Research has shown that physical abuse and exposure to violence are the main reasons for youth violence. And the younger the children are maltreated the more likely they are to develop behavioral problems. When children are abused they see their caretakers most of the time not get punished for their actions. Without any punishment the children can see there parents behavior as acceptable and in some cases that child can feel as they deserved it. Growing up seeing what there parents did was acceptable they can so start to act the same abusive behavior as their caretaker. Resulting in aggressive behavior with others and towards loved ones. Criminal activity is highly due to parental abuse, and forming relationships with others is difficult due.
Extensive research has been piled up that show a strong relationship between child maltreatment and a range of mental health issues, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD sufferers often have impairments in the hippocampus, which can lead to problems with learning and academic achievements (Bremmer 2011). Other than the hippocampus, there can be abnormalities in other part if the brain such as medial prefrontal cortex which regulates emotion and fear responses. PTSD sufferers carry symptoms of of avoidance in attempt to protect themselves by eliminating danger limiting contact with the outside world (Abuse-related conditions 2015). This involves withdrawing from others and narrowing the range of thoughts and feelings a person allows for himself. Avoidance may also take the role of repression in locking away bad thoughts and denying as if they never happened. With PTSD, victims can suffer dissociative disorders, in which there are alterations in perception, that can lead to a sense of detachment of one's own self and from the world (Abuse-Related Conditions 2015). In some cases new identities are formed. As more the serious or traumatic the abuse was, a child would use dissociation to escape the suffering given in the situation.
