SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT IN CHILDREN
● Development & Role of Emotions:
Anyone who spends any time at all around infants knows they display facial expressions that
seem indicative of their emotional states. In situations in which we expect them to be happy, they
seem to smile; when we might assume they are frustrated, they show anger; and when we might
expect them to be unhappy, they look sad.These basic facial expressions are remarkably similar
across the most diverse cultures. Whether we look at babies in India, the United States, or the
jungles of New Guinea, the expression of basic emotions is the same. Furthermore, the nonverbal
expression of emotion, called nonverbal encoding, is fairly consistent among people of all ages.
These consistencies have led researchers to conclude that we are born with the capacity to
display basic emotions.
Infants display a fairly wide range of emotional expressions. According to research on what
mothers see in their children’s nonverbal behavior, almost all think that by the age of one month,
their babies have expressed interest and joy. In addition, 84 percent of mothers think their infants
have expressed anger, 75 percent surprise, 58 percent fear, and 34 percent sadness. Research
using the Maximally Discriminative Facial Movement Coding System (MAX), developed by
developmental psychologist Carroll Izard, also finds that interest, distress, and disgust are
present at birth, and that other emotions emerge over the next few months. Although infants
display similar kinds of emotions, the degree of emotional expressivity varies among infants.
Children in different cultures show reliable differences in emotional expressiveness, even during
infancy.
● Components of Emotions:
Developmentalists believe a true emotion has three components: a biological arousal component
(such as increased breathing rate or heartbeat), a cognitive component (awareness of feeling
anger or fear), and a behavioral component (e.g., displaying that one feels unhappy by
crying).Consequently, the fact that children display nonverbal expressions in a manner similar to
that of adults does not necessarily mean that their actual experience is identical. If the nature of
such displays is innate, or inborn, it is possible that facial expressions can occur without any
accompanying awareness of their emotional experience (the cognitive component). Nonverbal
expressions, then, might be emotionless in young infants, in much the same way that your knee
reflexively jerks forward when a physician taps it, without the involvement of emotions.
Developmental psychologist Carroll Izard suggests that infants are born with an innate repertoire
of emotional expressions, reflecting basic emotional states, such as happiness and sadness. As
infants and children grow older, they expand and modify these basic expressions and become
more adept at controlling their nonverbal behavioral expressions. For example, they eventually
may learn that by smiling at the right time, they can increase the chances of getting their own
way. Emotional expressions thus have an adaptive function, permitting infants to express their
needs nonverbally to caretakers before they have developed linguistic skills.
In sum, infants do appear to experience emotions, although the range of emotions at birth is
fairly restricted. However, as they get older, infants both display and experience a wider range of
increasingly complex emotions. Furthermore, in addition to expressing a wider variety of
emotions, as children develop they also experience a wider array of emotions. The first smiles
tend to be relatively indiscriminate, as infants first begin to smile
at the sight of almost anything they find amusing. However, as they get older, they become more
selective in their smiles.A baby’s smile in response to another person, rather than to nonhuman
stimuli, is considered a social smile. As babies get older, their social smiles
become directed toward particular individuals, not just anyone. By the age of 18 months, social
smiling, directed more toward caregivers, becomes more frequent than smiling directed toward
nonhuman objects. Moreover, if an adult is unresponsive to a child, the amount of smiling
decreases. In short, by the end of the second year children are quite purposefully using smiling to
communicate their positive emotions, and they are sensitive to the emotional expressions of
others.
● Stranger Anxiety & Separation Anxiety:
1. Stranger anxiety is the caution and wariness displayed by infants when encountering an
unfamiliar person. Such anxiety typically appears in the second half of the first year. As
infants’ memory develops, they are able to separate the people they know from the
people they don’t. The same cognitive advances that allow them to respond so positively
to those people with whom they are familiar also give them the ability to recognize
people who are unfamiliar. Furthermore, between six and nine months, infants begin
trying to make sense of their world, endeavoring to anticipate and predict events. When
something happens that they don’t expect—such as when an unknown person
appears—they experience fear. It’s as if an infant has a question but is unable to answer
it. Although stranger anxiety is common after the age of six months, significant
differences exist between children. Some infants, particularly those who have a lot of
experience with strangers, tend to show less anxiety than those whose experience with
strangers is limited. Furthermore, not all strangers evoke the same reaction.
