What are the Effects of Child Abuse and Neglect?
Child abuse and neglect can result in permanent and serious damage to children’s physical, emotional, and cognitive development. At its most serious, of course, child abuse and neglect can result in death. While much of the work to determine the impact of abuse and neglect is based on the testimonies of survivors, more recent studies have focused specifically on the effect of maltreatment by studying children. Research on neurological impairment uncovered a significant incidence of neurological damage as a result of head injuries associated with abuse.8 A Cornell study designed to explore the academic and social adjustment of school-aged children found significant differences in school performance between maltreated children and a control group of children who had not been abused or neglected. In 1987, this Family Life Development Center study of 530 maltreated children found that “…child maltreatment has a strong and pervasive effect on academic outcomes such as children’s test scor
