 100 bpm or below 60 bpm) Sleep disturbance (bed wetting, nightmares) Drastic change in appetite somatic complaints Enuresis/encopresis Substance use Fatigue/exhaustionEmotional Symptoms Regression to younger developmental stage Lack of affect Withdrawal/depression Anxiety/irritability/fear Phobias Excessive guilt Feelings of helplessness Low self-esteem Obsessive ideas Self-hate Hyperalertness DissociationBehavioral Symptoms Abrupt change in behavior or personality Aggression Excessive crying Over compliance School adjustment problems/sudden drop in school performance Temper tantrums Truancy or runaway behavior Self-mutilating/suicidal ideation/gestures/attempts Flashbacks/Avoidance Nightmares Lack of trust/social isolation/la ck of friendships HyperarousalChildTrauma.org