Society for Research in Child Development2014-09-092014-09-092014Society for Research in Child Development (2014). How abuse and neglect affect children's minds and bodies.http://www.srcd.org/sites/default/files/documents/washington/spr_brief_2014_06_03_childmaltreatment.pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11212/1702More than 676,000 children in the United States are abused and neglected annually, and 1,500 die as a result. Maltreatment harms children’s mental health and academic achievement, and increases their risk for chronic diseases of aging. In addition to the human costs, the estimated costs of this maltreatment—billions of dollars annually—have raised calls for better understanding of how maltreatment harms children and more effective approaches to prevention and treatment. New studies on the neurobiological science of maltreatment show that child abuse and neglect alter children’s biological systems, including brain development.en-USchild abuseneglectpolicypsychological effectsphysical effectsneurobiologyArticle