Australia
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Personal Safety, Australia, 2023, ABS cat no. 4906.0 (2023).
This release presents information from the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) 2021-2022 Personal Safety Survey (PSS), which was conducted during the COVID-19 context.
The survey collected detailed information from men and women about their experiences of violence since the age of 18, as well as experiences of current and previous partner violence, stalking, physical and sexual abuse and harassment, abuse before the age of 15, and general feelings of safety.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2024) Family, domestic and sexual violence: Children and young people.
This report usefully compiles and summarises current statistics on family violence, domestic violence and sexual violence regarding young people. It provides links to datasets. Key points include:
Partner violence experienced by young people
The PSS defines a partner as a person the respondent lives with or lived with at some point in a married or de facto relationship.
The latest available estimates of experiences of partner violence among women aged 18-24 are provided by the 2021-22 PSS. Estimates are not available for men aged 18-24 as 2021-22 data are not sufficiently statistically reliable for reporting. The 2016 PSS (which had estimates for both men and women) showed that among people aged 18-24, most partner violence is experienced by women.
Among women aged 18-24, in the two years prior to 2021-22:
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about 22,700* (2.2%*) experienced partner physical and/or sexual violence
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about 29,200* (2.9%*) experienced emotional abuse by a partner
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about 26,100* (2.6%*) experienced economic abuse by a partner (ABS 2023b)
Note that estimates marked with an asterisk (*) should be used with caution as they have a relative standard error between 25% and 50%. For the PSS definitions of physical or sexual violence and emotional abuse.
Growing Up in Australia: the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) is an ongoing national study following the development of 10,000 children and their families from all parts of Australia. The sample was nationally representative of all Australian children at recruitment. The Australian Institute of Family Studies examined intimate partner violence (IPV) victimisation among people aged 18-19 in Australia using data from the LSAC ‘K’ cohort at ‘Wave 8’, which were collected in 2018. The report found that among the 3,000 participants aged 18-19 who completed the ‘Wave 8’ survey, around 3 in 10 (29%) reported at least one experience of IPV in the year before the survey. Specifically:
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1 in 4 (25%) experienced emotional abuse
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1 in 8 (12%) experienced physical violence
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1 in 12 (8%) experienced sexual abuse in the previous year
Women aged 18-19 (11%) were more likely to be victim-survivors of sexual abuse than men of the same age (4%). The rates of emotional abuse and/or physical violence victimisation were similar between young women and men.
The report also identified supportive friendships and high trust and good communication with parents during adolescence as protective factors that reduce the risk of IPV.
Sexual violence experienced by young people
The latest available estimates of sexual violence and sexual harassment among young women aged 18-24 are provided by the 2021-22 PSS, while the latest estimates for men aged 18-24 are provided by the 2016 PSS.
About 1 in 10 (11%, or 113,000) women aged 18-24 experienced sexual assault in the two years prior to 2021-22, more than any other age group.
People aged 18-24 are more likely than other age groups to have experienced sexual violence and sexual harassment (ABS 2017b, 2023h, 2023i).
Based on the latest PSS data (2021-22) on experiences of sexual violence and harassment among women aged 18-24:
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about 126,000 (12%) women aged 18-24 experienced sexual violence in the two years prior to 2021-22, without about 113,000 (11%) women experienced sexual assault (ABS 2023)
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about 356,000 (35%) women aged 18-24 experienced sexual harassment in the 12 months prior to 2021-22 (ABS 2023h)
Based on the latest PSS data (2016) on experiences of sexual violence and harassment among men aged 18-24:
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about 26,400* (2.3%) men aged 18-24 experienced sexual violence in the 12 months prior to 2016 which compares with 65,100 (5.9%) women aged 18-24 during the same period
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about 185,000 (16%) men aged 18-24 experienced sexual harassment in the 12 months prior to 2016, which compares with 421,000 (38%) women aged 18-24 during the same period (ABS 2017b).
Note that estimates marked with an asterisk (*) should be used with caution as they have a relative standard error between 25% and 50%. For the PSS definitions of sexual violence and sexual harassment.
Homicide
According to the ABS 2022 Recorded Crime – Victims Data Collection, among all recorded victims of homicide and related offences (including murder, attempted murder and manslaughter):
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about 3 in 5 (59%, or 37) or those aged under 18 years were the victim of a family member or intimate partner, with a similar number of females and males
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about 1 in 4 (27%, or 12) of those aged 18-24 years were the victim of a family member or intimate partner, with a similar number of females and males
The rate of recorded FDV-related homicide and related offences among:
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victims aged under 18 years decreased from 0.7 to 0.4 per 100,000 from 2014 to 2020, and increased to 0.6 per 100,000 in 2022
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victims aged 18-24 has varied year to year (between 0.1 and 0.8 per 100,000), with 0.5 per 100,000 in 2022
Due to the low numbers of offences, any change year to year can result in large proportional change in the victimisation rate.
