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Child abuse is legally defined as the neglect and/or sexual, physical, or emotional mistreatment of children. This cruelty towards impressionable children can often have life-long detrimental affects both on the victims and the society they take part in as a greater whole.

At its worst extreme child abuse can be so severe that it will ultimately result in the child's death. In other cases, children will experience severe injuries. Certain abuse survivors, particularly children abused sexually can also develop lifelong health complications as a result of their traumatic experiences.

In addition, children who have been abused are at a greater risk of developing serious psychological problems. These psychological problems can have an immense impact on the society that these individuals live in.

Normally, children will develop healthy attachment styles to their parents or caregivers throughout their early years. When child abuse takes place during these sensitive formative years, the child's normal development is interrupted. As a result, many child abuse survivors will have unhealthy or nonexistent attachment patterns.

Children with unhealthy or nonexistent attachment styles can exhibit a number of negative symptoms which can greatly affect society. Many of these individuals will grow into adults with anxiety and severe depression. Low self-esteem is another common characteristic of child abuse survivors. A combination of low self-esteem, depression, and other environmental factors can also cause child abuse victims to be at greater risk of developing eating disorders and other personality disorders.

The combination of psychological symptoms experienced by child abuse victims can cause them to have extreme difficulties with relationships. This will usually result in the abuse survivor becoming increasingly withdrawn and isolated from the rest of the world, preventing them from living "normal," healthy lives.

Although it may appear that child abuse survivors struggle with the pain of their experiences in an intensely personal way, alienating themselves from other members of society; child abuse victims can sometimes "act out" through negative behaviors.

As children, child abuse victims will often have difficulty with school, schoolwork, and authority figures at school such as teachers or administrators. They often display extremely aggressive behaviors. These issues with authority often carry on into their adult lives where they have a greater incidence of trouble

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