Long-term consequences

It is immediately important to protect children from physical, emotional, and sexual abuse and neglect. Unfortunately for the child, the damage does not end there. The long-term consequences can include being removed from their parents and placement in the foster care system along with a host of physical and psychological long-term problems. Follow up treatment and care are essential to reduce the severity of these consequences.

Certain factors can affect the outcomes of the abuse. These include:

• The child’s age and developmental status
• The type, frequency and severity of the maltreatment
• The relationship between the child and the perpetrator
• The degree to which the child experiences parental substance abuse, poverty and domestic violence (Rosen, Handley, Cicchetti, & Rogosch, 2018)

The Child Welfare Department offers several lists of consequences on their website - https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubpdfs/long_term_consequences.pdf.

Here is a summary of some of their findings from the following investigations: Widom, Czaja, Bentley, & Johnson, 2012; Monnat & Chandler, 2015; Afifi et al., 2016.

Physical Health Consequences

• Diabetes
• Lung disease
• Malnutrition
• Vision problems
• Functional limitations (i.e., being limited in activities)
• Heart attack
• Arthritis
• Back problems
• High blood pressure
• Brain damage
• Migraine headaches
• Chronic bronchitis/emphysema/chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• Cancer
• Stroke
• Bowel disease
• Chronic fatigue syndrome

Psychological Consequences

• Diminished executive functioning and cognitive skills
• Poor mental and emotional health
• Attachment and social difficulties
  
• Posttraumatic stress

Behavioral consequences

• Unhealthy sexual practices (Thompson et al., 2017)
• Juvenile delinquency with subsequent adult criminality (Herrenkohl, Jung, Lee, & Kim, 2017)
• Alcohol and other drug use (Choi, DiNitto, Marti, & Choi, 2017).
• Abuse and neglect of their own children (Yang, Font, Ketchum, & Kim, 2018)

According to the CDC, there are strategies that can reduce the negative consequences of abuse. These include

• Enlisting communities to promote stable, safe, and nurturing environments for children;
• Using data to inform programs and services for preventing child maltreatment;
• Implementing community efforts that support parenting programs and positive parenting behaviors
  (HHS, CDC, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention, 2014). https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubpdfs/long_term_consequences.pdf

Reference

Afifi, T. O., MacMillan, H. L., Boyle, M., Cheung, K., Taillieu, T., Turner, S., & Sareen, J. (2016). Child abuse and physical health in adulthood. Health Reports, 27, 10–18.

Choi, N. G., DiNitto, D. M., Marti, C. N., & Choi, B. Y. (2017). Association of adverse childhood experiences with lifetime mental and substance use disorders among men and women aged 50+ years. International Psychogeriatrics, 29, 359–372.

Herrenkohl, T. I., Jung, H., Lee, J. O., & Kim, M.-H. (2017). Effects of child maltreatment, cumulative victimization experiences, and proximal life stress on adult crime and antisocial behavior. Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/250506.pdf.

Monnat, S. M., & Chandler, R. F. (2015). Long-term physicalhealth consequences of adverse childhood experiences. The Sociological Quarterly, 56, 723–752. doi: 10.1111/tsq.12107

Rosen, A. L., Handley, E. D., Cicchetti, D., & Rogosch, F. C. (2018). The impact of patterns of trauma exposure among low income children with and without histories of childmaltreatment. Child Abuse & Neglect, 80, 301–311. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.04.00

Thompson, R., Lewis, T., Neilson, E. C., English, D. J., Litrownik, A. J., Margolis, B. . . . Dubowitz, H. (2017). Child maltreatment and risky sexual behavior. Child Maltreatment, 22, 69–78.

Yang, M., Font, S. A., Ketchum, M., & Kim, Y. K. (2018). Intergenerational transmission of child abuse and neglect: Effects of maltreatment type and depressive symptoms. Children and Youth Services Review, 91, 364–371.

Young, J.C. & Widom, C.S. (2014). Long-term effects of child abuse and neglect on emotion processing in adulthood. Child Abuse Neglect. 38(8),1369-81.

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