Effects of Sexual Abuse on Children Essay -- Psychology

A Brief Study of Sexual Abuse of Children and it's Causes and Effects Sexual abuse of children and infants is sadly as universal and old as the human race itself. But it is only in recent years that much more attention has been paid to the pervasive instance of sexual abuse among children, the majority of which occurs in the family setting. Pedophiles usually manifest signs that are readily identified. Common signs are: repetitive conversations about the sexual activities of children or teens, and excessive masturbation to include breaking from normal daily activities to masturbate. The pedophile has a childhood history of sexual abuse and has unresolved sexual problems stemming from this history. Hobbies centering around the collection of child pornography and sexual arousal when engaging in this hobby is a sign of a sexual perpetrator. Sexual abusers generally have a sense of frustration and anger released through the abuse of children. Pedophiles lack the ability to approach appropriate sexual partners, thus they seek out children to find a sexual release. As can be seen, emotional immaturity is a factor in a pedophile personality. Social inadequacy runs in juxtaposition with emotional immaturity. Additionally pedophiles enjoy the ability of control, and the sense of power they have over their victims. They feel as if they have no control over their own lives and so they take advantage of children in an attempt to achieve that sense of power. Statistics of child sexual abuse are highly controversial due to the fact that reporting and compilation of this information is incomplete and cannot be fully controlled. But from the information that can be gathered it is evident that there is extreme truth that sexual abus... ...re strong indications that environmental factors do play an important role. Children who are raised in an abusive environment, as adults create an abusive situation that their children "environmentally" inherit, and the cycle goes on and on. As is evident, child molestation is a commonly occurring abuse when it needn't be. If parents, siblings, teachers, religious leader, and society as a whole made an attempt to observe the physical and behavioral tendencies in children, abuse can be more readily perceived and therefore eradicated. Society must not blame the victim, but must punish the perpetrators and make an effort to rehabilitate them before allowing them to form an abusive situation yet again. Sexual abuse in children is a widely growing problem which needs our attention. We need to act now before more children are subjected to these unmotivated attacks.