The Effects of Child Sexual Abuse and Emotional Abuse on Children

This study delves into the long-term effects of child sexual abuse and emotional abuse on children's mental and physical health. It discusses the causes, impacts, and outcomes of these abuses, backed by relevant evidence.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
'The effects of child sexual abuse and emotional abuse on children'
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Introduction:
The numerous studies have been highlighting the long-term effects on the children’s
mental health for decades. A range of areas have been found to be destroying the mental as well
as the physical health of the children. According to Szojka et al. (2017), the consistent picture of
the clear links between the range of adverse outcomes and child sexual abuse both in adulthood
and childhood has been portrayed. The children and the adolescents are the major victims of such
abusive behavior that lead them towards adopting different behavioral traits. Therefore, the paper
is aiming to delve deeper into the probable causes that create the long term effects on mental
health and physical health of the children. The study is segregated into two different parts that
measure the impact of both the sexual abuse and emotional abuse on children. The study will
also discuss the long term effectiveness and the probable outcomes that determine the mental
health of the children in United Kingdom. Backing up with the relevant evidences, the study will
bring out the conceptual underpinning of these identified effects.
Sexual Abuse and how it effects children:
1. Concept
In defining the term ‘sexual abuse’, it can be stated that it is form of persuading or
forcing a person to participate in any sexual activity. Children are also victimized due to the
various types of the sexual abuses. The sexual abuse may occur by direct physical connection or
online as well (Martellozzo 2013). Children are sometimes unable to understand that they have
been going through the sexual abuse. In some cases, they do not understand or they fear to share
it with others. In either way, it affects their mental as well as physical health. According to
Stalker and McArthur (2012), sexual abuse is sometimes categorized into two definitions. First

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type of sexual abuse is called contact abuse in which the abuser makes the physical contact with
any child. The second type of the sexual abuse is called non-contact abuse in which the abuser
does not directly touch the victim but abuse them verbally (Nspcc.org.uk 2019). Children are
mostly forced to watch or hear sexual activities in non-touching sexual abuse. It is quite difficult
to measure the rate of the child abuse in England and Wales. However, it is still important to
prepare an entire estimation of the child abuse rate. This estimation creates the basis for the
policy making at both the local and National levels. Considering the Crime Survey Data in 2015-
2016 in England and Wales, it can be found that almost 7% of the population between the ages
of 16-59 years reported that they were sexually abused in their childhood (Iicsa.org.uk 2019).
On the other hand, it is also notified that the Office for National Statistics has been
seeking to make the necessary improvements in the process of gathering data related to the child
sexual abuse for the year of 2018 and 2019 (Itzin 2018). Currently, the local and National
Policies are concentrating more on empowering the Child Protection Acts by providing the
necessary supports. The following section of the study will discuss the effects and impacts of the
sexual abuse on children.
2. Effects of sexual abuse:
A vast research on sexual abuse signifies that it creates the long term impact on a child’s
mind. Children, who experience the sexual abuse in their childhood can face a lot of adverse
effects on their adulthood as well. In most of the cased, it has been observed that they face one
kind of mental trauma that usually involves the complex mental status (Price, Ahern and Lamb
2016). Children face multiple issues if they have to go through the continuous sexual abuse. Here
are some of the common effects that the children usually face:

