How Do Group and Social Factors Affect Learning?

Child Abuse - Impact And Intervention

Child abuse is defined as "any act, or failure to act, that endangers a child's physical or emotional health and development. Child abuse can be physical (an injury resulting from physical aggression), sexual (any sexual act between an adult and a child), or emotional (another person's attitude, behavior, or failure to act that interferes with a child's mental health or social development).

Child abuse is a rising epidemic in the United States. According to a 2003 report by the Administration for Children and Families, an estimated 906,000 children were determined to be victims of child abuse or neglect (United States Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, 2003). The third national incidence study of child abuse and neglect (NIS-3) found that the estimated number of physically abused children rose 97%, the estimated number of sexually abused children rose 125%, and the estimated number of emotionally abused children rose 183% from 1986 to 1993 (Sedlak & Broadhurst, 1996). Often, the first person to recognize that a child may be experiencing abuse is a teacher.