Child Abuse's Long-Term Impact

Introduction

The impact of child abuse extends to adulthood. Child abuse is a problem with multi-layered complexities because of the various personal and other external factors involved in an abuse. There is a diverse range of factors that cause or contribute to child abuse, including cases hidden abuse, lack of reference points to identify child abuse when the victim was a child, which impact affects adulthood experience (Davidson & Bifulco, 2018; Reder, 1993; Venter, et al., 2013). This dissertation will elaborate on these range of factors in order to understand the reasons why child abuse happens and more important, why there is repeated abuse. There are multiple barriers to disclose abuse, including cultural factor where disclosure would affect the reputation of the family of the victim or push the victim and family to community hostility. The practice at home or the community in regard to the behaviour and treatment of children occupies a key role in understanding cases of child abuse. Where there is a culture of deprivation or being indifferent to children’s belief system or feeling, it increases the chances of hidden child abuse cases (Davidson & Bifulco, 2018; Reder, 1993). This cultural restrains a child from expressing themselves and forces them to maintain secrecy leading to a norm of hidden (Julia Davidson & Bifulco, 2018). In this context, this dissertation will evaluate the extent of the effect of family and cultural practices on child abuse cases. It will discuss the emotional development of a child abuse victim by referring to social theories, including social learning theory and other behaviour-based theories. This research will explore the issue of maltreatment of victims during childhood in relation to childhood abuse. Child maltreatment, especially by parents and immediate family, leads to negative outcomes in childhood adulthood. It disrupts interpersonal relationship in adulthood; children seeking love and security somewhere else; or pushing a person to depression, substance abuse and affecting their mental wellbeing (Bellis, et al., 2014; Sikes & Hays, 2010; Murphy & Rasmussen, 2020). Resilience and the ability to handle the ‘allostatic load’ of stressful emotions and physique can also save a victim towards their adulthood wellbeing being (Nakazawa, 2016, p. 61). In this context, this research will attempt to understand how maltreatment leads to a child being deprived of personal attachment and how it contributes to cases of hidden child abuse. This will also involve understanding the factors that enable a perpetrator of child abuse to school the child to keep secret of the abuse. This research will discuss the long-term effect of child abuse on adulthood experiences.

Aims, Objectives and Research Questions

This dissertation will aim to find an understanding of the multilayer-aspects of child abuse and the long-lasting effects on adulthood experiences. The objective is to understand the social and community relationship structure that encompasses the relationship of a child victims, the family, the community and the perpetrator in order to understand the factors that contribute, directly or indirectly, to continuing cases of child abuse crimes. In the context of the aims and objectives of this research, the main research question is whether or not the family and the community to which a child abuse victim belongs play a major role in occurrence of child abuse cases and how the abuse has a continuing effect on adulthood experiences. In connection with this research question, this research will also touch upon the question of the ability of the social service system to detect signs of abuse and take preventive actions.

Research background and Literature review

Child abuse is defined as physical, sexual, emotional maltreatment and neglect of children (Lyon, et al., 2003, p. 32). The Office of National Statistics (2019) states that child abuse can be emotional or physical abuse, sexual abuse, witnessing domestic violence or abuse before they turned 16 years (Office of National Statistics, 2019). The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) reported an estimate of one in every five adults aged between 18 and 74 years has experienced at least one form of child abuse (Office of National Statistics, 2019). The extent of the perpetration of the offence of child abuse has caused this literature review to the cause of child abuse and analyse its impact on adulthood experiences.

1.1. Hidden cases – a social problem

Marx, a moralist, uses the term “self-sacrificing heroism” to refer to a conduct that involves self-sacrifice in the interests of the others. According to him, the conduct must be reasonable and well-informed. He does not see equal rights in a positive light, but a crime that imposes useless ideological nonsense about right (Miller, 2020, p. 15). If this theory of Mark is read with the multiple cases of child abuse that are hidden, will it be fair to say that victims are self-sacrificing themselves in the name of heroism? Will it be fair that the choice of hided abuse is reasonable and well-informed? Will it be fair to say that the victims are unable to exercise their rights to protect their dignities and if they did, will it be a crime? Hiding an abuse cannot be heroism and cannot be discussed from a morality angle where a victim of abuse faces multiple barriers to disclose abuse (Davidson & Bifulco, 2018). Hiding an abuse experienced in childhood cannot also be clear and informed judgment as there are many factors that prevent a victim from disclosing, whether when they were children or they are adults now. For example, a child faces a conflict of loyalties in cases where a parent is involved (Davidson & Bifulco, 2018). They could be subjugated to cultural factor, such as in the South Asia community where child abuse issues are not openly discussed as they carry the potential risk of downgrading the reputation of the family (Reder, 1993, p. 132). Also, the manner of care and treatment to children over the years become a norm, which is difficult to fight (Lyon, et al., 2003, p. 152). An example is hitting children for reasonable reasons, is prevalent in the Asian community, where is a norm. However, such norm could also escalate into abuse. This culturally made norm is a reason for children to remain silent about the abuse, usually when it refers to sexual abuse (Reder, 1993, p. 132). In this regard, will it be appropriate to judge that it is not just child abuse experience but cultural factors that also contribute to shaping adulthood experience?

1.2. No reference points for justice

Emile Durkheim asserts that sociology finds its justification in true practice and if otherwise, it does not have any value. Sociology must primarily determine the nascent direction of a social change at any given time and should demonstrate the trends that should be fostered as the current or coming patterns (Lamanna & Durkheim, 2001, p. 136). According to Durkheim, suicide rate indicates social health. Sociology must, therefore, be seen as the medicine to a social problem (Lamanna & Durkheim, 2001). Given Durkheim’s perspective, professional social workers are failing the practical justification of sociology. This is found in the lack of reference points of such professional, who study the phrase ‘child abuse’ referring to confusing, vague and inconsistent references (Reder, 1993, p. 65). This delays identification of child abuse (Reder, 1993, p. 58). The failure of sociology is also found in the failure to recognise the trends of disclosure patterns and rates, which Priebe & Svedin (2008) found in their study where the participating girls and boys disclose sexual abuse cases to friends of their own age, but fewer to professionals. The pattern is the less likelihood of girls disclosing involving a family member, or the children perceived their parents as non-caring (Priebe & Svedin, 2008). This pattern indicates the social health, where there is a huge gap in the existing social care system. The inability of social workers to foster this trend contributes to the lack of reference points for victims to disclose abuses. The social system must enable the social workers to identify and foster reference points to find an answer to child abuse cases and the impact on adulthood.

