Parental neglect: causes, types and consequences

When we think of abuse, physical violence always comes to mind, but there are much more subtle ways of exercising it, sometimes even unconsciously.

It is the case of parental negligence. We are going to discover what this concept consists of and what variants can be observed.

• Related article: "The 7 types of emotional attachment (and psychological effects)"

What is parental neglect

Parental or child neglect is a form of mistreatment by parents (or guardians) towards their children due to a lack of care in their basic needs, or poor management of them. To be considered as such, it must occur continuously over time. In other words, we could not speak of parental neglect when there is an isolated episode, unless it is of considerable gravity.

Our society has made great strides in eradicating violence in the education of children, but there is still much to do with regard to neglect parental, which would represent one of the greatest problems of lack of protection in childhood, and it is that there is great ignorance of the scope that their consequences.

Children are absolutely dependent on their caregivers, and they have a series of needs at various levels, both physiological, psychological and social, and they have to be covered in a adequate, always corresponding to each stage of development, making the child develop normally and without any type of lack.

A neglectful parent would be characterized by one or more of these behaviors:

• You are unable to detect your child's needs.
• You consider his own needs to be more important than the child's.
• He is wrong in what he considers to be the true needs of the minor.

Of course, parental neglect it can lead to a series of consequences that can extend even into adult life, so it is not a minor problem, but an issue to tackle to avoid any repercussions that affect this person in the medium or long term and who needs, for example, a deep psychological therapy to resolve. Later we will delve into some of the possible sequels that can be experienced.

Causes of parental neglect

Parental neglect can occur due to a number of very different factors, relative to the parents or guardians of minors. Let's see a classification of them.

1. Addictions

In cases in which the father, mother or both maintain a continuous consumption of toxic substances, either alcohol or drugs, it is a high indicator of a potential case of parental neglect.

This occurs even before the child is born, during pregnancy, since the harmful substances that the mother may consume would pass into the bloodstream and from there to the fetus, and could cause irreversible consequences.

Once born, the lack of care would continue, as their parents were disabled a large part of the time due to their state of intoxication, which would make it impossible to adequately cover the needs of the kid.

2. Mental disorders

On other occasions it may be the case that one of the parents suffers from a psychological pathology that affects their perception of reality, for example through psychotic outbreaks, or that in some way they see their cognitive and emotional capacity diminished.

It would be another cause that would be directly affecting adults in their ability to care for children properly.

3. Lack of parenting skills

Sometimes there is no direct determining factor, but due to various circumstances, even because they themselves were victims of child neglect as children, Certain parents do not have the necessary skills to act as parents in a correct way, ignoring even the most tasks basic.

In these cases, the children would only be provided with care intended for mere survival, without covering any additional need, which are also essential for a complete development.

• You may be interested in: "The 10 consequences of parental abandonment"

4. Very large families

In families at risk of exclusion that also have a large number of children, there may be cases of parental neglect, since Older children are sometimes required to do adult tasks in relation to caring for their younger siblings, which obviously should be the responsibility of an adult person.

In this way, older children suffer parental neglect by not seeing themselves treated as children but as adults, and younger children would suffer it when seeing their needs are only partially covered, since logically the care provided by the siblings is not the same as the care provided by the parents.

5. Lack of resources

In line with the previous point, there are family units where economic resources are very limited and sometimes the social protection offered by the State is not enough to cover their needs, so that adults do not have the capacity to meet the obligations they have towards their children.

Types of parental neglect

The problem of parental neglect is varied, and we can classify it according to the dimension in which the lack of coverage of needs is framed. This would be a classification proposal.

1. Physical negligence

In this category would enter all behaviors that are in some way preventing or harming the child's proper physical development, and the range of options is very wide, starting with the child's diet, which must be sufficient and appropriate for her age and specific needs.

It would also be not to provide the child with suitable clothing for each season, so that he is protected from heat and cold or inclement weather. Likewise, not protecting him from the sun in summer with elements that cover his head from the sun, protective cream, etc.

Likewise, everything related to hygiene and proper health control, taking care to heal her scratches and wounds, and promptly attending the corresponding pediatric appointments for vaccinations, check-ups or any medical incident that needs to be resolved. In fact, it is in the medical context, in addition to the school, where most cases of parental neglect are detected, when doctors find clear indicators that the child is not being well cared for and bring it to the attention of the competent authorities, such as their duty of him.

Of course, any other lack of protection measure in each corresponding context, for example the lack of a chair special and / or seat belt when traveling in the car, would constitute a clear cause of parental negligence of the type physical.

2. Psychological neglect

The psychological needs of the child must be properly cared for. A form of negligence in this regard would be not adequately stimulating her cognitive abilities through games and activities indicated for her evolutionary stage, or even ignore her.

Similarly, depriving him of a correct socialization with her peers (playing with other children) would also be preventing the optimal development of his identity and her psychological functions.

3. Educational neglect

Obviously also It would be a clear negligence not to provide the minor with a formal education, moreover being this compulsory by law and also free, so it would also be a crime.

Education is one of the primary rights of the child, and its benefits are invaluable: acquisition of skills and knowledge, psychological development, learning of skills interpersonal, etc. If we deprive the child of all this, we will be greatly hindering their development and subsequent transition to adult life.

Consequences

We already know the different causes and the possible types of parental neglect that we can find, but just as important are the consequences that this phenomenon can unleash in the child, as we anticipated at the beginning.

The consequences can range from physical problems, either due to a poor diet, due to ailments not attended... to a lack of development due to a lack of stimuli and education appropriate for their age. But let's delve into the psychological consequences that continued parental neglect can unleash.

Attachment

Attachment is the emotional bond that is established between the child and the adult during parenting. It can be of the following types:

• Safe: the baby is able to explore the environment by feeling protected by the support figure.
• Anxious: it is difficult for them to move away from the support figure, so the exploration is very limited.
• Avoidant: they do not have a good bond with the support figure, so they can move away from it.
• Disorganized: combines the previous two, behaving erratically and changeable.

Logically, secure attachment is optimal and to which all parenting guidelines should address, but in situations of parental neglect other types are likely to develop, especially avoidant and disorganized.

The possible consequences that an insecure attachment can have on the child when he becomes an adult are many and varied. He may have trouble regulating his emotions, experience difficulties with social activities, become emotionally dependent of someone in an unhealthy way, have a negative view of oneself (low self-esteem and self-concept), suffer from behavioral problems, and plus.

This does not mean that the children of parents who exercise parental negligence are condemned to a life marked by these events and to suffer from psychological disorders, since not all develop them and in the case of doing so they can always perform attachment repair therapies, which work in a very satisfactory, but obviously it is preferable to eliminate the problem before it is generated, since we have already seen the scope of the consequences and their maintenance in the time.

Bibliographic references:

• Pérez-Muga, O. (2007). Neglect: discrimination and lack of protection of children. Psychology without borders.
• Marvin, R., Cooper, G., Hoffman, K. (2002). The Circle of Security project: Attachment-based intervention with caregiver-pre-school child dyads. Attachment & human Development. Taylor & Francis.
• Peña, M.F. (2017). Secure attachment and infant development in vulnerable populations. Advances in psychology. I unified.