Emotional Disturbances: The Effects of Parental Neglect Types on Children

The aim of this current study will be to focus on a silent epidemic, that because of its often subtle nature goes unnoticed and untreated, yet creates life-changing problems for the children who experience parental emotional neglect. This study will attempt to narrow down which types of neglect are most harmful or most predictive of emotional disturbances. Neglect types that will be looked at are psychological/emotional, physical, and cognitive. Some neglectful behavior may fall into two or three of these categories, and each will be rated in this manner. Participants will be taken from several juvenile centers across the nation with an equal amount of males and females who have previously been diagnosed with emotional disturbances. They will each be interviewed by a highly trained and experienced juvenile psychologist and monitored by a lie-detector during the interview. This study will advance the knowledge of parental neglect on emotional disturbances in children. However, it would be beneficial for further studies to determine the effects of both neglect and abuse as separate and combined factors in emotional disturbances