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 Fear: Children who are victimized are usually threatened by the abusers. This create the
sense of fear in children’s mind. According to Ensink et al. (2016), sexual abuse is
generally accompanied by bribery, coercion, emotional, physical, and threats. Children
are unable to present their mental status as they fear of the consequences.
 Sense of Guilt and Shame: In usual cases, children feel much guilty as they are unaware
of their state of mind after being sexually abused. The sense of guilt and shame prevent
them from expressing their thoughts and how bad they felt after being exploited by the
abusers (Cecil et al. 2017).
 Isolation: Children who were sexually abused often feel themselves different to other
children around. They manage to deal with a lot of stress and feel alone. They keep
secrets and isolate themselves from their family and friends (Kamiya, Timonen and
Kenny 2016). This mental state can sometimes turn out to be quite dangerous to build
their mental health.
 Anger: The victimized children often get angry in their sub-conscious minds as they start
feeling that every else around them will abuse again (Greenbaum et al. 2015). Out of
their mental trauma, they often show their anxiety and anger towards the people who are
even trying to protect them.
 Betrayal: Another most identified impact that the victimized children often go through is
the sense of betrayal. It is often seen that the abused children are more likely depending
on the adults and they seek more protection (Brooker and Durmaz 2015). They feel
betrayed when they find that the abusers are among the people who they love and trust
on.

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 Sadness: The abused children often feel grief due to the clear sense of loss. They often
loses the innocence due to the constant physical and sexual tortures. In such time, they
grow up too fast as they gain maturity more quickly.
 Impact on other relationships: In most of the cases, the abused children are
characterized by their low relationship satisfaction. It determines the increasing risk for
the domestic violence, which may lead to separation.
Apart from these impacts, the victimized children often face some of the psychological
effects as well. The depression and the post-traumatic stress are the most recognizable
psychological effects that the sexually abused children always face. They have really low self-
esteem and face several eating disorders as well.
3. Probable outcomes:
The vast research on this area of concern has proved that the sexual abuse is mostly
associated with both the short-term and long-term outcomes. Hence, it can be stated that this
particular area of study has a range of outcomes, which cover up the health and mental
functioning state (Ottisova et al. 2016). In addition to this, it is also noticeable that they get
difficulties in dealing with the people around them. For example, their aggressive behavioral
aspects are quite harmful to others that make them reluctant to cope with the outer world. The
outcomes of these sexual abuses also identified in the interpersonal, social, and educational field.
The continuous struggling with low-esteem creates trouble for the children to build the effective
interpersonal relationships with other people around. In fact, they get trouble to zeal with their
family and friends (Daigneault et al. 2017). They always afraid of the abusers and even if the
abusers belong to their family or friend circle, they face the continuous mental trauma, which

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prevent them to develop better relationships. The broader idea on this field provides the clear
view of the complexities that the children usually face.
According to Rimes et al. (2017), child abuse is associated with a complex array of the
outcomes, which create the longer impact in foreseeable future. The most affected outcome is
seen in the mental and behavioural functioning of the abused children. In spite of presenting the
diverse arguments portrayed in different studies regarding to the outcomes of child sexual abuse,
it has been observed that this subject is still predominantly retrospective. The negative mental
health often affects the children in a significant way. This negative mental health leads towards
the post-traumatic symptoms. For example, the children often go deeper into depression, which
seems to be quite dangerous at their early age. Some of the children even adopt quite aggressive
behavior, which often create numerous trouble in their regular lives. In another way, it has been
observed that some of the children gain some suicidal thoughts for being sexually abused
(Iicsa.org.uk 2019). This mental balance disorder may lead to some dangerous diseases called
delusional disorder and schizophrenia. The outcomes are thus quite dangerous if the treatment or
the right step is not being taken at the right time. At its extremeness, these outcomes may cause
the death of the abused child.
4. Negative effects of sexual abuse on Mental Health:
The above section of the study has been discussing the probable outcomes and the effects
caused due to the child sexual abuse. UK has been conducting several longitudinal studies that
show the measurement of the negative mental health effects on the children who have been
victimized due to such crimes. These studies prove that at an extreme level of negative mental
health of the children leads to suicide (Cecil et al. 2017). It has been observed that the survivors

