ABUSE DUE TO NEGLIGENCE OF ADOLESCENT

Abstract

Adolescence is a time of especially high risk for abuse and neglect, compared to earlier in childhood or subsequently in adulthood. Adolescents who are currently exposed to abuse or neglect or have been earlier in childhood are at risk of developing psychosocial problems that include, but extend well beyond, posttraumatic stress disorder, and that encompass a wide range of psychiatric disorders and behavioral, cognitive, relational, legal, educational, and medical problems. Abuse and neglect require adolescents to adapt biologically and psychosocially in survival‐focused ways that fundamentally undermine their ability to achieve the essential capacities for self‐regulation in adolescence that are the foundation for health across the lifespan. A developmental trauma disorder framework offers a potential unifying conceptual and clinical approach to understanding the adverse impact of abuse and neglect on adolescents.