1.3. Fear of harm or reprisal is worse than the abuse

According to Weber, actions are real and values are not. Weber says sociology is an empirical discipline and values could be studied when they are incorporated in actions. Values are involved in the definition of action and they provide meaning to human behaviour. Values are in continuity and act as criteria to organise and bring senses of the events in the society and define what is right and wrong (Albrow, 1990). This sense of value attached to a family or a social structure is one reason for continuous case of child abuses in hidden form. It brings reason to why a child victim faces the fear of harm or reprisals or the fear of threat if the abuse is disclosed (Davidson & Bifulco, 2018). Such fear allows the abuse to continue until it becomes the norm for them. The norm of silence in the form of fear may arise due to responsibility towards the family. Supporting this view, older children coming from incestuous families were found to have a greater sense of responsibility for the abuse and they feared negative consequences of the disclosure (B-Goodman-Brown, et al., 2003). The value of taking responsibility for the abuse is attached with their action of keeping silent out of fear. This defines a behaviour of an abuse victim. Sociology experts and professionals must understand this value and how it is attached to the action, which can help to cease the continuous case of child abuses in hidden form. If the social system has a mechanism to enable victim express themselves, it would have been easier to understood the value and to take actions against cases, such as the reported increase in hidden case during the COVID 19 pandemic as reported by (The Guardian, 2021). One reason for a child abuse victim to have the fear of harm or reprisal may lie in how they were maltreated, which could be neglect or emotional abuse (Davidson & Bifulco, 2018). In a study conducted with children who were sexually or physically abused by a parent in Israel in 2015, the children spontaneously discussed the concept of love in order to make sense of the incidents, to elaborate on the incidents, and the outcomes of disclosing the incidents (Katz, et al., 2020). Many victims seek love, care and attention elsewhere, where they could be schooled to keep the abuse secret and it normalises the abuse (Davidson & Bifulco, 2018). When in such scenario, adults contribute to abuse occurring for a long period of time by refusing to acknowledge the signs (Tricia, 1993, p. 68). In such environment, the child could be convinced no one will believe them (Hinds & Giardino, 2017, p. 103). After a long period of time, victims care about or feel protective over the perpetrator and feel they are betraying the only person who is showing them attention and fear they may lose that (Waterhouse, 1996) (Waterhouse, 1996, p. 65). It is crucial to realise that children have grown to comprehend that the abuse is a norm and they fall in a trap to train their mind that they are in a real relationship with the perpetrator (Hinds, 2017, p. 96).

1.4. Cycle of abuse – impact on adulthood

Sociology’s major task is understanding interaction among people, according to George Simmel. It must focus on isolating a limited number of forms of interaction and the types of interactants in order to understand the interaction settings. This approach is suitable to address large scale social issues (Ritzer & Stepnisky, 2017). This aspect of sociology could be found reflected in the study conducted by Mark A Bellis, Professor of Public Health at the Centre for Public Health, Liverpool John Moores University and his colleagues in 2014 that found impact of advsere childhood experiences on adult health behaviours and health outcomes (Bellis, et al., 2014). Such adults are prone to the habits of smoking and heavy drinking; being incarcerated and to morbid obesity (Bellis, et al., 2014). They are exposed to greater risk of poor employment and educational outcomes with low life satisfaction and mental wellbeing. They are exposed to greater involvement in violence, chronic health conditions and inpatient hospital care (Bellis, et al., 2014). Traumatic childhood experiences create far-reaching mental and somatic consequences in the form of anxiety, depression and substance abuse when they are in adulthood (Venter, et al., 2013). Sexual child abuse and family violence and other adverse childhood experiences cause depressive and anxiety disorders in adulthood causing them to drugs or alcohol abuse (Venter, et al., 2013). Adults with childhood sexual abuse experiences have long-term psychological difficulties impairing social behaviour, with fewer friends and social contacts and more social adjustment problems (Abdulrehman & Luca, 2001). Research indicates that those who experience multi-type abuse are more likely to experience high levels of trauma as adults and it tends to interfere with future relationships. This may more or less occur in case of sexual abuse. In this context, a study by Manchikanti Gómez (2011), who explored the cycle of violence, found that abuse forms a key determinant of future violence perpetration and victimisation. Gómez focussed the study on the link between child abuse and adult intimate partner violence. Gómez found that child abuse and adolescent dating violence are highly predictive of adult intimate partner violence and predict victimisation and perpetration for both women and men (Manchikanti Gómez, 2011). Pears and Calpaldi investigated that parents who had experienced physical abuse in their childhood were more likely to participate in being abusive towards their own children (Pears & Capaldi, 2001, p. 1449). An abused child may become an abusive adult. Victim-abusers had frequently witnessed during their childhood serious intrafamilial violence. Such experiences and patterns of their childhood behaviour exposed them to an increased risk of becoming abusers in later life (Salter, et al., 2003). An abusive family environment can teach children that the use of violence is a necessary means to deal with conflict, which can increase the likelihood that the cycle of violence will continue into their adulthood (Kwong, et al., 2003, p. 298). Long-term effects of sexual abuse may vary from one victim to another as the extent of childhood resilience may continue into the adulthood with limited consequences. This may not be true for some adults who are severely traumatised as they were sexually abused. They may not be willing or able to discuss these experiences (Murphy & Rasmussen, 2020, p. 97). Also, an adult may not be able to remember the incidence of abuse as they were too young to remember and hence, may not suffer psychological repercussion. However, the length and frequency of the abuse may contribute for long term affects. If the perpetrator is a closed relationship, such as the child’s biological father, the sexual abuse may cause higher detriment to child when it is committed by a distant relative. The main reason is that the trust between the child and the parent is broken because of the abuse (Murphy & Rasmussen, 2020, p. 98). The effects may differ from one gender to another. Women who were victim of childhood sexual abuse also become victims in adulthood (Murphy & Rasmussen, 2020, p. 99). This is an example where there is a link between childhood victimisation and adult victimisation. One of the reasons could be that a child leaves the homes at their earlier age to escape the abuse. They may end up marrying early and become dependent on their spouses. This leaves them vulnerable to both sexual and physical abuse (Murphy & Rasmussen, 2020, p. 99). If on the other hand, they are force to run away from home, they may be exposed to cases of rape. Even when they enter adulthood, they are vulnerable to sexual exploitation as they are insecure (Murphy & Rasmussen, 2020, p. 99). As observed earlier, many adults who were maltreated during their childhood may often experience long‐term negative outcomes such as in the areas of social, physical, and mental health consequences (Sikes & Hays, 2010). Psychological maltreatment in childhood can cause difficulty or inability in adulthood to form an interpersonal relationship with other adults (Murphy & Rasmussen, 2020, p. 121). Emotional trauma that a child suffers may shape their adult emotional lives and affect their physical health, longevity and wellbeing. People who are not resilient may fall under life’s suffering and trauma (Nakazawa, 2016, p. 60). Such people cannot manage the “allostatic load’, which means the ability to adapt over to the stressful trials of emotions and physique, return to an equilibrium state and regain the senses of well-being (Nakazawa, 2016, p. 61). The higher adverse childhood experience increases the allostatic load and thus exposes them to higher physical and mental health issues (Nakazawa, 2016, p. 61). If the victim could form a relationship with another reliable adult, it could help in their resilience to deal with the trauma (Murphy & Rasmussen, 2020, p. 121).

