Physical abuse...
According to the Third National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect, (Sedlak & Broadhurst, 1996), physical abuse is defined as violence inflicted on a child under the age of 18 who suffers or is in danger of suffering bodily maltreatment by a parent or legal guardian. Example: being struck by a hand or by an object, or being kicked, shaken, burned, stabbed or strangled.
In Quebec, the Youth Protection Act intervenes in cases of maltreatment. For the purposes of the Act, a child's security or development is considered in danger if he or she is subject to physical maltreatment through violence or neglect which may have serious consequences on the child's health, development or life (YPA, article 38 g, Security and Development of a Child).
Numerous studies indicate that interactions between the psychological condition of parents and children (individual variables), use of hostile or abusive upbringing, increased presence of stress in the home environment (family relational type) and access to or lack of diverse available resources (social structures) all become factors playing a determining role in the intensity of physical violence in the family environment and the family's capacity to request aid and reveal abuses.
Maltreatment inflicted on children constitutes a complex problem that has, in far too many cases, disastrous consequences on the child's development, family and society in general.
In 2000, according to Statistics Canada, 53% of child victims assaulted by a family member were girls, while fathers were most often the authors of assault (71%), regardless of the type of maltreatment or child's age.
A multitude of consequences may result from physical violence. The literature indicates that physical violence may lead to serious physical, psychological and relational problems. Some children are observed to have attribution and perception difficulties (frequent forgetting, poor reality comprehension and analytical capacity distortion).
Other children learn an upbringing mode based on violence, aggression and fear. Later on, they tend to reproduce these upbringing characteristics in life and their interactions with others.
Still others experience enormous stress, coupled with high anger. They develop anxiety troubles (distress, night terrors, irrational fears, mood swings, high stress), frustration management problems (emotional instability) or serious behaviour problems.
For many children, fear of denunciation consequences keeps them in a climate of silence, furthering dependence on the abuser and causing a lack of confidential ties with a significant adult. This type of situation is in danger of repeating throughout the child's life if intervention is not undertaken.
Intellectually and academically, the most frequently encountered consequences among these children are: learning and concentration difficulties, inadequate scholastic motivation, lack of motivation to do activities that interest most children of their age, low level self-confidence, most often reflected by lower-than-average academic results and too often by difficulties socializing with peers of their age.
Among younger children (0-5 years old), language problems are sometimes observed (stuttering, mutism, social isolation) and even weakened intellectual capacities due to repeated corporal ill-treatment.
Physical problems harmful to the child's health and development have also been observed. For example: injury after-effects (broken bones, scars and lesions) or fragile states of health (blackouts, growth malformations).
In occasional rare cases, psychiatric problems may appear following very serious traumatisms.
Émilie Girouard, Bachelor of Psychoeducation
