"Child abuse refers to any action on the part of an adult or an individual that intentionally inflicts, or causes to inflict physical or psychological injury or sexual violation of the child including corporal punishment (www.childadvocate.org).".
The syndrome of physical child abuse is only the symptomatic manifestation of a complex family sickness that breaks under a societal crisis. The vast majorities of child abuses are composed of 5 major factors; let's talk about these factors one by one.
The first factor is the addiction of drugs. While the nation struggles to bring narcotics use under control, a legacy of adult drug abuse is being etched into the lives of next generation - children who will carry it's scars even if they never smoke a joint, pop a pill or snort a line of cocaine. Teachers, counselors. Social workers, psychologists and children themselves say that for many youngsters today, growing up in America means maneuvering through an obstacle course of drugs and drug related activity.
The second factor that causes child abuse is poverty .Mc Neill a Social Worker argues that the leading cause of child abuse in the united states is poverty. According to Mc Neill, increasing numbers of parents find themselves unable to cope with the stress of poverty. Their children often bear the burnt of parents frustration through physical abuse and neglect. Perpetrators of child abuse are almost always parents or relatives who have access to the child. These relatives have almost always come from poor families where they themselves were abused as children. As a result, they do not have first hand knowledge how to cope with the stress of raising several small children with almost no money and little social support.
