CNN
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More than one in three Australians reported using intimate partner violence in their first study of this type showing an increase in gender-based abuse despite years of national attention on the issue.
The study was part of a longitudinal study called Ten to Men by the Australian Family Institute, which began in 2013, and now involves around 24,000 boys and men. Intimate partner violence is defined as emotional, physical, or sexual abuse.
The study found that the number of men using partner violence has risen over the past decade. The previous survey was conducted between 2013 and 2014, with about one in four (24%) of men committed intimate partner violence. That figure rose to a third (35%).
This amounts to around 120,000 men using intimate partner violence for the first time each year, pointing to a worrying trend in the country that has long worked on how to combat gender-based violence.
In 2022, the Australian government launched a 10-year national plan to end violence against women and children with most priorities to advance gender equality.
However, 100 women have been killed in Australia, according to counting the dead since January last year. Recent protests have called for governments to do more to end gender-based violence.
“The fact that one in three studies using intimate partner violence should shake up all Australians” is violence against women, said Tarang Chawla, co-founder of Noth More Niki.
Chaura’s site Nikita was killed by her former partner in 2015.
“She was one of the women these numbers spoke,” Chawla said. “We know this is a crisis, but now we have data to support what the victims’ servicers, their families and supporters have been saying for years. This is extensive and it’s preventable.”
Emotional abuse is the most common form of intimate partner violence reported in the study of 10 men, with 32% of men reporting that they “fear or anxious” their intimate partner from 21% between 2013 and 2014.
And about 9% of men reported that they had an intimate partner, “hit, slapped, kicked, or physically hurt.”
Men with moderate or severe depressive symptoms were 62% more likely to use intimate partner violence by 2022 compared to those who did not suffer from these symptoms, while men with suicidal ideation, planning, or attempts were 47% times more likely.
The Ten To Men findings not only highlight the scope of the issue, but also provide important lessons for policymakers who are looking to tackle the issue, said Clinical Epidemiologist and Program Lead Sean Martin.
While much of the existing research on intimate partner violence in Australia has properly focused on survivors and their stories, this study adopts a new approach by studying perpetrators to better understand how to prevent violence.
This is the first Australian study to examine how affection in childhood father-son relationships is related to later use of intimate partner violence.
The study found that men with a higher level of social support from 2013 to 2014 were 26% less likely to start using intimate partner violence by 2022 compared to men with less support.
Men with strong father-son relationships are also less likely to become violent. Men who strongly agreed to receiving affection from their father or father figure in childhood were 48% less likely to use intimate partner violence compared to men who strongly opposed them.
These findings provide strong support for initiatives to support the mental health of Australian men, as well as community support and programmes for young fathers, Martin said.
Susan Heward Bell, a professor at the University of Sydney, said the study demonstrated the importance of fathers modeling respect, emotional intelligence, empathy and compassion for women.
“For a very long time, much of its emotional, social and nurturing work has been viewed as a woman’s responsibility within the family.”
Heward-Belle, who was not involved in the Ten To Men Study, said it was important to explore further how emotion of qualifications and anger develops.
“I also know that there are men who have no doubt good relationships with both their parents and commit domestic and domestic violence.”