Theoretical Framework

In order to understand the external and internal factors regard to a victim behaviour or experience towards abuse, it is necessary to understand some relevant social theories, which will explain the victim’s relationships with their family, the abuser and the society or community at large. Albert Bandura (1925) developed the Social learning theory where he observed that children’s learning and social behavioural process is acquired by observing and imitating people around them (Duane and Mackey, 2015, p. 89). The theory outlines that learning is a cognitive process and occurs through direct instruction and observation, and the observation of behaviour occurs through rewards and punishments (Duane and Mackey, 2015, p. 106). Social learning theory is also known as vicarious reinforcement, when a certain behaviour is rewarded consistently, it will continue (Duane and Mackey, 2015, p. 127). However, when a certain behaviour is constantly punished, it will change. This is how children know wrong from right. Bandura outlines three types of modelling techniques which include live models where a person is demonstrating good behaviour, verbal instruction where good behaviour is instructed to the children and they engage in the behaviour and lastly, symbolic where behaviour is shown through media such as, movies, internet, television etc (Duane & T., 2015, p. 127). Thus, when a child observes their parents/carers being physically abusive, they tend to imitate the action, assuming it is the right thing to do when certain behaviour deserves to be punished. This creates the cycle of physical abuse. Behavioural therapies focus on the premise that a child learn maladaptive behaviours in the same way they learn adaptive behaviours. Learning happens because behaviour leads to reward or punishment or because of classical conditioning (Freeman, 2005, p. 107). This behavioural theory is extended by the social learning theory. Social learning theory was proposed by Bandura (1977). It emphasises on the relationship between behaviour, internal causes and environmental factors. The social learning theory extends the behaviourism theory as its emphasises on the importance of inner causes of behaviour. The behaviour-based theories, as above, focus on the factors that shape a human’s behaviours. Humans learn and adapt to the new behaviour based on their own internal construct and external environment. Kelly (1955) proposed the psychology of personal constructs (PPC) and argued that a person create and interprets their own reality so as to achieve the feeling of order and control over their environment (Kelly, 1955). Such interpretation arises from the creative interpretation of the reality irrespective of whether the reality is accurate or not. It emphasised on the uniqueness of personality (Kelly, 1955). Reading Bandura (1977) and Kelly (1955) together, it could be stated that every person is unique as they interpret a particular social environment differently. People face different internal and environmental factors, which shape their behaviour in different ways. Maslow defines self‐actualisation as fulfilment of potential saying that “What man can be, he must be” (Maslow, 1968, p. 33). Bandura (1997) states that “self‐efficacy beliefs are the product of a complex process of self‐persuasion that relies on cognitive processing of diverse sources of efficacy information” (Bandura, 1977, p. 11). This is an adaptive behaviour as Freeman (2005) observed earlier.

Learning theory is a broad term that encapsulates multiple theories and approaches that are used to explaining learning behaviour. Behaviourism was originated from Ivan Pavlov’s ‘classic conditioning’ theory. It focusses on the learned behaviours. Pavlov developed the classic conditioning approach based on the findings that prior stimuli reinforce response (Mazur, 2015, p. 49; Mazur, 2015). Bandura and Walters (1963) developed an approach different from Pavlov’s classic conditioning (Bandura & Walters, 1963). They suggested that people learned through observation and not stimuli. This is a social learning theory that is subject to the premise that a person predominantly learnt from their childhood experiences. Such experiences then formed into the patterns for lifelong learning (Bandura & Walters, 1963). John Bowlby had a series of papers on Attachment theory. His works have laid down the main features of this theory. According to Bowlby (1973), a child has a special bond with the mother. They long for their mothers’ love and presence as same as they long for food. Bowlby explained the notion of attachment by drawing an analogy with the phenomenon of imprinting where young birds will attach themselves to mobile figures to which they are exposed when they are at the sensitive period in their development. There is a hierarchical order, but not necessarily, where it starts with the mother, the father, grandparents, siblings, and so on (Holmes, 2006). An attachment behaviour is any kind of behaviour that results in a person maintaining or attaining proximity to a clearly identified individual conceived as being more able to cope with the world. Attachment behaviour is an integral part of the human nature. It is observed throughout the life cycle. There is a biological function in the form of protection seen with a familiar person known to be ready and is willing to come to a person’s aid (Bowlby, 2012). Attachment theory is a useful lens to gain more understanding of what a child or (when he becomes an adult) an adult goes through in cases of abuse and the impact in later life. It enhances ability to understand the importance of an attachment and the impact of an insecure attachment.

Research Methodology

This section will explain the research methodology employed in this research. The chapter will go into the details of the research methods.