2. Separation anxiety is the distress displayed by infants when a customary care provider
departs. Separation anxiety, which is also universal across cultures, usually begins at
about seven or eight months (see Figure 6-2). It peaks around 14 months, and then
decreases. Separation anxiety is largely attributable to the same reasons as stranger
anxiety. Infants’ growing cognitive skills allow them to ask reasonable questions, but
they may be questions whose answers they are too young to understand:
“Why is my mother leaving?” “Where is she going?” and “Will she come back?”
Stranger anxiety and separation anxiety represent important social progress. They
reflect both cognitive advances and the growing emotional and social bonds between
infants and their caregivers.
● Development of Self:
1. In infancy: Humans are not born with the knowledge that we exist independently
from others and the larger world. Very young infants do not have a sense of
themselves as individuals; they do not recognize themselves in photos or mirrors.
However, the roots of self-awareness, knowledge of oneself, begin to grow at
around the age of 12 months. We know this from a simple but ingenious
experimental technique. An infant’s nose is secretly colored with a dab of red
powder, and the infant is seated in front of a mirror. If infants touch their noses or
attempt to wipe off the rouge, we have evidence that they have at least some
knowledge of their physical characteristics. For them, this awareness is one step
in developing an understanding of themselves as independent objects.Although
some infants as young as 12 months seem startled on seeing the rogue spot, for
most a reaction does not occur until between 17 and 24 months of age. It is also
around this age that children begin to show awareness of their own capabilities.
For instance, infants who participate in experiments when they are between the
ages of 23 and 25 months sometimes begin to cry if the experimenter asks them to
imitate a complicated sequence of behaviors involving toys, although they readily
accomplish simpler sequences. Their reaction suggests that they are conscious
that they lack the ability to carry out difficult tasks and are unhappy about it.
2. In preschool children: If you ask preschool-age children to specify what makes
them different from other kids, they readily respond with answers like “I’m a
good runner” or “I like to color” or “I’m a big girl.” Such answers relate to
self-concept—their identity, or their set of beliefs about what they are like as
individuals. In fact, preschool children typically overestimate their skills and
knowledge across all domains of expertise. Consequently, their view of the future
is quite rosy: They expect to win the next game they play, to beat all opponents in
an upcoming race, to write great stories when they grow up. Even when they
have just experienced failure at a task, they are likely to expect to do well in the
future. This optimistic view is held, in part, because they have not yet started to
compare themselves and their performance against others. Preschool-age
children’s view of themselves also reflects the way their particular culture
considers the self. For example, many Asian societies tend to have a collectivistic
orientation, promoting the notion of interdependence. People in such cultures tend
to regard themselves as parts of a larger social network in which they are
interconnected with and responsible to others. In contrast, children in Western
cultures are more likely to develop a view of the self, reflecting an individualistic
orientation that emphasizes personal identity and the uniqueness of the individual.
They are more apt to see themselves as self-contained and autonomous, in
competition with others for scarce resources. Consequently, children in Western
cultures are more likely to focus on what sets them apart from others.
3. In Middle Childhood: Children are on a quest for self-understanding during
middle childhood. Helped by the cognitive advances they begin to view
themselves less in terms of external, physical attributes and more in terms of
psychological traits. For instance, six-year-old Carey describes herself as “a fast
runner and good at drawing”—both characteristics dependent on skill in external
activities relying on motor skills. In contrast, 11-year-old Meiping characterizes
herself as “pretty smart, friendly, and helpful to my friends.” Meiping’s view of
herself is based on psychological characteristics, inner traits that are more abstract
than the younger child’s descriptions. The use of inner traits to determine
self-concept results from the child’s increasing cognitive skills. In addition to
shifting focus from external characteristics to internal, psychological traits,
children’s views of who they are become less simplistic and have greater
complexity. In Erikson’s view, children are seeking endeavors where they can be
successfully industrious. As they get older, children discover that they may be
good at some things and not so good at others. Children’s self-concepts become
divided into personal and academic spheres. Children evaluate themselves in four
major areas, and each of these areas can be broken down even further.
● PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES:
Freud believed that personality development occurs in a series of psychosexual stages that are
determined by the developing sexuality of the child. At each stage, a different erogenous zone, or
area of the body that produces pleasurable feelings, becomes important and can become the
source of conflicts. Conflicts that are not fully resolved can result in fixation, or getting “stuck”
to some degree in a stage of development. The child may grow into an adult but will still carry
emotional and psychological “baggage” from that earlier fixated stage. Recent researches reveal
that other than attraction, earlier lack of containment, & transgenerational traumas of loss and
abandonment can be cause (Jools P, 2012).
