The paper critically analyzes key points from various sources used to inform the study on emotional abuse among male college populations. Exposure to emotional abuse adversely affects male college students profoundly, leading to mental and physical health disorders. Depending on the degree of exposure, these male students may be exposed to acute danger.
Articles’ Review
Brown et al. (2018) examine the “association between emotional abuse and neglect and dimensions of alexithymia.” The aspects of child maltreatment, such as rejection, belittling, or blaming, culminate into harmful tendencies that affect the child’s emotional development. This has a direct correlation with the increase of alexithymia among children. A study involving 500 participants, among which 49.6 percent were male – found that emotional abuse was a significant cause of externally oriented thinking and difficulties in describing feelings (Brown et al., 2018). First, emotional abuse is a significant cause of difficulties in children’s capacity to describe their feelings as they grow up. This presents hardships when males get to college as a result of years of emotional abuse. Second, sex plays an integral role in the development of the difficulties of identifying and expressing feelings following emotional maltreatment. Thus, male college students are bound to suffer immensely due to emotional abuse reaching a point where they cannot be able to express their feelings.
Motley and Banks (2018) conducts a systematic review on existing literature and evidence from relevant studies to determine the level of mental health services for 18 years and above survivors of Black male trauma. First, the exposure to trauma creates the manifestation of emotional abuse that is directly or through witnessing victimization among the Black males. Second, 56-74 percent of the Black males that have the experience of being exposed to traumatic events suffer profound emotional abuse leading to unmet need for mental health services (Motley & Banks, 2018). Third, trauma and mental health services have a direct impact on the emotional state of the Black men populations. Finally, the traumatic experiences that characterize “severe emotional abuse originate from the exposure to sexual violence, threatened or actual death, or serious injuries” (Motley & Banks, 2018). Thus, with over 41 million emergency department visits associated with traumatic experiences, there are 2.3 million hospital admissions and 192,000 deaths in the United States. Hence, severe levels of emotional abuse and traumatic experiences pose a serious threat to affected persons.
Sheats et al. (2018) find a common trend of violence-related disparities that the Black Youths and Young adults experience in the United States. The levels of violence may vary from one group to another. First, the risk of physically harmful practices of violence such as aggravated assaults, fights with severe injuries, and homicides cause profound emotional abuse. The exposure to bullying victimization and occurrences of having to miss schools due to the fear and concern of the safety of the child induces extensive emotional abuse. Second, Black adults, especially males, are at higher risk of adverse childhood experiences than white counterparts (Sheats et al., 2018). Third, the prolonged years of exposure to violence and emotional maltreatment can culminate in severe levels of mental distress, drinking problems, and potential smoking instances.
Vidourek (2016) examines the impacts of emotional abuse among college students as a significant cause of physical and mental health problems. First, in a survey involving 777 students, “more than one in every ten students (10.7%) has been emotionally abused in the past year” (Vidourek, 2016). Second, with the high number of college students being emotionally abused – it is fundamental to raise awareness on the state of emotional abuse on college campuses. Third, creating awareness is paramount to reducing the potential adverse implications that students can suffer immensely. The evaluation of male and female students’ reactions to emotional abuse shows a regression model for female college students. Therefore, additional studies are crucial to understanding the disparities between male and female college students’ reactions to emotional abuse and how it affects the physical and mental health.
Zaller et al. (2017) evaluate the extent of alcohol and cocaine use among African Americans and Latino in six U.S. cities. The population focuses on men who have sex with men (MSM), comprising approximately 2 percent of the U.S. population as a large number of individuals at the college level. First, the prevalence of diseases such as HIV influences the emotional state among the MSM population. The HIV prevalence rates indicate that “1 in 11 white MSM, 1 in 2 African American MSM, and 1 in 4 Latino MSM are diagnosed with HIV in their lifetime” (Zaller et al. 2017). Second, this leads to a mental health problem that affects the emotional state of men. College students suffering from the disease undergo emotional problems leading to abuse as part of the male population affected by the challenge of HIV. Thus, increase the frequency of substance use.
