Understanding Child Abuse
The Child Abuse Team of the Mayerson Center for Safe and Healthy Children at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center provides the following frequently asked questions (FAQs) and answers.
Understanding Child Abuse Frequently Asked Questions
Answers
Q. What kind of people abuse children?
A. Ordinary, everyday people. Your neighbors. Your extended family. People you might never suspect.
Sexual abuse is almost always done by someone known to the child. Physical abuse is almost always committed by a family member or a surrogate parent.
People under stress, who are frustrated or angry, are more likely to lash out at children. In the case of babies who are shaken, the abuser sometimes doesn't understand the damage that can be done.
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Q. Are people who abuse children also prior victims of abuse themselves?
A. Many are, but not all. Studies estimate 30 to 60 percent of abusers were themselves abused. But abuse is only part of the story. Adults who abuse children physically may not have been abused themselves, but they likely had little nurturing or had poor role models. Such a history may spawn adults with poor self-images and poor parenting skills. These are ingredients in the makeup of an abuser. None of these factors excuses the abuse, but it may hold the key to helping the abuser.
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Q. Does counseling help perpetrators of abuse?
A. Yes, at least in some cases. But it's by no means easy. Overcoming perpetrators' denial and helping them learn empathy toward their victims are key issues for counseling. Counseling is more likely to succeed with perpetrators of physical abuse than sexual abuse. Sexual abuse often goes on a long time, becomes a pattern, and coexists with other issues, such as domestic violence, poverty, or mental illness. The psychological problems that lead to someone committing sexual abuse are complex and difficult to overcome.
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Q. What risk factors increase a child's likelihood of being physically abused?
A. Younger children are more likely to be abused. More than half of abuse victims are under age 5. Not only are younger children more likely to be abused, but they're more likely to be seriously injured or killed. Younger children are more likely to be abused because they don't meet unrealistic expectations of parents.
History of mental illness, lack of impulse control and lack of family or community support systems for parents or caregivers are also key risk factors in abuse. Parents with a better understanding of child development and what a child's capabilities are at a given age are less likely to become abusers.
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