Highlighting the imperative of investing in children and young people's safety

ANROWS is in the process of synthesising findings and recommendations from an extensive body of commissioned research focusing on the experiences of children and young people in the context of domestic, family and sexual violence.

This synthesis, due to be released early in 2024, marks the culmination of ANROWS’s Core Research Program, which prioritised multiple projects centred around children and young people under the Australian National Research Agenda 2020-2022.

The evidence unequivocally points to the crucial need for investment in the safety and healing of children and young people. Gender-based violence harms children and young people:

• Children who have experienced domestic and family violence are almost five times more likely to access a mental health service by age 18 compared to children living in a safe home.
• Children who have experienced domestic and family violence face a higher risk of mental health issues and are twice as likely to have substance use disorders.
• There’s a six-year gap between domestic and family violence intervention and a child receiving mental health services. (Orr, et al., 2022)

Children and young people who experience DFSV not only bear the burden of significant health impacts, they are also at a greater risk of experiencing or perpetrating violence into their adult lives:

• A shocking 89% of young people using violence at home reported experiencing child abuse. (Fitzgibbon, et al., 2022)
• Women who experienced sexual violence in childhood are twice as likely to report recent sexual violence. (Townsend, et al., 2022)
• In youth justice, 59% of boys with a history of sexual violence experienced domestic and family violence. (Ogilivie, et al., 2022)

Children and young people’s attitudes towards gender-based violence develop early and the gendered differences are significant (Cahill, et. al., 2023). There is far stronger rejection of violence against women and gender inequality among young women young men in Australia (Coumarelos, et al., 2023).

 

NCAS 2021: Findings for young Australians (2023)

See 2021 National Community Attitudes towards Violence against Women Survey (NCAS), Findings for young Australians

 

Investment decisions should be guided by insights from the research. Promising responses include:

• Collaboration: Promote enhanced communication across various sectors.
• Child-centred services: Prioritise children within adult-centered services, allocating resources for specialists catering to children.
• Knowledge enhancement: Boost sector-wide knowledge on the mental health needs of children, including very young children.
• Family therapeutic support: Expand access to comprehensive whole-family therapeutic supports.

If you’re interested in delving deeper into our initiatives concerning children and young people or eagerly await our forthcoming synthesis of research findings, keep an eye out for future newsletters announcing our publications.

 

 

 

References

Cahill, H., Lusher, D., Farrelly, A., Calleja, N., Wang, P., & Hassani, A. (2023). A social network analysis and implementation study of an intervention designed to advance social and emotional learning and respectful relationships in secondary schools (Research report, 07/2023). ANROWS.

Coumarelos, C., Roberts, N., Weeks, N., & Rasmussen, V. (2023). Attitudes matter: The 2021 National Community Attitudes towards Violence against Women Survey (NCAS), Findings for young Australians (Research report, 08/2023). ANROWS.

Fitz-Gibbon, K., Meyer, S., Maher, J., & Roberts, S. (2022). Adolescent family violence in Australia: A national study of prevalence, history of childhood victimisation and impact (Research report, 15/2022). ANROWS.

Ogilvie, J., Thomsen, L., Barton, J., Harris, D. A., Rynne, J., & O’Leary, P. (2022). Adverse childhood experiences among youth who offend: Examining exposure to domestic and family violence for male youth who perpetrate sexual harm and violence (Research report, 13/2022). ANROWS.

Orr, C., Sims, S., Fisher, C., O’Donnell, M., Preen, D., Glauert, R., Milroy, H., & Garwood, S. (2022). Investigating the mental health of children exposed to domestic and family violence through the use of linked police and health records (Research report, 10/2022). ANROWS.

Townsend, N., Loxton, D., Egan, N., Barnes, I., Byrnes, E., & Forder, P. (2022). A life course approach to determining the prevalence and impact of sexual violence in Australia: Findings from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (Research report, 14/2022). ANROWS.