Research Design

This research seeks answer to the impact of child abuse on adulthood experiences. As is seen in the literature review and the findings, the research subject in question has many layers and aspects. As a result, this research was conducted with qualitative research method, which is appropriate where the information sought in the research is multi-layered and multi-faceted. Qualitative research design is open and flexible. The researcher is free to create a design that most suits the research. This research design allows the researcher to get close to the participants (Opoku, Ahmed, & Akotia, 2016, p. 35). The focus of this research is to gain more insight into the topic or perspectives of the participants (Creswell, 2013). It is to draw relationships between research variables, which may not be happen if the research was done in a structured approach (Creswell, 2013). The focus is on deriving the meaning from such relationships from the perspective of the participants (Neuman, 2013). In the kind of the current research, the researcher seeks to understand the social meanings or meaning of relationships from the perspective of the participants. Qualitative research allowed the researcher to employ a flexible approach in formulating the design in order to gain the experiences and perspective of child-abuse adult victims to study the impact of the abuse on their adulthood experiences. In this qualitative research design, the focus is on the narratives with the aim to explore the perceptions of adults who are victims of child-abuse. Therefore, such narratives formed a major part of the data collected for this research study (Willis & Jost, 2007, pp. 53-54). This research has adopted a mixed method approach, including investigating case studies and semi-structured interviews. This research has employed semi-structured interviews, which consists of “random sampling” (Gubrium & Holstein, 2001, p. 87). The qualitative research method employed data collection methods in the form of interviews and case studies. Interview is a commonly used technique in social science research (Gill, Stewart, Treasure, & Chadwick, 2008). In-depth interviews lead to extended discussions and allow the researcher to gain more insight by employing well-prepared questions and reflective listening (Broneus, 2008). Interviews are commonly used in research seeking more insight into the opinions and perceptions of the participants (Yin, Case Study Research: Design and Methods, 2013, p. 23). They are flexible, in-depth and allow room for participants to share their opinions and experiences with the researcher (Gill, Stewart, Treasure, & Chadwick, 2008). The techniques of interviewing may differ where the researchers can choose between structured, semi-structured or in-depth or long interviews. This research selected semi-structured interviews technique, which was used to interview an adult who is a survivor of child abuse. Semi-structured interviews can be particularly useful in gaining more insight because these allow the researcher to conduct the interview as per the comfort of the participant and allows the participant more control over the process (Hammer & Wildavsky, 1989; Yin, Case Study Research: Design and Methods, Fourth Edition. Applied Social Research Methods Series, Volume 5., 2009). This research has also employed case studies references. Case studies offer verification data from directly observing the victims involved. They showed the experiences of the victims that led to the results, showing a clear distinction on the cause of the experiences (Jarvie & Bonilla, 2011, p. 92). In case studies, different experimenters collect the data, contributing different thoughts to the case studies (Jarvie and Bonilla, 2011, p. 116).

This research has collected secondary data through the systematic literature review. This method allowed the researcher to eliminate bias while selecting the literature. It helped the researcher to use a scientific method to identify the literature used for collecting secondary data. Such systematic literature review allowed the researcher to “collate all empirical evidence that fits pre-specified eligibility criteria in order to answer a specific research question” (Green, et al., 2011, p. 6).

Research Method

The semi-structured interviews did not have a strict adherence to a list of questions. The questions were open-ended questions. The semi-structured interviews enabled analysing the manner in which child abuse has impacted adulthood experiences of the participants. The open ended permitted the participants the freedom to express views in their own terms. In this research, based on the structure of the interview, the researcher had selected two Asian ethnic women to be interviewed. This is based on research that that child abuse victims tend to be young girls rather than young boys (Merrick, 1946, p. 45). Since this research also involved understanding the cycle of abuse where a victim becomes an abuser, this research also interviewed a male participant, who is the perpetrator of past child abuse crime. In order to give them a sensitive environment, the participants’ privacy and confidentiality were upheld. They were kept anonymous throughout the research. The participants were between the ages 21- 40 years. The researcher forward relevant research information to the participants via email in order to avoid any disclosure of their confidential information. The semi-structured interviews enabled the researcher to gain real experiences of how child abuse affected the participants’ adulthood (Gubrium and Hostein, 2001, pg.168). In order to demonstrate the impact of child abuse in adulthood experiences, the researcher used a case study method in this research. It involved two worldwide case studies, which helped to demonstrate the impact. The findings of the cases studies have helped this research to bring reliability and specificity given the different perspectives from various professions.

Data Analysis Procedures

With regard to the analysis of the primary data, which is collected using semi-structured interviews, the data may be subjective in nature. Similarly, the secondary data collected through systematic literature review could be subjective. Data collected using both of these methods may be challenging when it comes to analysing them due to the qualitative nature of the data (Jones, 2004). In order to meet address this challenge, a thematic analysis method is used in this research in order to organise and analyse the data (Bearman & Dawson, 2013). For analysing qualitative data collected from the systematic literature review and interview, the researcher used the thematic organisation of the data and analysis (Attride-Stirking, 2001). This method required the researcher to organise the collected data under major themes or as per the key messages in the data (Bearman & Dawson, 2013). Using this method, the researcher was able to organise the collected data from the systematic literature review and from the interviews under the major themes. The researcher analysed the data by using the themes and reviewing how the themes are recurrent in both the kinds of data collected. This method is appropriate given that a qualitative research can yield meaningful and useful results if the analysis of the data is conducted in a methodical manner (Attride-Stirking, 2001). The thematic analysis required the researcher reduced or breakdown the text followed by its exploration and finally, integrating the data explored with the analysis (Attride-Stirking, 2001). Following this process, the researcher was able to identify and analyse the predominant themes in the data collected.

Ethical Consideration

The topic of the research is sensitive. Ethics forms a core necessity. Consideration to ethics is necessary with respect to the research methodology and analysing the data. This is necessary as the participants are required to relive their traumatic past experiences after they have made positive differences in their life (Love & Pole, 2012, p. 14). As such, the interview was conducted in an understanding and sympathetic manner. Participants may comprehend that other people may have different reactions to the interview questions. As such, the researcher had refrained from disclosing personal opinions in order to make the participants feel uncomfortable (Love & Pole, 2012, p. 14). Ethics consideration also requires maintaining confidentiality. This research has ensured that transcripts followed the principles of data protection religiously. The participants were kept unknown and necessary measures were followed to avoid retracing data to the identity of the participants (Love and Pole, 2012, p. 45). Consent was taken from the participant where they signed a written consent form, which specified that the interview would be recorded, and ensured that participants were aware of the research and the purpose of the research. After the completion of this research, all transcripts were disposed to avoid any leakage of the documents.