● KOHLBERG THEORY OF GENDER IDENTITY 1966:
Kohlberg's theory of gender development proposes that children progress through three stages in
understanding their gender: gender identity (recognizing oneself as male or female), gender
stability (understanding that gender remains consistent over time), and gender constancy
(realizing that gender is not altered by appearance changes like clothing or activities), with the
final stage signifying a full grasp of gender concept; this theory is considered a cognitive
developmental approach to gender understanding. Kohlberg believed that children actively
construct their understanding of gender through interaction with their environment and cognitive
maturation.
1. Gender Identity: The earliest stage where children simply label themselves as boy or
girl based on outward appearance.
2. Gender Stability: Children understand that their gender will stay the same over time,
meaning a boy will grow up to be a man.
3. Gender Constancy: The final stage where children fully understand that gender is not
affected by changes in clothing, behavior, or other superficial factors.
Some argue that Kohlberg's theory may not fully account for the influence of social factors on
gender development and might underestimate the complexity of gender identity.
● BOWLBY’S ATTACHMENT THEORY :
British psychologist John Bowlby was the first attachment theorist. He described attachment as a
"lasting psychological connectedness between human beings." Bowlby was interested in
understanding the anxiety and distress that children experience when separated from their
primary caregivers.
Thinkers like Freud suggested that infants become attached to the source of pleasure. Infants,
who are in the oral stage of development, become attached to their mothers because they fulfill
their oral needs.
Some of the earliest behavioral theories suggested that attachment was simply a learned
behavior. These theories proposed that attachment was merely the result of the feeding
relationship between the child and the caregiver. Because the caregiver feeds the child and
provides nourishment, the child becomes attached. Attachment is an emotional bond with
another person. Bowlby believed that the earliest bonds formed by children with their caregivers
have a tremendous impact that continues throughout life. He suggested that attachment also
serves to keep the infant close to the mother, thus improving the child's chances of survival.
Bowlby viewed attachment as a product of evolutionary processes.3 While the behavioral
theories of attachment suggested that attachment was a learned process, Bowlby and others
proposed that children are born with an innate drive to form attachments with caregivers.
● AINSWORTH ATTACHMENT STYLES:
In her research in the 1970s, psychologist Mary Ainsworth expanded greatly upon Bowlby's
original work. Her groundbreaking "strange situation" study revealed the profound effects of
attachment on behavior. In the study, researchers observed children between the ages of 12 and
18 months as they responded to a situation in which they were briefly left alone and then
reunited with their mothers. Based on the responses the researchers observed, Ainsworth
described three major styles of attachment: secure attachment, ambivalent-insecure attachment,
and avoidant-insecure attachment. Later, researchers Main and Solomon (1986) added a fourth
attachment style called disorganized-insecure attachment based on their own research.
1. Secure attachment style: Children who can depend on their caregivers show distress
when separated and joy when reunited. Although the child may be upset, they feel
assured that the caregiver will return. When frightened, securely attached children are
comfortable seeking reassurance from caregivers. This is the most common attachment
style. Research suggests that 81.8% of people have a secure attachment style.
2. Avoidant attachment style: Children with an avoidant attachment tend to avoid parents
or caregivers, showing no preference between a caregiver and a complete stranger. This
attachment style might be a result of abusive or neglectful caregivers. Children who are
punished for relying on a caregiver will learn to avoid seeking help in the future.
3. Ambivalent attachment style: Children with an ambivalent attachment style become
very distressed when a parent leaves. As a result of poor parental availability, these
children cannot depend on their primary caregiver to be there when they need them.
Older research by Cassidy and Berlin estimated that 7% to 15% of U.S. children were
ambivalently attached.9 More recent research indicates that around 13.2% have an
anxious/avoidant style.
4. Disorganized attachment style: Children with a disorganized attachment style display a
confusing mix of behavior, seeming disoriented, dazed, or confused. They may avoid or
resist the parent. Lack of a clear attachment pattern is likely linked to inconsistent
caregiver behavior. In such cases, parents may serve as both a source of comfort and fear,
leading to disorganized behavior.
