One in three Australian men report using intimate partner violence, study reveals
More than one in three Australian men reported using intimate partner violence, with social support and strong father-son relationships key to lowering risks, world-first research has revealed.
The longitudinal study from the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) has been tracking more than 16,000 boys and men since 2013, asking them about a range of critical issues including family violence.
When first surveyed, around one in four men aged 18 to 65 reported using intimate partner violence in their lifetime — including physical, emotional and sexual abuse.
By 2022, this number had increased to more than one in three in the same cohort.
Emotional abuse was the most common form of violence reported, with 32 per cent of men in 2022 reporting they had made an intimate partner feel "frightened or anxious" in their lifetime.
Nine per cent reported "hitting, slapping, kicking or otherwise physically hurting" an intimate partner when they were angry on at least one occasion.
The research indicated an estimated 120,000 men nationally were starting to use violence for the first time each year.
The study provides the first national estimate of male intimate partner violence perpetration, and is the largest longitudinal study on male health in the world.
It revealed men with moderate or severe depressive symptoms were 62 per cent more likely to use intimate partner violence by 2022, compared to men without these symptoms.
However, the study also worked to identify "protective" factors.
Men who reported high levels of social support "all of the time" were 26 per cent less likely to report using intimate partner violence.
Meanwhile those who reported close relationships with a father figure had their risk reduced by half.
"They had enough care and concern and a father figure they could confide in who taught them things," program lead Sean Martin said.
An additional 10,000 men were added to the study cohort in 2024-25, with the latest wave of data collection expanding to include questions around economic coercion and pornography use.
Dr Martin said the study has recently been funded by the Department of Health for a "sixth wave" of data collection.
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows women are at least three times more likely than men to experience violence from an intimate partner.
Almost 40 per cent of people experience violence by a male perpetrator, compared to 11 per cent by a female perpetrator.
On average, one woman a week is murdered by her current or former partner.
In 2022, the Albanese federal government, along with the states and territories, pledged to end family and domestic violence in one generation.
Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner Micaela Cronin said this latest research would be key in informing next steps.
"It gives us some really good insights into where we should be looking to support men and boys who are struggling," she said.
Dr Martin said a similar longitudinal study was yet to be completed for women who use intimate partner violence.
"That would be something we would like to include [in] future waves is getting an indication of the context in which this partner violence arises," he said.
"Our own data suggests that's an important consideration, and that might include information on current partnerships and previous partnerships as well."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
17 minutes ago
- News.com.au
‘Don't concuss the player!'
AFL: David King believes Suns star Ben King could be in strife for his hit on Giants gun Lachie Whitfield.
Sydney Morning Herald
20 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
US acted alone, Albanese declares while abandoning neutral stance on attack
The US acted alone to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities, Anthony Albanese has declared, as he refused to say whether Australia received advance notice but departed from the government's neutral position to back US President Donald Trump's strikes. The shift was confirmed by Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Monday, a day after an unnamed government spokesperson released a statement that called for peace and remained neutral on the strike. Wong and Albanese declined to say how close Iran was to making a nuclear bomb or whether the joint US-Australia intelligence base at Pine Gap in the Northern Territory was used to garner intelligence for it at a press conference at which they were peppered with questions. 'The world has long agreed that Iran cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon and we support action to prevent that – that is what this is,' Albanese said. 'The US action was directed at specific sites central to Iran's nuclear program. We don't want escalation and a full-scale war. 'We are upfront, but we don't talk about intelligence, obviously, but we have made very clear this was unilateral action taken by the United States,' Albanese repeatedly answered when asked whether Australia had been briefed on the US' decision to strike Iran. Loading British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has confirmed he was briefed just before the strike. Albanese said: 'The UK has been one of the countries that's been at the negotiating table with Iran for many years on its nuclear weapons program'. The government's shift from neutrality to full support emphasises Australia's close alliance with the US, echoing its stance before the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. When Trump confirmed the strikes on the weekend, the Australian government gave a statement that reiterated Iran's missile and ballistic missile programs were dangerous, but was neutral on the US decision to attack them.
Sydney Morning Herald
31 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Albanese doesn't want a bar of Middle East conflict, but that comes at a cost
Anthony Albanese's government looks more distant than ever from the Trump administration following the United States' decision to join Israel in bombing Iranian nuclear facilities. On the face of it, nothing much has changed. Albanese, joined by Penny Wong, announced Australia's support for US strikes on Monday morning because 'the world has long agreed that Iran cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon and we support action to prevent that'. But make no mistake, there are small but subtle shifts under way in the US-Australia relationship now that Donald Trump is back in the White House. The fact he has not met Albanese face to face surely has not helped. Whatever you think about Trump – and a solid majority of Australians don't like him one bit – the US remains our major military and strategic partner. It is (probably) still selling us submarines under the AUKUS deal that the government views as crucial to Australia's self-defence. So it matters when Albanese spoke curtly on Monday to point out three times that the US decision to bomb Iran was unilateral, all but confirming that Australia was not briefed ahead of time by the US. UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, by contrast, got a heads-up. Last week, when Albanese was asked if Australia could send a ship to the Middle East in support of the US, he gave a categorical 'no'. That answer made clear the prime minister's view of Australia's potential entanglement in the fight: he doesn't see a need for it in this age of 'progressive patriotism'. Loading It was strange, then, that Albanese appeared almost annoyed in his press conference that he had been left out of the loop on the US decision to strike even as he confirmed that 'we aren't a central player in this conflict – that's just a fact.' When the prime minister was asked for a third time why the federal government had waited 24 hours before expressing unequivocal support for the US bombing, he bit back, arguing 'we issued a statement' on Sunday within hours of the strikes.
