The World Health Organization (WHO) defines child maltreatment as any act of abuse or neglect to which children and adolescents under 18 years of age are subjected, which harms their health or development. Discover everything you need to know in this post.
Classification of Child Maltreatment
There are different types of maltreatment that typically occur outside the family context, but the most common forms of child maltreatment, those that affect a larger proportion of boys and girls, occur within the family (nuclear or extended).
Various classifications of child maltreatment have been made. For clarity in its presentation (and consensus with it), the one synthesized by authors Palacios, Jiménez, Oliva, and Saldaña (1998) is offered below:
Abandonment or Neglect as Child Maltreatment
A situation in which a minor’s basic physical needs and safety are not met by those responsible for their care.
Emotional Maltreatment
The psychological needs of the minor are not taken into consideration, particularly those related to interpersonal relationships and self-esteem.
Physical Maltreatment
Non-accidental action by an adult that causes physical harm or illness to the minor, or places them at serious risk of suffering it as a result of intentional negligence.
Sexual Abuse
The use of a minor under 18 years of age by an adult to satisfy sexual desires.
Prenatal Maltreatment
Situations and characteristics of a pregnant woman’s lifestyle that, being avoidable, harm fetal development.
Begging
The child is habitually or sporadically used for begging, or the minor engages in begging on their own initiative.
Corruption
Adult behavior that promotes patterns of antisocial or deviant behavior in the child, particularly in the areas of aggression, misappropriation, sexuality, and drug trafficking or consumption.
Child Labor Exploitation
For economic gain, the child is obligatorily assigned to perform tasks that exceed normal limits, that should be performed by adults, and that clearly interfere with the minor’s school activities and needs.
Münchhausen Syndrome by Proxy
Pathological physical symptoms are provoked in the minor, requiring hospitalization or repeated medical treatment.
Institutional Maltreatment
Situations that occur in centers or organizations that care for minors and in which, by action or omission, basic rights to protection, care, and developmental stimulation are not respected.
Child maltreatment is a phenomenon that, with exceptions, occurs in private, even when it occurs within the family, as is typical in sexual abuse. This makes it difficult to quantify and renders the figures very unreliable. According to research data carried out throughout Spain, but focused only on cases opened in child protection services of the different Autonomous Communities (Jiménez, Oliva, and Saldaña, 1996), they indicate that:
> Between 30% and 50% of maltreated children suffer more than one type of maltreatment.
> Parents are usually the figures who most frequently cause maltreatment.
> It is very common that, within the same family, maltreatment affects more than one child.
> The global incidence of maltreatment usually decreases after puberty, undoubtedly because minors are more capable of defending themselves against their aggressors.
Unfortunately, the latest research reveals that violence against minors grew by 13.6% in 2012 in Spain. 1,778 children and adolescents were attended that year as victims of physical and psychological maltreatment, school violence, abandonment, or sexual abuse, among others. In most cases, the aggressors are usually the father, classmates, or the mother, in any case, mainly people close to the minor.
Indicators of Child Maltreatment
In general terms, among the indicators of child maltreatment we can find: attitude and behavior of the minor (distrustful, scared, startled, fearful child, indifference, apathy, sadness, downcast gaze, avoidance of adult gaze, real or apparent mental retardation, school failure. Malnutrition, dehydration, growth parameters below normal for age, low weight. Poor hygiene, dry fecal residue adhering to the skin, parasites, significant diaper dermatitis.
The characteristic clinical picture of Battered Child Syndrome includes lesions, generally multiple, of different nature, in various periods of evolution, located in different anatomical planes, most frequently in protected organic areas. Excessive crying in infants, without apparent reason. Irritable behavior or extreme agitation in infants. Regression of a developmental phase that had already been reached, for example, enuresis, encopresis, thumb sucking. Excessive fears, for example, fear of darkness, going to bed, staying with certain people.
A careful look at the set of indicators previously presented allows the reader to realize early on the non-existence of specific indicators of maltreatment.
Consequences of Child Neglect
Trickett and McBride-Chang (1995) point out that maltreatment introduces a distortion in basic emotional relationships, in the foundations of personality and relationship building. The main consequences of child maltreatment are physical and psychological: children raised in homes where they are maltreated often show post-traumatic and emotional disorders. Many experience feelings of low self-esteem and suffer from depression and anxiety, so they often use alcohol or other drugs to mitigate their psychological stress, with addiction in adulthood being more frequent than in the general population.
The effects of child maltreatment do not cease after childhood, with many showing difficulties in establishing healthy interpersonal relationships upon reaching adulthood.
Some children are afraid to talk about what happens to them because they think no one will believe them. Other times they do not realize that the maltreatment they are subjected to is abnormal behavior and, thus, unconsciously learn to repeat this “model”.
Upon suspicion of maltreatment, a meticulous interdisciplinary study of the victim is necessary (forensic doctors, pediatricians, forensic psychologists, psychiatrists, gynecologists, social workers, etc.).
Child protection requires well-trained professionals who, far from being swayed by impartial or subjective impressions, are capable of putting into practice knowledge derived from psychological research.
ISEP offers specialized training in forensic psychology, essential for the study of child maltreatment victims and their intervention.