● PARENTING STYLES: :
The parenting style used to rear a child will likely impact that child’s future success in
romantic, peer and parenting relationships. Diana Baumrind, a clinical and
developmental psychologist, coined the following parenting styles: authoritative,
authoritarian, and permissive/indulgent, Later, Maccoby and Martin added the
uninvolved/neglectful style. It is beneficial to evaluate the support and demandingness of
a caregiver in order to determine which style is being used and how to effectively use it.
Support refers to the amount of affection, acceptance, and warmth a parent provides to a
child. Demandingness refers to the degree a parent controls a child’s behavior.
1. Authoritative: In general, children tend to develop greater competence and
self-confidence when parents have high-but reasonable and consistent-
expectations for children’s behavior, communicate well with them, are warm and
responsive, and use reasoning rather than coercion to guide children’s behaviors.
This kind of parenting style has been described as authoritative. Parents who use
this style are supportive and show interest in their kids’ activities but are not
overbearing and allow children to make constructive mistakes. This “tender
teacher” approach is deemed the most optimal parenting style to use in western
cultures. Children whose parents use the authoritative style are generally happy,
capable, and successful.
2. Authoritarian: Parents using the authoritarian (“rigid ruler”) approach are low in
support and high in demandingness. These parents expect and demand obedience
because they are “in charge” and they do not provide any explanations for their
orders. Parents also provide well-ordered and structured environments with
clearly stated rules. Many would conclude that this is the parenting style used by
Harry Potter’s harsh aunt and uncle, and Cinderella’s vindictive stepmother.
Children reared in environments using the authoritarian approach are more likely
to be obedient and proficient, but score lower in happiness, social competence,
and self-esteem.
3. Permissive: Parents who are high in support and low in demandingness are likely
using the permissive-also called the indulgent-style. Their children tend to rank
low in happiness and self-regulation, and are more likely to have problems with
authority. Parents using this approach are lenient, do not expect their children to
adhere to boundaries or rules, and avoid confrontation.
4. Uninvolved Parents: Children reared by parents who are low in both support and
demandingness tend to rank lowest across all life domains, lack self-control, have
low self-esteem, and are less competent than their peers. Parents using the
uninvolved (or sometimes referred to as indifferent or neglectful) approach are
neglectful or rejecting of their children and do not provide most, if any, necessary
parenting responsibilities.
● STAGES OF FRIENDSHIPS:
STAGE 1: BASING FRIENDSHIP ON OTHERS’ BEHAVIOR: In the first stage, which
ranges from around four to seven years of age, children see friends as others who like them and
with whom they share toys and other activities. They view the children with whom they spend
the most time as their friends.
STAGE 2: BASING FRIENDSHIP ON TRUST: In the next stage, however, children’s view of
friendship becomes more complicated. Lasting from around age 8 to age 10, this stage covers a
period in which children take others’ personal qualities and traits as well as the rewards they
provide into consideration. But the centerpiece of friendship in this second stage is mutual trust.
Friends are seen as those who can be counted on to help out when they are needed. This means
that violations of trust are taken very seriously, and friends cannot make amends for such
violations just by engaging in positive play, as they might at earlier ages. Instead, the expectation
is that formal explanations and formal apologies must be provided before a friendship can be
reestablished.
STAGE 3: BASING FRIENDSHIP ON PSYCHOLOGICAL CLOSENESS: The third stage
of friendship begins toward the end of middle childhood, from 11 to 15 years of age. During this
period, children begin to develop the view of friendship that they hold during adolescence. The
main criteria for friendship shift toward intimacy and loyalty. Friendship at this stage is
characterized by feelings of closeness, usually brought on by sharing personal thoughts and
feelings through mutual disclosure. They are also somewhat exclusive. By the time they reach
the end of middle childhood, children seek out friends who will be loyal, and they come to view
friendship not so much in terms of shared activities as in terms of the psychological benefits that
friendship brings. Children also develop clear ideas about which behaviors they seek in their
friends— and which they dislike.
● PIAGET'S MORAL DEVELOPMENT:
The Child psychologist Jean Piaget was one of the first to study questions of moral development.
