The Detrimental Effects of Child Abuse on Educational Outcomes

This literature review explores the impact of child abuse and domestic violence on children's educational attainment, drawing from various articles, journals, and reports. It defines domestic violence as abusive behavior aimed at controlling another person and highlights the increasing incidents of child abuse. The review discusses how abusive experiences can negatively affect a child's learning capabilities and overall development, potentially leading to decreased educational attainment and future employment prospects. It also examines the psychological impact through theories like behaviorism and social learning, emphasizing how a child's environment and witnessed behaviors influence their learning and actions. The methodology involves a systematic review of existing literature, focusing on key terms such as domestic violence, abuse, children, and education. The review acknowledges limitations such as time constraints in data collection and the lack of specific age limits in existing research. Ultimately, the study aims to raise awareness among educators, policymakers, and social reformers about the devastating effects of domestic violence on children's education and to encourage further research and interventions to support child development and eliminate abusive practices. The document is available on Desklib, a platform offering study tools and solved assignments for students.

Dissertation draft
Can child abuse have an effect on educational attainment
LITERATURE REVIEW
According to Savage, Ferguson and Flores (2017), domestic violence is defined as the abusive behaviour
for controlling the actions and behaviour of another person. There has been rapid increase in the
incidents of child abuse and domestic violence (Child abuse statistics UK- From NSPCC. 2019). The lack of
understanding and age limitations makes child very dependent upon family members and other carers.
However it has been observed that children are not safe and are becoming the victim of these abusive
incidents (Jung and et.al., 2018) . Experiencing such abusive treatment in the minor age can have long
lasting effect on the understanding and memory of child Itzin, (2018).
The abusive treatment with the child can affect the learning capabilities of the children which in turn can
influence educational attainment of the children. Thus, it is very essential to study this impact so that
suitable framework can be developed for overcoming these adverse impacts. The quality of life is widely
dependent upon the knowledge and education learned by the individual in childhood stage. So, it
essential that it must be regulated and monitored that which factors are influencing the learning
behaviour of child. In extreme and severe cases of domestic violence it is also possible that child may fail
to continue its education.
Hence for providing a safe, secure and quality future to the future generation studies research is required
which highlights the devastating impact of domestic violence. The study is also helpful for the concerned
authorities to take necessary steps against abusive behaviour towards children. The negative practice of
domestic violence is one of the most common practice which may occur in household.
There are several forms of domestic violence such as physical or sexual abuse, emotional and
psychological abuse (Savage, Ferguson and Flores, 2017). The abuse affects the behaviour as well as
emotional and mental perspective of children which makes them hopeless, depressed and vulnerable to
several risks. The study will help to answer the research question that what is the impact of child abuse
on academic life of children. The analysis of this study will also highlight the factors which encourages
abusive practices. It will also draw attention of authorities that how they can be significant changes to the
educational development process of child. However, it is also possible that when children witness
domestic violence then their knowledge and educational skills may transform into more destructive
practices. The child may begin to follow the same abusive behaviour as experienced by them. The
psychological impact of child abuse can be explained by various theories such as social learning and
behavioural theory.

Behaviourism theory:
As per Mohammad and et.al., (2015) the surrounding environment can affect the behaviour and
learning ability of the child. The incidences witnessed and experienced by the child can make influence
their learning capabilities. For instance when child is abused the continuous fear can make its learning and
growth slow. Thus it can have advese impact on the education attainment.
Social learning theory:
According to Crain, (2015) the actions of family members encourages the child to model and
follow the same practices. Thus when child faces abuse from family members then it is possible that child
may begin to follow the same practice. As a result instead of focusing on learning and gaining education
child may focus to indulge in abusive practices. Thus it is essential that child abuse must be prevented so
that child education is not affected.
With the adverse impact of domestic violence educational attainment decreases and thus in future the
probability of getting employment and better life quality is also reduced. Thus, the study holds the
significant place for gaining the attention of education providers, social reformers and authorities framing
policies for national and child welfare (Aratani and Cooper, 2015). The study will serve as the basis for
providing assistance to further research areas which focuses on techniques and methods to support
overall development of child and social structures which aims at eliminating the practice of domestic
violence.
According to Herman (2015), a child growth starts from age of 8. It is the age where child is able to
understand and acquire value, ethics, etc. followed within family and society. So, it is very important to
determine needs of a child so that its growth is not impacted. It benefits them to achieve goals in the
future. But in recent time there is high rise in cases of domestic violence on children (Katz, 2015). In UK
around one in five that is 18.6% children between age of 11-17 are abused. (Child abuse statistics UK-
From NSPCC. 2019).This has highly affected on their initial growth and education. it has been evaluated
that abusing a child can hamper on their physical health as well. It may result in some critical
circumstances in which a child feels uncomfortable to share problems. By analysing previous case studies
(Aratani and Cooper, 2015) related to child abuse it is identified that the result of domestic violence is not
up to education but also on mental health. In addition to it, when a child is involved in domestic issue, a
feeling of fear is developed among them. They try to avoid interacting with other people. Along with it, in
schools their behaviour changes. They start feeling lonely. The child becomes habitual of environment
which prevails at home. This forces them to change their goals and objectives . When a child is abused his
mental health is impacted. They are not able to learn things properly. Their behaviour towards gaining
knowledge changes. They are not able to study properly in school and home as well. Thus, it impacts on
their education as well.

