A new study has found more than half of Australian children experienced abuse during 2022-23, triggering renewed calls for increased awareness and community intervention.
The research, by leading national children’s organisation Act for Kids, found emotional abuse was the most common type of maltreatment (57%) among the 45,400 Australian children confirmed to have experienced abuse during 2022-23.
Emotional abuse is defined as a pattern of behaviours that damage a child’s sense of self-worth, impacting their emotional development. This can include, but is not limited to, constant yelling, swearing, insulting, criticising, threatening, and calling a child hurtful names or shaming them.
While 87% of Australians agree that emotional abuse is a serious problem in Australia, a staggering 90% underestimate the prevalence of childhood maltreatment.
Experts say the data – which coincides with Child Protection Week 2024 (1-7 September) – highlights “a critical need” to raise awareness about the detrimental impact emotional abuse can have on children and young people.
Worryingly, the data also revealed that in 2024 only half (50%) of Australians said that they would report their concerns about suspected child abuse to authorities.
Additionally, it found one in five Australians (21%) do not recognise that withholding love and affection is a form of emotional abuse, whilst over half (59%) of respondents aged 14-17 years have witnessed emotional abuse at school.
“Emotional abuse occurring in the school environment, particularly as it relates to peer-on-peer abuse, requires a whole school approach to bullying, resolving conflict and building respectful relationships,” Act for Kids CEO, Dr Katrina Lines told The Educator.
“This means it needs to be approached at all levels of school leadership and in partnership with the parent and student community.”
Dr Lines said the school’s strategy needs to include education and supports for teachers, parents and students and factor in online and face-to-face abuse.
“While some schools could opt to bring in a targeted bully program, there are plenty of useful, free and publicly available resources to support children, parents and teachers that can be found online, such as those on Bullying No Way’s website.”