He suggested that moral development, like cognitive development, proceeds in stages (Piaget,
1932). The earliest stage is a broad form of moral thinking he called heteronomous morality, in
which rules are seen as invariant and unchangeable. During this stage, which lasts from about
age four through age seven, children play games rigidly, assuming that there is one, and only
one, way to play and that every other way is wrong. At the same time, though, preschool-age
children may not even fully grasp game rules. Consequently, a group of children may be playing
together, with each child playing according to a slightly different set of rules. Nevertheless, they
enjoy playing with others. Piaget suggests that every child may “win” such a game because
winning is equated with having a good time, as opposed to truly competing with others. This
rigid heteronomous morality is ultimately replaced by two later stages of morality: incipient
cooperation and autonomous cooperation. As its name implies, in the incipient cooperation stage,
which lasts from around age 7 to age 10, children’s games become more clearly social. Children
learn the actual formal rules of games, and they play according to this shared knowledge.
Consequently, rules are still seen as largely unchangeable. There is a “right” way to play the
game, and children in the incipient cooperation stage play according to these formal rules. It is
not until the autonomous cooperation stage, which begins at about age 10, that children become
fully aware that formal game rules can be modified if the people who play them agree. The later
transition into more sophisticated forms of moral development— also is reflected in school-age
children’s understanding that rules of law are created by people and are subject to change
according to the will of people.
● KOHLBERG'S MORAL DEVELOPMENT:
American psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg developed one of the best-known theories exploring
some of these basic questions.2 His work modified and expanded upon Jean Piaget's previous
work but was more centered on explaining how children develop moral reasoning. Kohlberg
extended Piaget's theory, proposing that moral development is a continual process that occurs
throughout the lifespan. Kohlberg's theory outlines six stages of moral development within three
different levels.
One example was "Heinz Steals the Drug." In this scenario, a woman has cancer and her doctors
believe only one drug might save her. This drug had been discovered by a local pharmacist and
he was able to make it for $200 per dose and sell it for $2,000 per dose. The woman's husband,
Heinz, could only raise $1,000 to buy the drug. He tried to negotiate with the pharmacist for a
lower price or to be extended credit to pay for it over time. But the pharmacist refused to sell it
for any less or to accept partial payments. Rebuffed, Heinz instead broke into the pharmacy and
stole the drug to save his wife. Kohlberg asked, "Should the husband have done that?”
● TYPES OF TEMPERAMENT: The Patterns of Arousal and Emotionality that are
consistent and enduring characteristics of an individual
1. Easy babies: Easy babies have a positive disposition. Their body functions operate
regularly, and they are adaptable. They are generally positive, showing curiosity about
new situations, and their emotions are moderate or low in intensity.
2. Difficult babies: Difficult babies have more negative moods and are slow to adapt to
new situations. When confronted with a new situation, they tend to withdraw.
3. Slow-to-warm babies: Slow-to-warm babies are inactive,showing relatively calm
reactions to their environment. Their moods are generally negative, and they withdraw
from new situations, adapting slowly.
● ERICKSONIAN STAGES OF IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT:
Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development considers how individuals come to understand
themselves and the meaning of others’—and their own—behavior (Erikson, 1963). The theory
suggests that developmental change occurs throughout people’s lives in eight distinct stages, the
first of which occurs in infancy.
1. According to Erikson, during the first 18 months of life, we pass through the
trust-versus-mistrust stage. During this period, infants develop a sense of trust or
mistrust, largely depending on how well their needs are met by their caregivers. Erikson
suggests that if infants are able to develop trust, they experience a sense of hope, which
permits them to feel as if they can fulfill their needs successfully. On the other hand,
feelings of mistrust lead infants to see the world as harsh and unfriendly, and they may
have later difficulties in forming close bonds with others.
2. During the end of infancy, children enter the autonomy-versus-shame-and-doubt stage,
which lasts from around 18 months to 3 years. During this period, children develop
independence and autonomy if parents encourage exploration and freedom within safe
boundaries. However, if children are restricted and overly protected, they feel shame,
self-doubt, and unhappiness. Erikson argued that personality is primarily shaped by
infants’ experiences.
3. The preschool years largely encompass what Erikson called the initiative-versus guilt
stage, which lasts from around age three to age six. During this period, children’s views
of themselves change as preschool-age children face conflicts between, on the one hand,
the desire to act independently of their parents and do things on their own, and, on the
other hand, the guilt that comes from failure when they don’t succeed. They are eager to
do things on their own (“Let me do it” is a popular refrain among preschoolers), but they
feel guilt if their efforts fail. They come to see themselves as persons in their own right,
and they begin to make decisions on their own.