Boxall, Hayley and Anthony Morgan, Repeat Domestic and Family Violence among Young People Research Report No 591, February 2020, Australian Institute of Criminology.
This paper adds to what is known about family violence perpetrated by adolescents. It examines short-term reoffending patterns – including timing, prevalence, the peak period for repeat violence, and cumulative rates – as well as predictors of repeat violence, particularly those relating to prior histories of family violence or breaches of orders, given that this information is readily available to frontline responders. The paper draws on incident data from Victoria Police for almost 4,000 young people aged 12-18 involved in domestic or family violence. Approximately one in four of these young people were involved in repeat violence in the six months following an incident, with the risk peaking at around 30 days following an incident in domestic violence cases and at around three to four weeks for family violence cases. Violence was largely perpetrated against intimate partners or parents. The findings show how the violence histories of young people can be helpful for identifying who will be involved in repeat violence in the short term, and who will be involved in multiple violent incidents. Frequency of prior incidents of violence is a better predictor of future short-term reoffending than prevalence of prior violence, but they are both useful indicators of future risk.
Boxall H & Morgan A 2021. Who is most at risk of physical and sexual partner violence and coercive control during the COVID-19 pandemic?. Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice no. 618. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.
Abstract: In this study, data was analysed from a survey of Australian women (n=9,284) to identify women at the highest risk of physical and sexual violence and coercive control during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Logistic regression modelling identified that specific groups of women were more likely than the general population to have experienced physical and sexual violence in the past three months. These were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, women aged 18–24, women with a restrictive health condition, pregnant women and women in financial stress. Similar results were identified for coercive control, and the co-occurrence of both physical/sexual violence and coercive control.
These results show that domestic violence during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic was not evenly distributed across the Australian community, but more likely to occur among particular groups.
Boxall H et al. 2020. Responding to adolescent family violence: Findings from an impact evaluation. Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice no. 601. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.
Abstract: Despite growing recognition of the prevalence of and harms associated with adolescent family violence, our knowledge of how best to respond remains underdeveloped.
This paper describes the findings from the outcome evaluation of the Adolescent Family Violence Program. The results show that the program had a positive impact on young people and their families, leading to improved parenting capacity and parent–adolescent attachment. However, there was mixed evidence of its impact on the prevalence, frequency and severity of violent behaviours.
The evaluation reaffirms the importance of dedicated responses for young people who use family violence, and the potential benefits, and limits, of community-based programs.
Campbell, Elena, Jessica Richter, Jo Howard and Helen Cockburn, The PIPA Project: Positive Interventions for Perpetrators of Adolescent Violence in the Home (AVITH) Research Report No 4, March 2020, ANROWS.
The 2016 Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence found that adolescent family violence was poorly identified and had no considered systemic response. To help address this gap in knowledge, this report investigates the initial legal responses that adolescents and their families receive when they first come to the attention of the legal system. It compares legal and service sector interventions across three jurisdictions at very different stages of legislative, policy and definitional development – Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania – focusing on awareness of adolescent family violence amongst practitioners and whether and how a legal response was provided. It also examines the characteristics of this form of violence and the impact of responses on families, using data from Victoria Legal Aid regarding 905 adolescents involved in either civil protection order matters or protection order breach matters. The study found that, across all three jurisdictions, current legal responses may not be addressing the objective of reducing risk to families and indeed may be deterring families from reporting.
Dragiewicz M., O’Leary P., Ackerman J., Bond C., Foo E., Young A and Reid C. (2020) Children and technology-facilitated abuse in domestic and family violence situations’: Full report, Office of the eSafety Commissioner, Australian Government.
A non-representative national survey in 2019 of 515 professionals who work on family and domestic violence (FDV) cases asked some questions related to experiences of technology-facilitated abuse among children. This found that:
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about one-quarter (27%) of FDV cases the professionals dealt with involved technology-facilitated abuse of children
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common forms of abuse included monitoring and stalking, threats and intimidation and blocking communication
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everyday technologies were used in abuse such as mobile phones, texting and facebook
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many of the children experienced mental health issues (67% of cases), fear (63%) and negative impacts on their relationship with the non-abusive parent (59%)
Indermaur, David, ‘Young Australians and Domestic Violence’ (2001) 196 Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice 1.
