The prevalence and impact of child maltreatment in Australia: Findings from the Australian Child Maltreatment Study: Brief Report

The Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS) is a landmark study for our nation. The ACMS research team has generated the first nationally representative data on the prevalence of each of the five types of child maltreatment in Australia, and their associated health impacts through life.

We also identified information about the context of maltreatment experiences, including how old children are when it occurs, and who inflicts it. This knowledge about which children are most at risk of which types of abuse and neglect, at which ages, and by whom, is needed to develop evidencebased population approaches required to reduce child maltreatment in Australia. The concerning prevalence of maltreatment and its devastating associated outcomes present an urgent imperative for nation-building reform to better protect Australian children and reduce associated costs to individuals, families, communities and broader society. The ACMS collected data from 8500 randomly selected Australians aged 16-65 years and older. We included an oversample of 3500 young people 16-24 years of aged to generate particularly strong data about child maltreatment in contemporary Australian society, to assess its associated impacts in adolescence and early adulthood, and to allow future prevalence studies to detect reductions in prevalence rates over time. Our participants aged 25 and over enabled us to understand prevalence trends at different times in Australian history, and to measure associated health outcomes through life.

Participants provided information on childhood experiences of each of the five types of child abuse and neglect, and other childhood adversities, mental health disorders, health risk behaviours, health services utilisation, and more. Our findings provide the first nationally representative data on the prevalence of child maltreatment in Australia. Moreover, the ACMS is the first national study globally to examine maltreatment experiences and associated health and social outcomes of all five forms of child maltreatment. Taken together, our findings provide a deep understanding of the prevalence, context and impact of child abuse and neglect in Australia and make an important contribution to the international field. This brief report presents the main findings from the ACMS for a general public audience. These main findings are further detailed in seven peer-reviewed scholarly articles, published in a special edition of the Medical Journal of Australia, Australia’s leading medical journal. Forthcoming work will examine other important questions about the impacts of specific maltreatment experiences to generate additional evidence to inform governments and stakeholders about optimal prevention policy and practice.

There is cause for hope. In recent years, there have been reductions in physical abuse, and in some types of sexual abuse. These reductions are extremely important. They mean that fewer children are suffering, and they indicate that change is possible. Policies and programs to reduce these types of maltreatment are having an effect. Yet, there are other concerning trends, with some types of maltreatment becoming even more common, including emotional abuse, some types of sexual abuse, and exposure to domestic violence. And new types of sexual victimisation are also emerging. As a society, we have much work to do. We know that child maltreatment can be reduced if we work together as governments, service sectors, and communities. We need to invest more, and invest better. It is a moral, social and economic imperative for Australian governments to develop a coordinated long-term plan for generational reform.

We have found that:
1. Child maltreatment is widespread.
2. Girls experience particularly high rates of sexual abuse and emotional abuse.
3. Child maltreatment is a major problem affecting today’s Australian children and youth – it is not just something that happened in the past.
4. Child maltreatment is associated with severe mental health problems and behavioural harms, both in childhood and adulthood.
5. Child maltreatment is associated with severe health risk behaviours, both in childhood and adulthood.
6. Emotional abuse is particularly harmful, and is much more damaging than society has understood.