Findings and Discussion

This section of the dissertation reports the findings of the semi-structured interviews conducted by the researcher. There were two participants. One of the participants had withdrawn from giving the interview due to the sensitivity of the topic. The findings presented in this dissertation is relevant with data collected from Participant A. Participant A had suffered sexual abuse as a child at the hands of her Islamic teacher in the mosque her family visited for a period of 3 years since she was 7 until she was 10 years of age. She used to attend her Islamic classes at 5 pm after her school finished at 3:30pm with her siblings. From her narratives about her childhood, she was the only sibling that did not get attention from her parents, especially her mother. They are four of them. She is the only one without any hearing difficulties and so the siblings “had extra treatment”. She believes she “was always the one that had to ‘understand’ and be ‘responsible’ for a young age.” Because of that, she was made to ignore her siblings’ mistreatment of her, and her parents made her feelings irrelevant compared with the struggle that her siblings were going through. Due to this emotional deprivation, she felt inadequate to make her parents proud of her. The way her family was with her siblings made her feel more responsible at her young age and being herself a kid made her emotionally deprived. Behaviours of Participant A and her mother could be referred to as “self-sacrificing heroism” that Marx used to describe conduct that involves self-sacrifice in the interests of the others. Their conducts could be considered reasonable and well-informed given that Participant A’s siblings have hearing disabilities requiring more attention. As such, this situation corresponds to Marx’s view of non-existence of equal rights (Miller, 2020, p. 15). Participant A behaved the way her mother instructed and expected. This behaviour finds reasoning in the social learning theory that Participant A learned it by observing and imitating her mother in regard to the siblings (Duane and Mackey, 2015, p. 89). She was emotionally deprived and was subjected to maltreatment by her mother. When asked whether she attempted to get attention from her parents, she answered in affirmative. She always tried to do well in her education. Whenever she did not, she would get scared and confide in her teacher to not inform her mother about it. What bothered her was when she got good grades, her mother would focus on the subject she did not score well. Her mother would also tell her to not tell her older siblings about the good grade as they would feel jealous. This damaged her confidence. This shows that the kind of reaction she received from her mother was confusing for her as she never got appreciation from her mother, but mostly negative and she was expected to be secret about her achievements. According to social learning theory, Participant A’s observation about her mother’s behaviour has constituted to a cognitive process and she relates her mother’s reaction towards her grades as a form of a punishment (Duane and Mackey, 2015, p. 106). The cognitive process of behaviour was also found in her father’s behaviour towards her. Participant A said that her dad was supportive and did not focus on grade but on hard work. She remembered her father being always hard working. Whenever he had time, her father used to give her time, taught her how to ride a bike and helped her with Arabic recitations. His problem was his anger. When asked whether her father was physically violent with her, she replied affirmative. She said that ‘smacking’ children was part of the Bengali culture. Her parents would ‘smack’ her and it was “normal in the Bengali culture”. This means that parents being physical with children was a norm.

Further, when asked if she got hurt, she said that she would cry as she made her father angry. She said she does not like making people angry as it upsets her. She further stated that one reason why her father would be angry and hit her was when she used to not perform well in her Arabic lessons, like when she got an Arabic recitation wrong, her father, a religious man, would punish her. This means that she was under another expectation, in addition to her mother’s expectation, to strictly learn the Arabic teachings and the right way of life. There was a religious expectation out of her that was connected with the way her relationship with her father was. This is a classic example of the social learning theory where Participant A differentiated what is wrong from what is right based on her observation of her family members and her experiences in the community. Her behaviour was shaped with her father’s need for her to demonstrated good behaviour; her mother’s instruction of good behaviour; symbolic behaviour as required by the community (Duane and Mackey, 2015, p. 127). This narrative of Participant A shows she underwent, in her childhood, a tremendous pressure arising out of family, cultural and religious expectation. During her childhood, she acted according to what the parents expected out of her making her feelings irrelevant to the parents. As a child, she was always trying to follow what the family needed, get attention from her mother, and please her father. At the same time, because of all the expectation, she was put under a tremendous pressure at her young age, which was mostly not being allowed to express her feeling, but was her feelings made subservient to the need and desire of the parents and family. Her feelings were made irrelevant. Her performance at school was made irrelevant. Her emotions were made secondary to the feeling of her siblings. Despite trying to get her parents attention by getting good grades, she used to feel inadequate to please her parents, especially her mother. Participant A would always try her best just to get the appreciative smile from her father. She stated that her father occupies a special place in her life. She loves him a lot and she would want her husband to be like her father. According to her, her father’s anger problem has reduced. He has not hit her since she was 9 years of age. Her experience shows that despite being made to feel inadequate, she still felt the need to give or show her best behaviour to her parents especially her father despite his anger. Her parents and her action have built a family value where she was forced to feel and be responsible towards the overall family environment. Literature review found this value system based out of actions, which define what is right and wrong (Albrow, 1990). Participant A must have felt her parents were right. The need of being responsible and being silent of one’s feeling is found by literature review as being one of the reasons for hidden child abuse. There is always a fear of reprisals due to such family (Davidson & Bifulco, 2018). Literature review found this kind of situation as the huge gap in the existing social care system where social workers are not able to identify such patterns and foster such trend. If only Participant A had access to a reference point to express herself, her childhood experience would have been different. When asked how his father was with her siblings, she said that he did not treat anyone differently. However, he would always come to her and she thought he would want to talk to her, or he needed help with something. She felt her father used to take her as an understanding person. She felt they have a very good bond. What is interesting from the research perspective is what she said about herself. She said she is a ‘yes woman’ and she would never say ‘no’ to anyone when someone needs something as she feels guilty otherwise. This finding is relevant with how her parents have treated her, her feelings or her school grade or Arabic classes performances. She was made to comply with the different level of expectations that her mother and father had out of her. This is classical conditioning as reflected in behavioural theory where Participant A was conditioned to learn family and social behaviour as conditioned by her parents (Freeman, 2005, p. 107). The fear of hurting her father’s feeling has led to her continuous behaviour of being a ‘yes woman’. When asked how her relationship with her mother was, she said that it was weird. She felt some days were okay and in some days, she felt her mother hated her. According to her, her mother was hard to get along. Her mother would get affected easily with small things. She used to receive silent treatment from her mother, and one time it went on for two weeks. What was surprising is that her mother never gave her siblings any such silent treatment. However, she felt it was normal as her mother also gave her father silent treatment. At the same time, she felt her mother loved her siblings more than her. This self‐actualisation shaped her adaptive behaviour towards becoming an understanding person as well as a person who does not express when in discontent with problems in life. Such classic conditioning shaped Participant A to learn behaviour by observing her parents and based of childhood experiences, which have formed a lifelong learning pattern (Bandura & Walters, 1963).

