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Hindi Research Article
Unpacking Forms, Causes and Effects of Abuse on Child Development in Southern Malawi Communities
PhiriInnocent Pangapanga1*, Catherine Charles Thangalimodzi2, Lucy Thangalimodzi Pangapanga31Research Economist & Statistician, National Statistical Office, Box 333, Zomba, Malawi
2Counsellor, Malawi Aids Counseling and Resource Organisation (MACRO), Limbe, Blantyre.
3Development Specialist, Research for Development, P.O. Box 669, Zomba, Malawi
- *Corresponding Author:
- PhiriInnocent Pangapanga
Research Economist & Statistician
National Statistical Office
Box 333, Zomba, Malawi
Tel: 265-999-338-44
Email: Phiriinnocent@gmail.com
Received Date: February 04, 2015; Accepted Date: March 06, 2015; Published Date: March 10, 2015
Citation: Pangapanga P, Thangalimodzi CC, Pangapanga LT (2015) Unpacking Forms, Causes and Effects of Abuse on Child Development in Southern Malawi Communities. J Child Adolesc Behav 3:193. doi: 10.4172/2375-4494.1000193
Copyright: © 2015 Pangapanga P et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
This paper unpacked forms, causes and effects of abuse on child development in Southern Malawi communities. It further examined the role of guidance and counselling in mitigating effects of abuse on child development. A two stage sampling procedure was employed to select a total of 400 individuals from Southern Malawi communities to participate in the study. The study found a number of forms of abuse on child development. Some of these are physical, emotional, negligence, sexual and verbal. It found that these abuse are commonly affected by factors such as lack of or week policy on child abuse, poverty and past abusive experience of the perpetrator. It was noted that abuse on child development have several consequences such as mental illness, post traumatic disorders, behavioural problems, infectious diseases and early marriages. Worrisome, the paper found that victim of abuse may never forget the abusive experience for the rest of their lives. On a positive note, the paper found guidance and counselling as central to mitigating effects of child abuse especially through policy lobbying and providing counselling for mental stability, self-worthiness and esteem. The paper recommends that child programmes should refocus on proactive policies that ensure child care and protection.