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of the sexual abuse ensured that their mental health is mostly affected by their experience. Most
of them are suffering from depression, which is clearly stated in the research report.
Following the report of UK, it is noticeable that almost 86% of the sexually abused
survivors indicated that they had a complete negative impact on their psychological wellbeing.
The research conducted by the UK journalist group presented a set of information regarding the
same (Szojka et al. 2017). It was notified that almost half of the survivors faced the diverse
forms of abuse. Such of these forms are punched or dragged by the hair, being choked, or
physically injured. Most of them even confirmed that they used to be into deeper sense of
depression after being sexually harassed. It is noticeable that the children who have been going
to the emotional abuse are facing the severe challenges in building their personal relationships
with others. In England, a significant number of children have been suffering from search
emotional abuse Obtaining ideas from these reports, it is quite clear that the sexually abused
children go through the severe level of depression (Kitzinger 2015). This continuous mental
illness lead them towards adopting some negative behaviour as well. They fail to maintain the
proper relationships with their families and friends. Sometimes, they become so much aggressive
due to insecurity and loss of trust. The negative effects on the mental health create the long term
impact on the lives of the survivors.
Another most recognizable negative mental health issue faced by the sexually abused
children is the ‘parent-child attachment’. However, there is no significant link between the
family’s socio economic status and the sexual abuse. The effects become more recognizable as
the children often face the anxiety disorders and adopt the anti-social personality. Like UK, the
counts are also quite higher in other countries like Australia and New Zealand. As they survive
in their childhood, they face difficulties in living their adulthood as well (Leclerc, Chiu and Cale

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2016). This issue creates the long term impact, which generally leads them to a stressful life
afterwards. Children with such difficulties are more likely to have some recognizable psychiatric
disorder, which becomes crucial for them as well as their families (Renvoize 2017). Gathering
ideas from the reports signifying the negative mental health effects, it can be stated that the
victims of child sexual abuse are even at greater risk that the adult survivors of the sexual
assaults.
5. Functioning of the mental health during abuse:
The above study portrayed the clear picture of the mental health disorders that the
sexually abused children usually face in their daily lives. This section of the study will present
the overview of the mental health functioning, which is quite recognizable on a daily basis.
According to Saied-Tessier (2014), in defining the effects of the child sexual abuse, the mental
health problems and behavioral manifestation of the emotionally distressed situation are quite
observable. These emotional trauma often lead towards substance abuse, sexual risk-taking,
suicide, and aggressive behavior. Here are some of the functioning observed due to the negative
mental health of the sexually abused child.
 The survivors or the sexually abused children often go through the post-traumatic phase,
which develops the negative mental health (Mrazek and Kempe 2014). During such
situation, they adopt the risky behavior, which may drag them into some troublesome
scenario. For example, in their adulthood, they often get addicted to alcohol and harmful
drugs, which eventually destroy their social life.
 The sexually abused children isolate themselves from their family and friends. They are
often unable to share their trauma or insecurities with any other people around. Thus they
adopt loneliness and distance themselves from others (Meinck et al. 2015). Such

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functioning of mental health can become dangerous since it might lead to the isolation
and they will not be able to cope with the society. In most of the cased, it has been
observed that they face one kind of mental trauma that usually involves the complex
mental status The families of the sexually abused children thus face difficulties to get
their children out of such trauma.
 The sexually abused children eventually become vulnerable at times due to their past
experience. They often fear that the people whom they trust will end up betraying them
and they have to face the similar kind of trauma. Therefore, they behave much
aggressively, which might create the longer impacts in their adult ages as well.
Considering the UK reports, it has been observed that people who are usually in contact with
their mental health distressfulness are more likely show the interpersonal violence than the
people in general. In UK, the survivor rate of this sexual abuse is quite higher. The NGOs in UK
have been thus conducting more survey to diminish such mental traumas faced by the children at
their early age due to constant sexual harassment (Stalker and McArthur 2012). The policy
makers are thus implementing the policies and procedures to help more children who have been
victimized. However, the report also indicates that the percentage of these survivors in UK has
yet not been significantly decreased. The continuous process to diminish such acts is still in
process.
6. Effects on physical health due to sexual abuse:
It is quite evident that the emotional or sexual abuse in childhood occurs in all countries
irrespective of the different social classes. This abuse has the greater impact in mental health as
well as the physical health of the victims. It is even estimated that the amount of this sexual
abuse in general has crossed almost 7% to 38% whereas the rates of the gynecological patients

