Children with a history of significant neglect and/or physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse are at higher risk for developing long-term emotional, behavioral, and mental health concerns, which have implications past childhood and into adulthood. Early trauma impacts individuals health in ways that reach far past the obvious and immediate damage. It correlates with higher incidences of various mental health disorders, it can alter brain structures, and it can make individuals more susceptible to a variety of diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disorders, fibromyalgia, and...

This title includes a number of Open Access chapters.

Research into the effects of child abuse has experienced an explosion over the last few decades, resulting in a far more wide-ranging understanding of this grave societal problem. This compendium volume collects some of the most recent research and organizes it within three categories: societal effects, effects on health (including mental health) behaviors, and epigenetic effects. Specific topics include the associations between childhood abuse and the following factors:

• Juvenile sexual...

Child trauma and violence is not an issue that is constrained to one nationality or one ethnicity. A staggering number of children around the world are subjected to violence and abuse, both domestic and political. The current volume examines the issue of developmental trauma from a variety of viewpoints, including sociological, epidemiological, genetic, and psychiatric. The chapters contained within are broken into the following sections:

• Child neglect and violence from an international perspective
• The effects of war and armed conflict on children s health and...