Diverse genders, childhood maltreatment and mental health concerns

What's the issue?

Maltreatment during childhood has a strong relationship with mental health concerns in later in life. Young people who identify with diverse genders or sexualities are particularly vulnerable to experiencing maltreatment.

Much of the existing research fails to capture representative data due to its reliance on binary classifications in data collection methods. This limitation hampers the ability to comprehensively understand childhood maltreatment within diverse gender and sexuality spectrums.

Research in Australia and internationally have highlighted that people with diverse gender or sexuality identities often face elevated risks of experiencing sexual violence compared to the general population. Additionally, they are disproportionately affected by various adversities throughout their lives, including heightened risks of mental health disorders homelessness and other health-related challenges.^1,2

However, there is limited research available investigating whether those with diverse identities in Australia experience child maltreatment differently from cisgender or heterosexual individuals.³

The present study aimed to fill this gap by examiningthe relationships between diverse genders and sexual identities and five types of childhood maltreatment in Australia using data from the Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS).

What was done?

Researchers used data from the ACMS to explore the following questions:

1. Estimate the prevalence of people with diverse gender identities in the population in Australia, and by age cohort.
2. Estimate the prevalence of people with diverse sexuality identities in the population in Australia, and by age cohort and diverse genders; and
3. Measure the associations between gender/sexuality identities and child maltreatment (and to determine if these are influenced by socio-economic status) by estimating the prevalence of child maltreatment and multi-type child maltreatment in Australians with diverse gender identities and diverse sexuality identities.

Data for the ACMS was collected from interviews administered via computer assisted telephone interviewing.

The study included 8503 participants, which included an over-representation of young people aged 16–24 years of age (referred to as the ‘youth cohort’) as well as 1000 participants from each 10-year age group until the age of 65 years and older (i.e. 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64). These were grouped into a ‘middle-aged cohort’ (25-44 years) and an older cohort (aged 45+). The study participants were also coded by socioeconomic status based on postcode.

The study sample was tested for representativeness against Australian Census data and national health data and adjusted accordingly.

As part of the ACMS, researchers asked study participants to describe their gender and sexuality in their own words. Participants were also asked about their experience of maltreatment in five areas:

• physical abuse
• sexual abuse
• emotional abuse
• neglect, and
• exposure to domestic violence.

What was found?

Some key findings included:

• The prevalence of physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect and exposure to domestic violence was high for those with diverse sexuality and/or gender identities.
• Maltreatment was most prevalent for participants in the youth cohort with diverse gender identities (90.5% experiencing some form of child maltreatment; 77% multi-type maltreatment) or diverse sexualities (85.3% reporting any child maltreatment; 64.3% multi-type maltreatment).
• The prevalence of child maltreatment experienced by women was significantly higher than men for emotional abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse.
• There were no significant differences between men and women for physical abuse and exposure to domestic violence.
• Individuals with diverse sexualities were significantly more likely to experience maltreatment, and significantly more likely to experience multi-type maltreatment (2+ or 3+ types) than heterosexuals.
  51.9% of participants with diverse genders experienced sexual abuse, compared to 37.3% of women and 18.8% of men.
• Researchers found that those aged 14–15 years who identified as sexuality and gender diverse had significantly higher exposure to multi-type (and severe multi-type) maltreatment.

Why are the findings important?

Given that child maltreatment significantly contributes to poor health outcomes, risky health behaviours and mental health concerns in adulthood, it is crucial to understand the underlying mechanisms of maltreatment and implement targeted prevention strategies for disproportionately affected population groups, such as gender and sexually diverse youth.

There remains a lack of clarity regarding the reasons behind the higher reported rates of childhood maltreatment among gender and sexuality diverse individuals. Being gender or sexually diverse may make children and young people vulnerable to victimisation by parents, caregivers, other family members, peers, or staff in educational and youth services.

The researchers advocate for the development of strategies aimed at preventing or reducing each form of child maltreatment, taking into consideration gender and sexuality diversities. Furthermore, they encourage further research exploring the relationship between gender and sexual diversity, childhood maltreatment, and adverse health and social outcomes across the lifespan.