Literature review found that child abuse victims have the fear of harm or reprisal arising from their maltreatment, including neglect or emotional abuse (Davidson & Bifulco, 2018). Children seek love and its deprivation is associated with the reason for abuse where they are schooled to keep the abuse secret and adults ignore the signs thereby normalising the abuse. Participant A was also maltreated by her mother especially. She was under a constant fear and pressure and would give up things because her mother asked her or would not go to places as her mother did not approve. The biggest thing she did because of her mother was she wore her hijab and is still wearing since the age of 12 when her mother asked her to wear it. This is relevant with her nature as she said she is a ‘yes woman’ and she feels guilty is she says no. This became norm in her life to suffer the maltreatment in silence without being loved. Hence, she was scared that she would upset her mother. She said her auntie also has the same opinion about her that she would always do the things she did not want to but would make others happy. She wore the hijab despite knowing that it would change her friend circle, be bullied or struggle for people and her school to accept it. Participant A’s decision about wearing hijab brought changes in her dynamics with her younger sister. She would do everything her mother expected out of her whether it affected her relationship wither her older sister or the people in the neighbourhood questioning her about her decision to wear the hijab. Even though wearing hijab was considered embarrassing in the Bengali culture, she still wore it to please her mother. When asked about her relationship with her older sister, she said that her sister was not the bigger sister she needed. She relied on herself and now, even when her sister told her to express herself more, she said that she does not know how to. The way her mother made her keep secret her good grades with her siblings may have some relevance her. Thus, even though when she wanted to when she was younger, she grew up dealing with issues on her own. This means she dealt with issues by keeping quiet and complying with what was expected of her. This affected her relationships, one for 6 years and one for 2 years. Her boyfriends had problems with her being closed off and never expressing her feelings or thoughts. In her second relationship she said she was always listening to him about his life and did not tell him anything about her life. She said her boyfriends knew that she cared more about other people than herself. Participant A felt her second boyfriend did not notice what she went through. Here also, her experience reflects on the literature findings that child abuse victim seek love and refer to love to make sense and to elaborate on the incidents, and the outcomes of disclosing the incidents. Participant A sought attention from her second boyfriend to be encouraged to share her feelings and experience. Her boyfriends knew she keeps things to herself and never attempted to know her, which made her silence the norm in the relationship. This is also the reason why when her mother showed disinterest in her life and never gave her any paternal advice, she stopped herself from expressing herself. An added reason for this seems to be that her mother cared more about her older sister than her. She said that her mother supported the person, who is her older sister in this case, who needed her the most while she was independent and never sought advice or support from her mother. The lack of support and encouragement is a form of maltreatment and it seems to have affected her ability to express herself. Thus, when asked who in the family would she approach for help, she could not tell one. She said she has difficulty expressing herself. She feels people failed her and so, she does not approach anyone, but are open to listening others, like her brother and her younger sisters. She likes helping people. This experience shows that she helps her siblings as she understands what it feels when one does not get support from the close family members. While it comes to her, because of her inability to express herself and her mother’s lack of support for her, this seems to be the reason why she does not think about her hardships in life or she finds her own solutions. When asked whether anybody notices her hardships, she replied that she does not express herself and so people do not notice the hardships. She always tries to be happy, talking and laughing with people. When she is not, people notice that, but she ensures they are not concerned about it.

The experience Participant A has gone through is aligned with the findings of literature where maltreatment, depriving children of love, imposing responsibility, and the norm of keeping secret and being silent all have developed a family culture where the victim ends up not trusting anyone with her feelings making them deal with their hardships on their own. Participant A’s way of dealing with problems has been to ignore the problem by mostly keeping quiet. Thus, when asked about her experience of being abuse, she did not tell anyone about the first time the teacher at the mosque abused her. Hiding such abuse is not heroism as a victim faces multiple barriers to disclose abuse (Davidson & Bifulco, 2018). As seen earlier, literature review also shows that victims are subjugated to cultural factor (Reder, 1993, p. 132). Such becomes a norm, which a victim finds it difficult to fight (Lyon, et al., 2003, p. 152) Thus, even though she was scared and uncomfortable, she did not feel it was wrong. The problem of her mother not listening to her or caring about her feeling seems to make her to not tell her about the incident. So, after she told her older sister about it, she first denied about the incident happened when her mother asked her about it. She was scared that her mother would blame her. When later she told her, her mother did not say anything. However, her father met the teacher and he shouted at the teacher. The fear of doing something wrong and the sense of guilt that Participant A has developed over the years due to her parents, especially her mother’s, behaviour towards her seem to have made her feel guilty about the incident. When asked about how she felt after the teacher came to her house and told her how she was twisted and she ruined his career and betrayed him, she felt guilty and upset for him. She wanted him to not think she was a bad person for telling on him. She apologised to him and she told him it was a mistake not to be repeated. That instant, the teacher made her sit her on his lap and started abusing her. She did not react as she felt that since she betrayed him she was obliged to do that for him and not to upset him. The sense of guilt and that she should not upset anyone seems to have come from her experience with her father when she would do things, for example her Arabic lessons, which would get his approval. This may be the reason why when the teacher continued and increased the abuse and telling her how sad he and his family were, she felt bad even though she felt uncomfortable. The cognitive process Participant A went through learning behavioural pattern from her mother in regard to her expected behaviour towards her siblings is a classical conditioning and social learning experiences. Even when she was abused by the teacher, she still had the sense of responsibility for the sentiments of the teacher. Her experience at home to keep silent and accommodate everyone’s feeling had affected her when it comes to her abuse. She could not disclose it to anyone as she did not have anyone to trust with her feeling. As literature review also found that victims find the perpetrator protective who they cannot betray as victims feel the perpetrators are giving them attention, and victims will lose them if they are betrayed (Waterhouse, 1996, p. 65). This builds the abuse and the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator become a norm (Hinds, 2017, p. 96). According to Participant A, there seems to be a cultural taboo to speak about sexual abuse. Culturally made norms are difficult to deviate from and hence, child victims remain about the abuse (Reder, 1993, p. 132). Thus, when asked why the parents let the teacher continued teaching her and her siblings, she said that “it’s not a topic in the Bengali community to talk about as it is embarrassing and instead of receiving sympathy, we would receive abuse from people, and they will say things like I led him.” This is what literature review found about the fear and reprisal of disclosing abuses, which leads to cases of hidden abuses. She felt that since the teacher was allowed to continue, the teacher must have thought it was not wrong. She might be right about the perception she has about the community. This is because, when an incident involving another girl came out and the teacher was involved, the girl along with 7 other girls came out and reported the abuse to the police, the families of the girls received abuses from the community. The community was not ready to doubt that a pious man could do such acts. This fear prevented her and her family to report the incident. When the teacher denied all the allegation, Participant A felt upset as she realised that the teacher was using her. Eventually, the teacher was sentenced to imprisonment. The way a community think about a religious man in regard to criminal offences, such as abuse in this case, is a pattern that social studies must identify as a cause for hidden child abuse and foster this trend as a relevant pattern (Lamanna & Durkheim, 2001, p. 136). This serves as a reference point for social workers who should consider community norms in relevance to a sensitive topic such as child abuse. Literature review, including Pears and Calpaldi (2001), Salter and others (2003), Kwong (2003), Murphy and Rasmussen (2020) and Sikes and Hays (2010), has found the impact of child abuse on adulthood experience as including drug and substance abuse, trauma, depression and other health and mental disorder. Also, the victim can become an abuser in adulthood and also the victim may be involved in violence in intimate relationship and other relationship problem. However, in regard to Participant A, she seems to have developed a resilience in dealing with her problem. The only problem with her is difficulty in expressing herself and not trusting anybody with her feelings including her boyfriends. This may have also impacted her forming an interpersonal relationship with other adults, including her boyfriends.