In view of Cook and et.al., 2017, there are different types of domestic violence such as physical or sexual
abuse, isolation, verbal abuse, etc. A child may be a victim of any type of violence. Also, there are many
other effects of abuse on child development. When a child pursues his goals, it is necessary that parents
fully support them. this motivate in developing plan and implementing them. A child education creates a
base for him or her to attain goals. then, growth begins which allow them to gain knowledge. It has been
found that adults are not affected to abuse to that extent as compared to child. There exists a huge
difference between it. Also, there are many other things apart from violence which effect child education.
Abusing impact on mental as well as physical health of child. Sometime, the effect is such that child leaves
school. There is no progress on their growth. Alongside it, some children suffer for long time throughout
their life.
As elucidated by Katz (2015), in most of the cases the environment within family highly impact on child
growth. It is because children are closely related to parents and inherit values and ethics from them.
furthermore, at each stage when child is abused it impact in different way. but on contrary it has been
said by Truman and Morgan, 2015, the impact of domestic violence can be easily overcome. This can be
done by providing positive environment to child, involving them in outdoor activities, etc. So, by
improving mental health of child proper education can be attained. It is essential that some measures
must be taken to determine effect and resolve them. this will be useful in finding what type of abuse
effect is more and how a child behavior change in it. However, it is observed that education is been used
as effective tool to reduce violence against children. Through this, they are able to pursue towards their
goals. also, it has helpful in providing positive atmosphere. There are many parents and child care centre
who does not know about impact of domestic violence on child education. So, they are not able to
identify their needs. Therefore, a study is been conducted to describe how abusing child directly impact
on attainment of education. Besides this, it will be useful in finding whether there is impact of violence of
child or not and what measures are taken by parents to reduce impact.
METHODOLOGY
A research methodology is a framework which provide a roadmap to conduct study by using various
methods. It enables a scholar to investigate and attain aims and objectives in systematic way. So, for the
present study a systematic review methodology will be adopted. It will be useful in gathering relevant
data. A proper procedure will be followed. The method is further explained below:
 First of all, data will be collected from previous articles, journals, etc. which are based on domestic
violence on children (Rosskam, 2018). Moreover, research papers will be studied and analysed
which are based on child abuse and its impact on growth. Through this, it will be easy to gather
theoretical knowledge that how many children are been abused and how it has impacted on

their education.
 Secondly, data and information will be collected from websites, reports of NGO, etc. from this facts and
figures can be analysed. Moreover, stats will be gathered that on what age there is high impact
of violence on child. Hence, precise and accurate data will be included in study.
In order to gather relevant information certain key terms will be used. This is done to make provide ease
in data collection process. here, several key terms such as domestic violence, abuse, children, education,
etc. through these terms, articles, journals, etc. will be searched on website and database. By defining the
terms, it will be easy and simple for scholar to select only relevant papers related to topic (Ledford and
Gast, 2018).
Search term Search engines used
 Child abuse Google scholar
 Domestic violence Google scholar
 Impact of abuse on education attainment Emerald insight
 How child abuse affect the child development Emerald insight
 Domestic violence influencing child education Google
 Effect of abuse on academic performance of child Google scholar
 Child abuse statistics Google
Limitation
In following this method there are some limitation which can occur. They are described below :
 The researcher has to search different websites so that precise data is gathered. So, it requires time to
do so and to study and analyse each article and journal on website. Another limitation is the data
needs to be analyzed. But in different paper it can vary. Thus, this will limit scholar in obtaining
relevant findings .
 In present topic there is no specific age limit mentioned of a child. So, it may be difficult for researcher
to gather data and segregate according to age groups.
These problems may highly impact on findings generated by doing systematic review.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Aratani, Y. and Cooper, J.L., 2015. The effects of runaway-homeless episodes on high school
dropout. Youth & society,47(2), pp.173-198.
Cook, A. and et.al., 2017. Complex trauma in children and adolescents. Psychiatric annals. 35(5). pp.390-
398.
Fry, D., and et.al., 2018. The relationships between violence in childhood and educational outcomes: a
global systematic review and meta-analysis. Child abuse & neglect, 75, pp.6-28.
Herman, J.L., 2015. Trauma and recovery: The aftermath of violence--from domestic abuse to political
terror. Hachette UK.
Itzin, C., 2018. Psychoanalytic psychotherapy after child abuse: The treatment of adults and children who
have experienced sexual abuse, violence, and neglect in childhood. Routledge.
Jung, H., and et.al., 2018. Does educational success mitigate the effect of child maltreatment on later
offending patterns?. Journal of interpersonal violence, p.0886260518756113.
Jürges, H., and et.al., 2017. Cohort at Risk: Long-Term Consequences of Conflict for Child School
Achievement.
Katz, E., 2015. Domestic violence, children's agency and mother–child relationships: Towards a more
advanced model. Children & Society. 29(1). pp.69-79.
Ledford, J.R. and Gast, D.L., 2018. Single case research methodology: Applications in special education and
behavioral sciences. Routledge.
Mohammad, E.T., and et.al., 2015. Impacts of family and community violence exposure on child coping
and mental health. Journal of abnormal child psychology. 43(2). pp.203-215.
Rosskam, E., 2018. Using participatory action research methodology to improve worker health.
In Unhealthy Work(pp. 211-228). Routledge.
Savage, J., Ferguson, C.J. and Flores, L., 2017. The effect of academic achievement on aggression and
violent behavior: A meta-analysis. Aggression and violent behavior, 37, pp.91-101.
Savage, J., Ferguson, C.J. and Flores, L., 2017. The effect of academic achievement on aggression and
violent behavior: A meta-analysis. Aggression and violent behaviour. 37. pp.91-101.
Truman, J.L. and Morgan, R.E., 2015. NONFATAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, 2003-2012. Journal of Current
Issues in Crime, Law & Law Enforcement. 8(4).
Online

Child abuse statistics UK- From NSPCC. 2019. [Online] Accessed through
<https://actionagainstabuse.wordpress.com/child-abuse-need-to-know/global-child-abuse-
statistics/>