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are generally between 15% and 20% approximately (Long, Alison, and McManus 2013). The
rates seem to be highly visible among the girl children with chronic pelvic pain as well as those
who have undergone a gynecological surgery (Independent.co.uk 2019). The previous section of
the study described the mental health issues faced by these victims whereas this section of the
study will shed lights on the consequences of the physical illness.
As per the gynecological report, it is observed that most of the sexually abused children
suffer from severe pelvic pain. The gynecological symptoms thus become much prominent in
such situation. According to Martellozzo (2013), chronic pain is usually associated with stress,
childhood abuse, and depression. It is even quite clearly identified that the children face more
pelvic pain since their childhood that may cause due to the sexual abuse. Apart from such pelvic
pain, it is also noticeable that children may even suffer from several pelvic inflammatory disease,
pregnancy complications during their adulthood, and yeast infections. These issues become more
prominent with time, once they grow up. It can also be stated that children at their adult age
sometimes are diagnosed with one or more symptoms of dysmenorrhea, sexual dysfunction, and
menorrhagia (Independent.co.uk 2019). Each of these gynecological problems is the result of
continuous sexual assaults faced during childhood.
Apart from all these gynecological symptoms, the children often struggle with eating
disorders, communicating with others, and continuous physical uneasiness. Hence, it is quite
prominent that the children not only go through the mental illness after they are being sexually
assaulted in their childhood. They even face the severe level of the physical illness, which can
continue even in their adulthood. It is thus necessary to consult a psychiatrist who can
communicate well with the victims and get them out of such traumatic manifestation. This
initiative sometimes becomes essential since children tend to behave more violently. They start

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harming themselves out of fear and guilt. It is even quite important to protect them from gaining
the suicidal thoughts, which is the extreme result of physical and mental distressfulness.
7. Sexual Abuse and Disease Model
The addiction disease model is a vast concept that deals with the alcoholic symptoms and
grows higher to adopt other addictive substances as well. Volkow, Koob and McLellan (2016)
implied that the disease model generally defines the biological factors that make people more
dependent on the chemicals. It has been one of the argumentative area of research since ages.
The disease model does not only recognize the addictions towards other substances, it is also
utilized to identify and treat the sexual behavior and sexual addiction. It has been observed that
the society persists to tolerate the influences of the domestic violence. Hence, there is a
recognizable imperative challenge to identify the factors associated with the etiological beneath
sexual assaults. Etiological research helps in understanding that the proper learning related to the
biological factors can help in preventing the sexual assaulting behavior (Sweeney et al. 2016). It
is often seen that the genetic factors can influence people to follow search of ending behaviour
which hurt others. This eventually becomes a severe form of sexual violence. Children are often
victimized due to search inhumane torture. The lack of proper biological sense can make a
person inclined towards adopting such behaviour. Disease model thus helps in understanding the
consequences faced by the people while getting involved with such activities. Recognizing the
importance of developing disease model can therefore help in preventing such traumatic and
devastating scenario.
8. Legislations in UK against Child Sexual Abuse

