Analysis by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has found that almost a quarter of women have experienced emotional abuse from a partner.
Key Points:
- A new analysis of the 2016 data identified a number of socio-demographic characteristics that were associated with higher rates of abuse.
- Victim-survivors of child abuse are twice as likely to be victims of emotional abuse as adults
- Survivors of emotional abuse are eight times more likely to experience physical violence
A new analysis of data from the ABS Personal Safety Survey, which was carried out in 2016, estimated that 23% of women (2.2 million) and 16% of men (1.4 million) had been emotionally abused by a current or former partner since suffering. 15 years ago
Emotional abuse, also known as coercive control, has been defined as a form of domestic and family violence where abusers intimidate, isolate, and manipulate a victim-survivor to make the victim fearful and dependent on their abuser.
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Child victim-survivors at greater risk of further abuse
According to the analysis, those who were victim-survivors of abuse as children had a much higher risk of emotional abuse as adults.
ABS director of the National Center for Crime and Justice Statistics Will Milne said the new analysis showed single parents, people with intellectual or physical disabilities and those under financial stress were more likely to suffer emotional abuse from the partner.
“Women and men who experienced childhood abuse or witnessed parental violence as children were about twice as likely to experience emotional partner abuse as adults,” Milne said.
“The rate was higher for women who were both physically and sexually abused as children.”
At the time of the survey, 6.1% of women said they had been emotionally abused by their current partner, while 18% said they had been abused by a former partner.
Men were almost equally likely to be abused by a current partner, with 5.2% reporting being emotionally abused by a current partner and 12% by a previous partner.
Survivors of emotional abuse are more likely to experience DV
A new analysis by the Bureau found that survivors of emotional abuse were more than eight times more likely to have experienced domestic violence.
More than half of women, or 58 percent, and just over a quarter of men, or 26 percent, said they were survivors of intimate partner violence and emotional abuse.
Women who experienced emotional abuse were also 16 times more likely to have been survivors of intimate partner sexual violence.