Nakazawa (2016) spoke about “allostatic load’. Participant A seems to have a problem managing this allostatic load because of her childhood experiences that affected her and are impacting her adulthood experience. She cannot tolerate a man in relationship with her talks sexually. She feels the punishment should be grave, either life imprisonment or death penalty, for abuse is a heinous crime affecting the victim the whole life. Sexual abuse incident affects the victim to a great extent. That is the reason she has challenges managing the allostatic load where Participant A feels she is not in control of her life, but the offender has. She still has the fear and the sense of responsibility that talking about the abuse would bring problem in her family. This may be the reason why she blames her parents for not doing anything when she told them about the abuse. She thought her parent also did not know anything about how to handle the situation. She also blames herself as she did not say no to him, and she gave a wrong impression. She blames herself because she feels she is a people pleaser. She thought if only her parents went to the police it would have stopped and they did not, which she thought was because they did not want their reputation to be damaged. This was the cultural restraint she mentioned earlier about the Bengali community. This is also reflected in the study of Reder (1993) and Lyon, Cobely, Petrie and Reid (2003) where children are subjugated to cultural factor, such as in South Asia community, which disallows openly discussing about child abuse issues linking it with reputation of the family and the norm of silence even when children are maltreated. However, when asked whether the culture has change, Participant A felt positive as people have become cautious, have appointed female teachers for girls and male teachers for boys and there are separate classes. The experience of Participant A shows that cultural acceptance and practices occupy a strong position that shape members of a particular community. This may not be taken as a general observation. The reluctance of the parents of the participant to inform the police about the incidents, the appointment of the teacher to come home to teach the participant even after they came to know about the incidents, and the perception of the participant that reporting the incidents would attract abuse from the Bengali community show a mix of external factors (cultural limitations) and internal factors (family’s and participant’s reaction) that contribute to continuance of sexual abuses cases. The most important point is here is how people who know about the abuse, which in Participant A’s case is her parent contributed to the continuous abuse. This is seen in child abuses cases where victims are helpless and bystanders, who see and knows about the abuse are not able to do anything. For elaborating on this particular point, two case studies are referred here. The case studies involve the tragic deaths of Peter Connelly, also known as Baby P, and Victoria Climbie through physical child abuse by their carers. Peter was a 17-month-old toddler, born in London, who had fifty physical injuries from his mother, over an eight-month period before his death with many failed recognitions by hospitals and professionals (Fitzgerald & Kay, 2008, p. 200). Tracey Connelly was Peter’s mother and she suffered detachment from childhood due to trauma caused to her when she was abuse and neglected in her childhood (Ferguson & Norton, 2011, p. 170). Literature review has found this reason that contributed to the cycle of abuse where the victim was abused as a child. Peter’s mother could not handle the allostatic load Nakazawa (2016) and was not resilient enough to handle her life. Peter’s mother’s attachment patterns became disorganised and she could not trust and form any secure attachments (Ferguson & Norton, 2011, p. 170). The trust issue is a standard problem that occurs with victims, which was seen with Participant A and also found in literature review. Even though Peter’s mother was seen as compassionate by social workers, they did not account the impact she suffered from the childhood abuse and the impact on her parenting ability. Her experience influenced the manner she dealt with, manipulated and deceived the workers (Ferguson & Norton, 2011, p. 170). This is a clear case of lack of reference points to handle the impact of child abuse in adulthood experiences. Literature review suggests that if only a reference point was available to social workers, they could have manager her problem. Hence, the disorganised attachment made her hostile, unpredictable, less reciprocal, less engaging and less synchrony. Peter’s mother felt inadequate, rage and helpless as a parent. The workers internalised her characteristics of rage and disgust towards herself and Peter (Ferguson & Norton, 2011, p. 170). This is an example of the social learning theory where Peter’s mother observed learning and social behaviour when she was a child and abused and imitated the abusive behaviour towards Peter (Duane and Mackey, 2015, p. 89). As such, without good supervision or help to identify the pattern, the workers became neglectful bystanders to Peter’s suffering and did not proactively stop the suffering (Ferguson & Norton, 2011, p. 170). The lack of a reference system to identify and disclose the incidence occurred with Participant A’s parents, who could not stop the abuse. However, in Peter’s case, the social workers became disgusted and detached from Peter as they internalised the mother’s rage and disgust (Ferguson & Norton, 2011, p. 170). This is a failure to foster the trend or pattern of effect of a child abuse case, which can also be seen as a consequence of the lack of reference point to address effect of child abuse in adulthood experience. However, not all blame could be place of deficiency on social service system. Responsibilities fall on the social service workers or the law enforcement agencies when they had the chance to stop abuses of children. This is especially regarding the case of Victoria Climbie, who was tortured by her great-aunt and her boyfriend and later died at the age of eight of hypothermia (Fitzgerald and Kay, 2008, p. 221). This case is ranked one of the most tragic child abuse case (Gibson, 2009, p. 198). She was murdered in London in 2000. She had over 100 injury marks on her body. The aunt and the partner were sentenced to life imprisonment (Gibson, 2009, p. 198). The case showed failure on the part of the social workers, health visitors, the police and the National Health Service staff to read the signs and missed an opportunity to save Victoria (Gibson, 2009, p. 198). This case led to the changes in child protection policies in the United Kingdom (Fitzgerald and Kay, 2008, p. 234).