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It has been observed that the rate of the child sexual abuse in UK is growing higher with
time. In order to safeguard the children from all these forms of neglect and abuse, the statutory
guidance has been implemented. Under this guidance, it has been highlighted that there will be
proper education in the community as well as the care sectors will be formulated. These sectors
will help in in spreading awareness against such shameful act. Apart from these initiatives, some
of the legislations are also enacted upon this society in UK. For example, the Child Protection
Act in England was initiated by The Department for Education (Nspcc.org.uk 2019). This
regulatory body will be responsible for protecting each child in England. It also sets out the
legislations, policies, and the statutory guidance that work equally to safeguard the children and
diminish such acts of sexual assaults. Another most significant act enacted upon the UK society
is the Sexual Offence Act 2003, which is mainly protecting the children from abuse,
exploitation, and ill-treatment (Nspcc.org.uk 2019). However, it is still recognizable that such
shameful acts have been affecting a larger number of children in England. The ministry is thus
looking after the method of preventing these crime and providing the children a better world to
live.
Emotional Abuse and how it affects Children
1. Concept
Emotional abuse is considered as the process of maltreating a child. In other words, it is
even characterized as the psychological abuse, which can damage the emotional health as well as
the development of a child. According to Cashmore and Mendes (2015), emotional abuse is often
involved with repeated practice of scaring or humiliating a child. The continuous force imposing
on them to become an extraordinary e human creates a lot of stress in the mind of the child. As a
result, the child end up being isolated or ignored. It is noticeable that the children who have been

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going to the emotional abuse are facing the severe challenges in building their personal
relationships with others. In England, a significant number of children have been suffering from
search emotional abuse (Kamavarapu et al. 2017). It can be stated that the constant emotional
maltreatment can lead to severe and persistent adverse effects on the development of the
emotional state of mind of a child.
It is evident that these different types of emotional abuses create the negative impact of a
child's mental health. It sometimes make the child feel unloved or worthless. They sometimes
feel themselves in adequate and useless as they are ill-treated by others. Some of the children
may not receive opportunity to present their views and people sometimes deliberately ignore
them or silence them (Callaghan et al. 2018). In fact, some people make fun of whatever they are
trying to communicate with others. It causes inappropriate age feature and development of
Mental Health. Forcefully imposing the Expectations on children also affects the mental health in
a very significant way. For example, interacting something with a child that is beyond their
developmental capability is a form of mental abuse. Some of the families over protect and limit
the exploration and learning capability of a child that prevents them from knowing the world in a
proper way (Kelly 2017). Even, observing the ill-treatment in front of everyone also lead the
children towards feeling frightened or exploited. Therefore, the further study will develop the
clear understanding of the underpinning literature related to the child mental abuse and its impact
on the child development.
2. Types of Emotional Abuse on Children:
It is to be indicated that the children often face the emotional abuse when they are
deliberately neglected or feel worthless. There are diverse types of the emotional abuse that

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create the direct effects on the children’s mind (Lang and Hartill 2015). Here are some of the
types of emotional abuse that the children often face:
 Facing constant criticism in front of others.
 Shouting, threatening, and calling the child by their names
 Forcing the child to perform any degrading acts
 Making fun of the child and using different types of sarcasm to hurt them
 Not recognizing the capacity of a child
 Burdening the child with unachievable expectations
 Exposing the distressing interaction or events
 Ignoring the potentiality or individuality of a child
 Not allowing the child to make more friends
 Failing to contribute to the child development process
 Not being present in time of need
 Continuously ignoring them
 Emotionally neglecting them and not showing any emotional attachments
 Preventing the positive effects
The above types are the most common factors that affect the mental health of the child.
These situations make them emotionally unstable, which leads them towards a bitter experience
that creates longer impact (Bunting et al. 2017). However, apart from these forms of emotional
abuse, it is also observed that the child emotional abuse is segregated into two other forms as
well. These forms are described further:
 Passive Emotional Abuse