4. Lasting from roughly age 6 to age 12, the industry-versus-inferiority stage is
characterized by a focus on efforts to meet the challenges presented by parents, peers,
school, and the other complexities of the modern world. As children move through
middle childhood, school presents enormous challenges. They must direct their energies
not only to mastering what they are presented in school, which encompasses an enormous
body of information, but also to making a place for themselves in their social worlds.
They increasingly work with others in group activities and must navigate among different
social groups and roles, including relationships involving teachers, friends, and families.
Success in the industry-versus-inferiority stage brings with it feelings of mastery and
proficiency and a growing sense of competence. On the other hand, difficulties in this
stage lead to feelings of failure and inadequacy. As a result, children may withdraw both
from academic pursuits, showing less interest and motivation to excel, and from
interactions with peers. Children may find that attaining a sense of industry during the
middle childhood years has lasting consequences. For example, one study examined how
childhood industriousness and hard work were related to adult behavior by following a
group of 450 men over a 35-year period, starting in early childhood (Vaillant & Vaillant,
1981). The men who were most industrious and hardworking during childhood were most
successful as adults, both in occupational attainment and in their personal lives. In fact,
childhood industriousness was more closely associated with adult success than
intelligence or family background.
● NATURE OF AGGRESSION:
Aggression is intentional injury or harm to another person. Infants don’t act aggressively; it is
hard to contend that their behavior is intended to hurt others, even if they inadvertently manage
to do so.The amount of aggression declines as they move through the preschool years, as do the
frequency and average length of episodes of aggressive behavior.
Boys: instrumental aggression- aggression motivated by the desire to obtain a concrete goal.
Girls: relational aggression- nonphysical aggression that is intended to hurt another person’s
feelings.
Causes of Aggression:
1.Motivated by sexual & aggressive Instincts
2. Evolutionarily fighting traits.
● Bandura’s observational learning:
During the 1960s, Albert Bandura conducted a series of experiments on observational learning,
collectively known as the Bobo doll experiments. Bandura (1961) conducted a controlled
experiment study to investigate if social behaviors (i.e., aggression) can be acquired by
observation and imitation. As a result, Children who observed the aggressive model made far
more imitative aggressive responses than those who were in the non-aggressive or control
groups. Albert Bandura’s social learning theory (SLT) suggests that we learn social behavior by
observing and imitating the behavior of others. Bandura realized that direct reinforcement alone
could not account for all types of learning, so he added a social element to his theory, arguing
that people learn by observing others (Nabavi, 2012). His theory is regarded as the bridge
between behaviorist and cognitive learning theories, encompassing attention, memory, and
motivational processes (Muro & Jeffrey, 2008) The SLT states that in response to observation,
imitation, and modeling, learning can occur even without changing behavior (Bandura, 1965).
Bandura showed that aggressive tendencies, especially in children, are vicariously reinforced by
seeing others rewarded for or benefiting from their aggressive behavior. Are aggressive
behaviors learned from violence on TV and in films? It depends on viewers’ perceptions?
● ABUSE IN CHILDREN:
Physical Abuse is common in all types of families; but more prevalent in families living in
stressful environments. The environmental reasons for abuse can be Poverty, single parenting,
high marital conflict, presence of Step-parents, violence among spouses. Children who are
exposed to violence or abuse; end up being fussy, resistant to control, and not readily adaptable
to new situations, more physical complaints, bed-wetting, may have developmental delays. The
vague demarcation between permissible and impermissible forms of physical violence, having
unrealistically high expectations regarding children’s abilities lead children to many forms of
violent actions or abuse.
Cycle of violence hypothesis:- the theory that the abuse and neglect that children suffer
predispose them as adults to abuse and neglect their own children.
Psychological maltreatment occurs when parents or other caregivers harm children’s behavioral,
cognitive, emotional, or physical functioning. Children may be made to feel like disappointments
or failures, or they may be constantly reminded that they are a burden to their parents. Parents
may tell their children that they wish they had never had children or may be threatened with
abandonment or even death, or exploited or neglected. However, as like women violence, many
cases of child abuse remain unreported.
Effects: low self-esteem, lying, misbehavior, and underachievement in school, can produce
criminal behavior, aggression, and murder, maltreated become depressed and even commit
suicide