This is a foundational article in Australia; many subsequent reports refer to this research. This paper draws on survey data collected from 5,000 Australians aged 12-20 years from all states and territories in Australia. 55.5 per cent of respondents report having been aware of male to female domestic violence occurring at some time. Almost 70 per cent of the young people surveyed had had a boyfriend or girlfriend at some stage and about one in three of these young people (both males and females) reported incidents in their personal relationships that could be defined as “physical violence”’ (p4). The research found that young people growing up in homes where there has been couple violence (both male and female carers perpetrating and being victimised by domestic violence) were more likely to be victims of relationship violence and perpetrators of violence in their intimate relationships. For example they were twice as likely to have been forced to have sex and four times as likely to have admitted forcing their partner to have sex (p4).
Miles H. and Bricknell S. (2024) Homicide in Australia 2022-23 Australian Institute of Criminology
In 2022-23 there were 16 people killed by a parent or parent-equivalent (filicide), with 3 females and 13 males. There were also 16 people killed by their child, with 7 females and 9 males.
Note that these data relate only to the relationship between people and does not indicate age.
O’Donnell K., Rioseco P., Vittiglia A., Rowland B. and Mundy L. (2023) Intimate partner violence among Australian 18-19 year olds (Growing Up in Australia Snapshot Series – Issue 11) Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.
This snapshot uses data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children ‘K’ cohort at ‘Wave 8’ which were collected in 2018. There were 3,037 ‘K’ cohort participants aged 18-19 who completed the ’Wave 8‘ survey (61% of the original eligible ’Wave 1‘/2004 sample and 98% of the ’Wave 7‘/2016 sample).
In the previous year:
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around 3 in 10 adolescents aged 18-19 years reported at least one experience of intimate partner violence
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emotional abuse was experienced by 1 in 4 adolescents aged 18-19 years
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physical violence was experienced by 1 in 8 adolescents aged 18-19 years
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1 in 12 adolescents aged 18-19 experienced sexual abuse in the previous year. Sexual abuse was more prevalent among females aged 18-19 years than males of the same age
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supportive friendships throughout adolescence reduce the risk of later emotional abuse victimisation by 36%
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high trust and good communication with parents during adolescence reduce the risk of later emotional abuse victimisation by 39% and sexual abuse victimisation by 77%
Powell A., Flynn A. and Hindes S (2022) Technology-facilitated abuse: National survey of Australian adults’ experiences, ANROWS Research Report 12/2022
Data on the prevalence of technology-facilitated abuse among young people aged 18-24 are available from a nationally representative survey of about 4,600 adults in 2022. The survey used random probability-based sampling methods and weighting to allow results to be generalised to the Australian population. This survey estimated that among young people aged 18-24 years:
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about 5 in 7 (72%) have experienced technological-facilitated abuse in their lifetime, the highest proportion of any other age group
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young women (74%) are more likely than young men (68%) to have experienced technology-facilitated abuse in their lifetime
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about 2 in 5 (38%) young people have perpetrated technology-facilitated abuse in their lifetime, the second highest proportion of any age group
Wolbers H., Boxall H., Long C. and Gunnoo A. (2022) Sexual harassment, aggression and violence victimisation among mobile dating app and website users in Australia, Australian Institute of Criminology.
While the increased use of mobile dating apps and websites over the past ten years has allowed many people to build relationships, this study suggests that experiences of technology-facilitated sexual violence are common for people who use these online spaces, particularly women and members of LGBTIQA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, asexual people or people otherwise diverse in gender, sex or sexual orientation) communities
International
Dardis, Christina M et al, ‘An Examination of the Factors Related to Dating Violence Perpetration Among Young Men and Women and Associated Theoretical Explanations: A Review of the Literature’ (2015) 16(2) Trauma Violence and Abuse 136.
Although focused on sex differences in the perpetration of dating violence, this paper discusses risk factors for dating violence in the context that while ‘Previous research suggests that although there are some similarities between young adult DV and marital IPV, there are also important differences’ (p139). It gives a thorough overview of the findings of literature in this area, and discusses numerous variables that may contribute to dating violence perpetration among young people such as historical, personal, interpersonal, and contextual variables.
Peacock, Dean and Emily Rothman, ‘Working with Young Men Who Batter: Current Strategies and New Directions’ (Violence Against Women National Online Resource Center, 2001).