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Passive emotional abuse occurs when a carer or a parent denies the care and love that
they are supposed to give to their children. This passive emotional abuse causes severe type of
damage that creates longer impact on a child's mental health. This passive emotional abuse is a
form that has been categorised into different traits (Schimmenti and Bifulco 2015). First is
emotional unavailability, which determines that a parent or a care-giver is not at all connected
with the child. They often fail to give them the love and the care that they actually need. Second
is negative attitudes, which indicates the lack of encouragement and praise (Boyle 2017). When
the children do not receive any encouragement from the people who are close to them, it affects
their mental health in a significant way. Third is inappropriate interaction with the children,
which prevents the mental health development. It is necessary to communicate properly with the
children in order to develop their intellect and making them suitable for the world. However,
expecting the children to perform any task, which is beyond their capacity level can affect their
mind. In fact, inappropriate way of speaking can also affect the mental health of a child (Itzin
2018). Failure to introduce a child’s individuality discourages the child to create a better
personality. During such situation, they adopt the risky behavior, which may drag them into
some troublesome scenario. These forms of passive emotional abuse is quite harmful and
eventually it may turn out to be most dangerous event for a child.
 Active Emotional Abuse
The active emotional abuse involves the direct and intentionally ill-treatment of a child.
In some cases, it has been observed that some people intentionally demean, scare, or verbally
abuse a child. This type of situation is known as the active emotional abuse, which affects a
child’s positive state of mind (Cantón-Cortés, Cortés and Cantón 2015). The clear rejection,
isolating them from others, terrorizing, and exploiting the children are the major traits of the

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active emotional abuse. The constant humiliation affects the brain development of a child at a
very early stage. Hence, this effect lasts longer and impacts much negatively while they grow up.
The following section of the study will shed lights on these negative impacts and the
consequences faced by the children in their lives.
3. Impact of Emotional Abuse
Emotional abuse has the adverse effects on children across all aspects of their brain
development. It also affects their educational as well as the academic attainment. They often face
difficulties in learning the appropriate behaviour or social skills. In most of the cased, it has been
observed that they face one kind of mental trauma that usually involves the complex mental
status, The emotional abuse does not only affect the mental health of a child, it has also been
observed that the continuous emotional abuse creates the harmful consequences in their Physical
health as well (Crittenden 2017). One of the major impacts is visible in maintaining a proper
relationship with the people around them. It is true that they need to build up some good bonding
with the people across the society and their family while turning their childhood into their adult
life. However, as long as the abuse continues, the harmful effect on their mental health lasts beta
and longer. As a result, it leads towards severe level of psychological damage.
It is noticeable that emotional abuse occurs across a wider situation in which the risk of
emotional damage gets higher. During such situation, the children face and number of
difficulties, such as, learning difficulties, disability, domestic violence, parental substance
misuse, social exclusion, and discouragement. In some of the cases, it has been observed that
some parents become much vulnerable when they give birth any premature babies who are more
likely to have some birth defects (Plant et al. 2015). These babies sometimes face difficulties
with their physical or mental health. The wider research on this area implied that it both the boys

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and girls face the equal risk of emotional abuse. A set of prevalent studies show that there are
huge number of registered cases against emotional abuse, which comprises only a little
proportion of the entire number of the children who have been experiencing the actual abuse
(Alameda et al. 2015). They seek support from various people which they often fail to receive. In
UK, as per the reports, almost 6.9 % of the children, which comes around one in every 14 people
experience the emotional abuse in their childhood.
The abusive parents’ behaviour is one of the main reasons behind this in appropriate
scenario. In some of the cases, it that the parents maintain the consistency in showing their
hostility and harsh discipline towards their children. The continuous force imposing on them to
become an extraordinary e human creates a lot of stress in the mind of the child. During such
situation, they adopt the risky behavior, which may drag them into some troublesome scenario.
Sometimes, these parents failed to respond back to the emotional, in intelligence, physical, and
social needs of the child (Trotta, Murray and Fisher 2015). They set an unrealistic expectations,
which is beyond their capability. In fact, it is also recognisable that some parents encourage their
child to become more aggressive and in an unsuitable way. Eventually, it leads to child
exploitation in a true form.
4. Role of Parents in mistreating their child
It is quite true that the personality of the parents plays a significant part in developing
their child. If the parents are emotionally unstable and have been facing the illness, they react in
an improper way. Some of the parents behave quite aggressive with their children in front of the
social gathering. It creates a direct impact on child’s mental health (Bilson, Featherstone and
Martin 2017). The continuous expectation set on them and the improper behavior to make them
achieve those unrealistic expectations drag the children into greater depression. The growing up