Reflection and Conclusion

This research has taken the researcher to an extremely sensitive and emotional state of being. Every sentences and points made and mentioned in the literature found are no less than the unspoken words and feelings of the victim of abuse. The findings and discussion have thrown up some clarity on understanding the issue of child abuse and its permanent effect on a victim. There is a complex layer of personal, interpersonal and social aspects to child abuse incidents and the effect that they have on the society at large. The very fact that there are a large number of hidden or unreported child abuse cases and most importance hidden cases even when the child victim has reach adulthood reflects the kind of society, we are living in. The very fact that despite knowing the current social position, we cannot address the issue on priority. We form the society, and we live in the society. Society needs development of human as a human and a social being. We have forgotten this and other priorities of our personal lives (survival in a society) or political and economic progress take centre-stage. In respect of the research, even if it may be incorrect as a methodology, if I conduct this research again, firstly, I would have discussed the case studies with the literature review in the literature review section. This would have given me an in-depth understanding of the issue of child abuse. The reason why I say this is I found the perpetrator of the crime, the first perpetrator; the family of a victim as the second perpetrator as bystanders; and the community as the third perpetrator because of the negative culture that contributes to hidden cases of child abuse and preventing disclosure at adulthood. Secondly, I would have focus on the area of available social service system in regard to its handling cases of hidden abuse and detecting adults who were child abuse victims. I would focus on whether the system has any mechanism that encourage proactive identification of abuse; or why child abuse case cannot be discussed on a mass public scale just as we do for a disease that is a public health issue. This will surely create a platform enabling the abused tor the family to disclose cases. This research has found myself in a position to understand social theories, which, I believe, has all the answers to any social issue. The recognition of a pattern involving a social problem is facilitated through such social theories, for example the social learning theory helped me understand the child abuse problem better. This is a sense of a personal learning gain out of this research. The findings and discussion are a reflection of this gain. The most interesting part of how applying the social theories mentioned in this research enabled me to bring together major elements of this complex case of child abuse and its experience in adulthood. This in turn has triggered in me further areas of research. For example, it will be worth researching of why adults who are child abuse victims cannot disclose the abuse incidents and take action in their adulthood. I have a slight sense that the elements of family value, reputation, and community pressure or norms may be behind this inability. It may either be a lack of a social platform, as mentioned above, which encourages the community to treat child abuse or any kind of abuses as a disease that needs to be prevented collectively. Another area of further research would be on the theory of ‘attachment disorganised”, which, I feel, would make me understand: i) how a child abuse incident could be in a cycle because the victim cannot put up a resilience to fight the impact of the abuse; and ii) intervention mechanism to save the victim from further suffering in adulthood. In continuance to the above points, this research finds itself in a weak point, which is reflected in a detailed discussion of reference points available to the social services system, the victim, the family and the community at large. Tackling this area might have enable a further discussion of a model of a reference point or a government sponsored platform, which encourages these stakeholders to address child abuse or its impact on adulthood as a social. Identifying the reference points might enable more adult, who were victims, to share their experiences educating the community at large ah how serious the issue is.

This research has provided me an opportunity to understand the most unexpected finding. The social principle of disorganised attachment and managing allostatic load. The first principle helped understand why Participant A or any victim loses trust and intimacy with another human being. The second principle helped understand who can pulled themselves out from the impact of child abuse incidents from the issue of depression, substance dependence, and such other mental and physical problems. Child abuse can take many forms, be it emotional or physical abuse or sexual abuse causing severe maltreatment. As a social being, it is not just survival but upliftment of society and social value that are important. One way of doing this is to prevent abuses, which could be protecting a child or a person from abuse and ensuring the perpetrator is brought justice. The society must be sensible collectively to reduce the multiple barriers in order to enable disclosure of abuse. A community’s cultural must be progressive and must not act as a barrier against preservation of the values of the humans in the community. This must be the extreme focus on reputation of the family or the community and not in a form that allows the community to act as a bystander. Child abuse is a serious issue. The existing social service system, and the community value at large cannot label it with other less severe kind of community cultural practices of hitting children by their parents or elders in the house. This cannot be normal, which was seen in Participant A’s community where ‘smacking’ children was part of the Bengali culture. The sense of passing responsibility upon children in regard to the family and community cannot always be the norm. This research has found this as one main reason for hidden child abuse cases. The lack of proper reference point also adds to the continuing problem of child abuse. A child, even after knowing that the abuse is not right, does not have any direction to seek help. Over this disability of the social system, the fear of harm or reprisals has caused the continuing norm of child abuse. This affects a child’s life to their adulthood with severe detachment and compelled secrecy that hinder them from finding trust and intimacy when they are adults. Any signs of abuse, in whichever form, must be understood, made the public aware of such signs, and must be addressed. This demands a socially accepted norm of disclosure and prevention actions in regard to abuse cases. This may also reduce the cases of bystanders contributing to the issue. Society has to act collectively with shared responsibility towards a problem, such as child abuse, which is a social concern.

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