Child Abuse in the United States Today

¶ … Antecedents and Implications of Child Abuse in the United States

In spite of increased attention to the problem in the United States, child abuse continues to take place across the country. When children are abused and neglected, their lives can be adversely affected in severe ways that can last a lifetime. Therefore, identifying the antecedents and implications of child abuse in the United States represents a timely and valuable enterprise as discussed further below.

Despite corporal punishment being outlawed in a majority of the United States, child abuse remains a major problem across the country (Lambie, 2005). For instance, according to Lambie (2005), "Child abuse and neglect is a pervasive problem" (p. 249). Child abuse is generally defined as involving the infliction of ongoing physical harm or psychological damage to a minor (Lambie, 2005). Not surprisingly, when children are subjected to this type of treatment on a sustained basis, the implications can be profound as discussed below.

Importance of the Problem

The economic implications of child abuse are truly staggering and have been estimated to cost American taxpayers more than $104 billion each year (Hmurovich, 2009). These enormous costs, though, do not take into account the human toll that is exacted on the children who are the victims of child abuse in the United States today (Hmurovich, 2009). Although the problem is well documented, the antecedents to child abuse remain less clear, but are believed to include lifestyle factors such as substance abusing behaviors by parents, lower socioeconomic status and the prevailing regional attitudes towards the use of corporal punishment (Hmurovich, 2009). At present, 19 states still allow parents and schools to use corporal punishment on children as shown in Figure 1 below (Adwar, 2014).

Figure 1. States that allow corporal punishment for children

Source: Adwar, 2014

Research Questions