RESEARCH REPORT A socio-ecological exploration of adolescent violence in the home and young people with disability: The perceptions of mothers and practitioners
An emerging body of research into adolescent violence in the home (AVITH) has signalled concerns about the disproportionate rates of young people with disability receiving family violence services and legal responses to violence at home (Campbell et al., 2020). However, research about AVITH has typically collapsed disability into binaries with children labelled as “disabled” or “not disabled”. Existing research often implies disability has a causal link to the use of violence and no attention is paid to the specific behaviours or the social and interactional context in which these behaviours arise.
This project aims to begin filling this evidence gap. The publication signals the project’s second and final report. It shares findings from exploratory qualitative research to generate new knowledge about the intersections between AVITH and young people with disability. The intention is to begin to lay the foundations for sustained and nuanced dialogue about the issues and experiences of young people with disability and AVITH.
The research team ran in-depth semi-structured interviews with mothers who had experienced AVITH and practitioners with direct experience working with young people with disability and AVITH. All participants were from metropolitan and regional areas of Victoria, Australia. Initial plans to speak with young people with disability themselves were reconsidered in response to Covid-19 lockdowns across Victoria. The research team acknowledges that the voices of young people remain missing from this field and will pursue avenues to centre their lived experiences in future research projects.
The study found that current responses to AVITH tend to rely on models designed to address domestic and family violence (DFV). These models often understand the use of violence as an attempt to have power and control over another person. However, this did not always reflect mothers’ experiences. While many mothers and families had prior experiences of DFV and found the impacts of AVITH comparable, they perceived that young people with disability were using violence to control themselves rather than exert control over others.
While mothers noted “pockets of good practice”, the study also identified wide multi-sectoral failures to effectively respond to the needs of children and young people with disability who use violence and their families.
The study is part of a larger body of work funded by ANROWS focused on the experiences and impacts of domestic and family violence (DFV). Other projects include work on the DFV experiences of children with disability, the connections between DFV and mental health issues among children, the connections between adverse childhood experiences (ACES) and sexually harmful behaviours and offences among boys and young men, and strengthening service responses for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and women.
Publication details
This work is part of the ANROWS research reports series. ANROWS research reports are in-depth reports on empirical research produced under ANROWS’s research program.
Authors
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR GEORGINA SUTHERLAND
Deputy Head, Disability and Health Unit, Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne
DR MEDIYA RANGI
Research Fellow, Disability and Health Unit, Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne
DR TANIA KING
ARC DECRA & Dame Kate Campbell Senior Research Fellow, Disability and Health Unit, Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne
PROFESSOR EMERITA GWYNNYTH LLEWELLYN
Disability and Inequity Stream Leader of Centre for Disability Research and Policy, University of Sydney; Co-Director of NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence Disability and Health
PROFESSOR ANNE KAVANAGH
Chair of Disability and Health Unit, Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne; Co-Director of NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence Disability and Health
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR CATHY VAUGHAN
Co-Director of Centre for Health Equity; Head of Gender and Women’s Health Unit; Director of WHO Collaborating Centre for Women’s Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne
ISBN: 978-1-922645-54-8 (print) | 978-1-922645-53-1 (online)
38 pp.
Suggested citation
Sutherland, G., Rangi, M., King, T., Llewellyn, G., Kavanagh, A., & Vaughan, C. (2022). A socio-ecological exploration of adolescent violence in the home and young people with disability: The perceptions of mothers and practitioners (Research report, 19/2022). ANROWS.