This paper provides an overview of teen dating violence and juvenile batterer intervention programmes. The authors note that the profile of the adolescent male perpetrator of dating violence is similar to that of other juvenile offenders in the criminal justice system, with experiences of child abuse and having witnessed domestic violence, substance use, sexist attitudes and peer compliance. The intervention programmes are implemented as alternatives or complements to incarceration, and intend to rehabilitate and re-educate the young person.
Young people’s dating or intimate relationships may involve domestic and family violence in the form of physical violence by both male and female partners .
Results of the Australian Personal Safety Study identified that among women aged 18 — 24, in the 2 years prior to 2021-22:
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about 22,700 (2.2%) experienced physical and/or sexual violence by a partner
•
about 29,200 (2.9%) experienced emotional abuse by a partner
•
about 26,100 (2.6%) experienced economic abuse by a partner
Note the results should be interpreted with caution.
In another study participants aged 18 – 19 who completed the Wave 8 survey, around 3 in 10 (29%) reported at least one experience in IPV in the year before the survey.
Specifically:
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1 in 4 (25%) experienced emotional abuse
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1 in 8 (12%) experienced physical violence
•
1 in 12 (8%) experienced sexual abuse
Women aged 18 – 19 (11%) were more likely to be victim-survivors of sexual abuse than men of the same age (4%). The rates of emotional abuse and/or physical violence victimisation were similar between young women and men.
Young people’s vulnerability to physical violence in dating or intimate relationships may be heightened by strong peer norms that encourage traditional gender roles and relations; inexperience; age difference in relationships; and a lack of access to specialised services for young people experiencing abuse. A US study of adolescent male perpetrators reveals a profile of individuals who have been victims of child abuse or exposed to domestic and family violence, who have experienced substance misuse, or have been influenced by negative attitudes towards women and the pressure to comply with peer norms.
Research also suggests that young people may be less likely to understand the complex aspects of violence and abuse in relationships, or the range or seriousness of the behaviours that it may involve. While reported intergenerational influences are not consistent or definitive, they draw attention to vulnerabilities to perpetration and victimisation in young people who grow up in homes where they are exposed to domestic and family violence.
It is acknowledged by researchers in this context that technology in young people’s lives may facilitate or increase their exposure to sexual abuse and other forms of domestic and family violence. For example, devices such as computers and smart phones may be used by the perpetrator in conjunction with platforms such as social networking sites and text messages to record sexual assaults, to make threats to distribute images or videos of the victim, or to distribute images or videos without the victim’s consent.
Young people’s dating or intimate relationships may involve domestic and family violence in the form of physical violence by both male and female partners .
Results of the Australian Personal Safety Study identified that among women aged 18 — 24, in the 2 years prior to 2021-22:
•
about 22,700 (2.2%) experienced physical and/or sexual violence by a partner
•
about 29,200 (2.9%) experienced emotional abuse by a partner
•
about 26,100 (2.6%) experienced economic abuse by a partner
Note the results should be interpreted with caution.
In another study participants aged 18 – 19 who completed the Wave 8 survey, around 3 in 10 (29%) reported at least one experience in IPV in the year before the survey.
Specifically:
•
1 in 4 (25%) experienced emotional abuse
•
1 in 8 (12%) experienced physical violence
•
1 in 12 (8%) experienced sexual abuse
Women aged 18 – 19 (11%) were more likely to be victim-survivors of sexual abuse than men of the same age (4%). The rates of emotional abuse and/or physical violence victimisation were similar between young women and men.
Young people’s vulnerability to physical violence in dating or intimate relationships may be heightened by strong peer norms that encourage traditional gender roles and relations; inexperience; age difference in relationships; and a lack of access to specialised services for young people experiencing abuse. A US study of adolescent male perpetrators reveals a profile of individuals who have been victims of child abuse or exposed to domestic and family violence, who have experienced substance misuse, or have been influenced by negative attitudes towards women and the pressure to comply with peer norms.
Research also suggests that young people may be less likely to understand the complex aspects of violence and abuse in relationships, or the range or seriousness of the behaviours that it may involve. While reported intergenerational influences are not consistent or definitive, they draw attention to vulnerabilities to perpetration and victimisation in young people who grow up in homes where they are exposed to domestic and family violence.
It is acknowledged by researchers in this context that technology in young people’s lives may facilitate or increase their exposure to sexual abuse and other forms of domestic and family violence. For example, devices such as computers and smart phones may be used by the perpetrator in conjunction with platforms such as social networking sites and text messages to record sexual assaults, to make threats to distribute images or videos of the victim, or to distribute images or videos without the victim’s consent.