Provide a 8 pages analysis while answering the following question: Risk Factors of Child Abuse. Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide. An abstract is required. In order to understand the full impact of child abuse, it is first necessary to consider the definition of the term ‘child abuse’. ‘The Journal of Child Abuse and Neglect, defines child abuse as “any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation, an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm.” (What is child abuse and neglect: How is child abuse and neglect defined in federal law? 2008, para.3). It is now necessary to consider the research question or hypothesis.

There are distinct possibilities that children of abused parents may be at the receiving end of repressed anger and frustrations caused by their abuse in their younger days. There are possibilities that they would carry this well into their adult and family life, often targeting their own children as innocent and naïve victims of child abuse, including sexual abuse. It is true that abused children are more likely to repeat the cycle as adults, unconsciously repeating what they experienced as children.

This factor is often termed as the “life cycle” of abuse. One end of the spectrum is that of many abusive parents who were themselves abused as children and have learned to see hurtful behavior while growing up. “A son, who is repeatedly either verbally or physically abused by his father, will predictably treat his own children in the same way. When a daughter hears her mother frequently tear down, belittle, and criticize her father, she will adapt a learned behavior which involves control through verbal abuse.” (Cycle of abuse: What is the cycle of abuse, 2010, para.2).

At the other end of the life cycle, some adults who enforce violence on their old and aged parents are just seeking revenge for the abuses that have been inflicted on them by&nbsp.these parents during their early years.