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of a child depends on the behavioural attributes of their parents. They learn new things from their
family and the society around them. However, if the parents continuously demean them and
make them feel worthless, it generates the sense of unloved and underestimated.
The children mind catches the external influence quite quickly. However, the continuous
ill-treatment received from the people around them can thus develop their intellect and
personality. In such situation, if they receive maltreatment from their parents and everyone who
is close to them, they feel mentally exhausted. They seek support from various people which
they often fail to receive. This incident creates longer impacts on their brain development. If the
child is adopted or has any birth defects or disability, the parents may get aggressive (Infurna et
al. 2016). Their vulnerable nature sometimes makes the children feel unwanted. It protects their
brain development and leading towards disability. It is thus suggested that the parents need to be
more cautious about treating their children in a proper way.
5. Child Emotional Abuse Reports in UK
It has been reported that the number of the child emotional abuse cases that are reported
to the police has increased by 47% in a year. The helpline services received almost 8,000 calls
between the years of 2013-2014. These reports are generally about non-physical cruelty. The
ministry in UK is thus looking forward to impose the strict laws against such emotional tortures
faced by the children all across the country. The charities and the NGOs are working together to
safeguard the children from being mistreated by their parents or others (Kay, Green and Sharma
2016). Considering the persistent effects on the emotional development of a child, the
government is concentrating on legalizing some strict laws. It is to be indicated that the four
nations in UK, Northern Ireland, England, Wales, and Scotland, have been following their own
child protection system and legislations to protect children from being emotionally and

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physically abused. It is also noticeable that every Nation follows a particular framework of
guidance, legislations, and practice to safeguard the children from risk related to you mental
development (Callaghan et al. 2018). It is needless to say that the Nation's in UK are responsible
for the laws and policies they have enacted upon health, social welfare, and education. These
laws and policies are generally covering most of the aspects related to the child protection.
In England, the Department for Education is mainly responsible for protecting each child.
They develop their statutory guidance, legends legislate, and other policies to make their system
work properly against child abuse (Bunting et al. 2017). The local safeguarding children's board
in England is now replaced by the safeguarding partners from June 2018. These partners are
responsible for developing the procedure, policies, and guidance at a local level. There are
mainly three local safeguarding partners, such as, the clinical commissioning group, the local
authority, and the police. They all are working together with other associated agencies and
coordinating with each other to develop effectiveness and promote children welfare all across the
country (Maguire et al. 2015). They are also making arrangements to identify and support the
severity of the risk that causes damage.
The department of health is responsible for protecting the children in Northern Ireland.
They generally set out the statutory guidance, policy, and legislations to make the system work
as per the Expectations. On the other hand, the safe cutting board for Northern Ireland co-
ordinate with the promotion of children welfare and ensures the effectiveness in a significant
way. The boat also includes the representatives from social care, health, the probation both, the
police, district Council, youth justice, and NSPCC (Nspcc.org.uk 2019). On the other hand, it has
been observed in Scotland that the Scottish government takes the responsibility to protect the
child in this Nation. They develop the statutory guidance, policy, and legislations to develop

