Effects on Child Development, Brain Development, Psychopathology, and Interpersonal Relationships By Arthur Becker-Weidman, PhD Mental Health Professional Clinical Psychologist
Center For Family Development
Neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse have profound immediate and long-term effects on a child's development. The long-term effects of abuse and neglect of a child can be seen in higher rates of psychiatric disorders, increased rates of substance abuse, and a variety of severe relationship difficulties. Child abuse and neglect is an inter-generational problem. Most frequently the perpetrators of abuse and neglect are profoundly damaged people who have been abused and neglected themselves.
There are clear links between neglect and abuse and later psychological, emotional, behavioral, and interpersonal disorders. The basis for this linkage is the impact that abuse and neglect have on brain development. Daniel Siegel, medical director of the Infant and Preschool Service at the University of California, L.A., has found important links between interpersonal experiences and neurobiological development.[1]
We know that a child uses the parent's state of mind to regulate the child's own mental processes. The child's developing capacity to regulate emotions and develop a coherent sense of self requires sensitive and responsive parenting. The National Adoption Center found that 52% of adoptable children have attachment disorder symptoms. In another study, by Cicchetti, & Barnett[2], 80% of abused or maltreated infants exhibited attachment disorder symptoms. The best predictor of a child's attachment classification is the state of mind with respect to attachment of the birth mother. A birth mother's attachment classification before the birth of her child can predict with 80% accuracy her child's attachment classification at six years of age. That is a remarkable finding. Finally, recent research by Mary Dozier, Ph.D.[3] found that the attachment classification of a foster mother has a profound effect on the attachment classification of the child. She found that the child's attachment classification becomes similar to that of the foster mother after three months in placement. These findings strongly argue for a non-genetic mechanism for the transmission of attachment patterns across generations.
Children who have been sexually abused are at significant risk of developing anxiety disorders (2.0 times the average), major depressive disorders (3.4 times average), alcohol abuse (2.5 times average), drug abuse (3.8 times average), and antisocial behavior (4.3 times average)[4].
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Contributor: Don Philips
