Introduction

Approximately 80% of child abuse victims report experiencing psychological distress and depression spurned by childhood maltreatment (Kothapalli et al., 2023). Child abuse affects children globally, it is estimated that one billion children aged 2-17 years have been abused in the past year (World Health Organization, 2022). Survivors of childhood sexual abuse are at high risk of developing disorganized attachment style.

I chose to write this piece as part of a final paper in my SOC 122 class to be able to showcase that apart from the direct victim of gender based violence, there are often other individuals such as children who also become indirect casualties of these situations. My hopes in writing and sharing this is to raise awareness of domestic violence and showcase the impact it has on children, their development and success of future relationships.

This paper, Unraveling the Social Influences Behind Youth Violence in the United States: Strategies to Effectively Combat the Issue, was written in 2023 as the final assignment for SPH 198: Study in Community & International Health — Ethics and the Contemporary Health Sciences. The project required selecting a contemporary ethical problem in the health sciences, analyzing its complexities, and identifying potential solutions.

The ability to regulate emotions is a necessary skill to maintain one’s psychological well-being, but psychosis may interfere with this ability, as it is associated with abnormalities in emotion regulation (Ludwig et al., 2020). Psychosis consists of various symptoms that arise from experiencing a disconnection from reality (National Institute of Mental Health, 2023). The major symptoms of psychosis include, but are not limited to, delusions, hallucinations, and disordered thoughts and speech.

This literature review holds deep significance for me as a survivor of anorexia nervosa. By the time I received my diagnosis in 2016, I was already entrenched in a relentless cycle of restriction, self-judgment, and unattainable goals. I believed that losing weight would bring a sense of control and fulfillment, yet any intake of food felt like a failure. While anorexia nervosa perpetuated my dissatisfaction and distorted my self-worth, its impact ultimately shaped my path toward recovery and resilience. 

I am a UC Davis student majoring in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, and have been an editor for this journal for three years now. I am passionate about neuroscience and psychology. Most particularly, studying the cognitive and physiological aspects of how memory develops. I wrote this article to highlight the neural mechanisms behind working memory and learn more about the specific neural activity that shapes how we encode and retrieve memory. 

I joined Language Learning Lab at the Center for Mind and Brain and worked with Dr. Katharine Graf Estes as a research assistant from Spring 2023 to Spring 2024. Through this experience, I learned how to recruit participants for studies, study empirical papers critically, and build a solid foundation to understand the various projects that the Language Learning Lab is currently undertaking. I was recommended to apply for the Provost’s Undergraduate Fellowship and pursue a capstone project for my final year of undergrad.