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their child protection system properly. The child protection committee was associated with the
multi agencies and work together to develop the practice and guidance against child abuse. They
have taken the national approach to improve the outcomes for both young people and the
children and following the appropriate framework to provide the right support at the right time.
The social services and well-being act 2014 was enacted in April 2016 in Wales. This act
provides the appropriate legal Framework that serves for the social service provision all across
the Wales. The regional safeguarding children boards ensures effectiveness and coordinates with
the local Agencies to promote the children welfare (Glowscotland.org.uk 2019). They
responsible for safeguarding them I'm and protecting them from different emotional abuses.
This board is associated with the local health board, local authority, NHS trust, and the chief
officer of police. Every one of them are working together to who developed the mental health
development of the children and protecting them from being tortured by the continuous
emotional abuse.
6. The future consequences of child emotional abuse
Verbal abuse is one of the most common and considerate overlooked forms of abuse that
the children usually face. It is due some negligence received from the parents, the children starts
feeling and love and unwanted (Nspcc.org.uk 2019). This experience can lead to devastating
consequences. This emotional abuse that have longer impact on the development of the children.
Here are some of the critical impacts that can be seen in this scenario.
 Clinical or Routine Depression
One of the most prominent future consequences of child emotional abuse is clinical
depression. When a parent demoralize or yell at their children, it create a negative impact on

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their mental health. Due to such negative behaviour they received from their parents, children
develop some of the inferiority complexities and they like to keep themselves aloof from other
people. The continuous expectation set on them and the improper behavior to make them achieve
those unrealistic expectations drag the children into greater depression. If they face such
negative behaviour on a regular basis, such conditions may remain the same even in future. It
will create a longer time impact on their lives.
 Continuous degrading physical and mental performance
The continuous ill treatment received from their parents make the children feel less
confident about themselves. The self-esteem decreases in a significant query. The lack of
assertiveness from their parents can be create their mind as well as a physical effectiveness in a
considerable way (Callaghan et al. 2018). The continuous negative feedback received from their
parents and the people who are close to them can make them nervous which automatically
generate the outcome for the future. They usually tend to believe that their parents are right and
he is of no use. This feeling create a longer impact which affect their adult truth and their
personal relationships as well. In most of the cased, it has been observed that they face one kind
of mental trauma that usually involves the complex mental status Health Issues
The ill treatment received from the people around them make the children feel useless.
Therefore, the ice from others and create their own world of loneliness. They go deeper into
severe form of depression that encourage them to behave in a weird way. They often eat more or
stop eating all together. The development of their muscles, bones, and vital organs are also seen
to be impaired. The child gradually becomes weaker with time.
 Low Self Confidence

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When the children face the continuous dominance, the level of their self-confidence goes
down. It is important to note that the qualities of dominance and the high self-confidence is quite
important to develop a successful professional life as well as the satisfying personal life. The
child who has the lowest self confidence in their childhood has to face the frustration and
depression in their adulthood as well (Callaghan et al. 2018). Therefore this impact remains
longer which needs to be prevented within right time.
7. Gap in the Literature
The overall study defines the effectiveness of the sexual and mental abuse on children. It
also shows the long term impact that affects the mental as well as the physical health of a child.
Despite providing the broader context related to this subject matter, the literature study does not
indicate the probability of improving the rate of sexual and emotional abuse on children. It lacks
the data related to the measurement of the total amount of victims as the present scenario is
rapidly changing. The lack of time also limits the study to conduct the research on a broader
area. This literature study is generally based on the secondary sources. However, the application
of the primary sources would have added more prominence to the subject that is explained in this
research study.
8. Summary
The study develops the idea about the effectiveness of the child sexual and emotional
abuse. It provides the overall view of how these emotional and sexual abuse create the longer
time impact on a child’s mind. The study has provided the detailed analysis of the mental and
physical degradation that each victim has to undergo. The continuous expectation set on them
and the improper behavior to make them achieve those unrealistic expectations drag the children

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into greater depression. The policies and the legislations are also developed in UK to work
together with the agencies and protect the child rights. The lack of assertiveness from their
parents can be create their mind as well as a physical effectiveness in a considerable way. The
continuous negative feedback received from their parents and the people who are close to them
can make them nervous which automatically generate the outcome for the future. However, it
can be suggested that the parents need to take extra care of their child to diminish such acts and
provide them a better world to live in

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