Abuse can be defined as “to treat wrongfully or harmfully”. There are different categories of abuse that have been recognized and within our case study there appear to be two distinct forms of abuse, family abuse and child abuse. These can be subdivided into terms of physical abuse and psychological abuse. Physical abuse is the intentional physical injury or harm or deliberately not preventing harm occurring. The minimum physical signs seen in our study of James are bruises but they might feel more painful to his heart than the more serious invisible injuries. Emotional abuse is the continual failure to meet basic emotional needs. Emotional development is prevented and well-being harmed. The emotional signs in our case study can be seen in James by his actions of being withdrawn and non-communicative. The behavioural sign to abuse taking place to James is his aggressive behaviour.
The short term effect of physical abuse on James is physical pain. In the long term, injuries that often happen can result in secondary illness and complications, permanent scars or even disabilities. His emotional effects in the short term are a fear of people, withdrawal, and poor relationship with others. The long term emotional effects could be low self-respect, depression, inability to form relationships.
Abuse can arise for many reasons and there are a number of theoretical views which may be useful in clarifying why the abuse has taken place. The female view believes that sex and family roles give approval to a culture of abuse. Considering the historical and fixed ideas, men have power and control. In James’ case he lives in a re-constructed family with the father being rude and a heavy drinker. From a psychological angle, alcohol misuse can bring mental health problems which may increase aggression in the person and so James is more at risk from abuse by his stepfather. The relationship between the mother and James involves a dependency of James on his mother. With other problems in James’ mother’s life, this leads to increasing stress and the inability of his mother to cope with and manage a family with four children borne by two mothers. The attachment theory states that significant separations of a child from the carer in the early years can have an effect on their emotional development and can lead to psychological and social difficulties in later life. The loss of both his father and his half sister’s father with whom he lives may have contributed to his behaviour.
Abusive behaviour can sometimes be the result of mental health problems, brain damage or being abused themselves. By becoming the abuser they believe they are taking control; some even believe that they are not doing anything wrong and cannot stop themselves. When working with individuals who have abused, it is important to be aware that they may go on to abuse again and there is a need to protect the community from the abuser.
Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined word “bruises” in Paragraph 1?

A．Slight injury

B．Deep Cut

C．Body disability

D．Inner wound

According to the writer’s case study, which of the following cases can be defined as abuse?

A．A father scolds his son because he doesn’t pass the exam in school.

B．A car knocks down a woman but the driver doesn’t take her to hospital.

C．A father never talks to his daughter and shows no interest in what she does.

D．A husband is angry with his wife when she stays out late into the night.

From the passage we can infer that ______________.

A．James’ step father doesn’t show any concern for his mother

B．James’ mother gave birth to a girl in the re-constructed family

C．James’ stepfather is rude to all the children in the family

D．James’ mother loves her husband more than her own son

Which of the following can best serve as the title of the passage?

A．Categories of Abuse	B．How to Prevent Abuse
C．Abuse and Its Causes	D．Effects Caused by Abuse

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