Youth Attitudes to Domestic and Family Violence: A Scoping Review of Young People’s Attitudes and Perceptions in Australia

Abstract

Domestic and family violence (DFV) has been described as a “national emergency” in Australia, with a suite of policies and interventions introduced over the past decade to better support women and their children. Within these frameworks, young people have been identified as agents of change for primary prevention; however, little is known about their attitudes and knowledge of DFV. This scoping review thus sought to establish the attitudes and knowledge of DFV held by young people (under 25 years old) in Australia. Nine international databases were searched, yielding 11 studies that met the inclusion criteria. The studies were quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods in design, with the findings demonstrating that young Australians have good knowledge about DFV. However, the review also indicates problematic areas around young people’s understanding of the harms of DFV with many continuing to hold victim-blaming attitudes. In addition, much of the existing research is survey-based in nature, there is no strong uniformity across the studies, nor is there an engaged approach to research design. Moreover, the current measures used in research are not sufficient to gauge where young people gain knowledge about DFV, nor do they explain under what conditions attitudes change or what are the medium- and long-term effects of DFV prevention work. We therefore contend that future research ought to be interdisciplinary and intersectional in nature and collaborate with a range of young people in order to understand their full potential as agents of social change and primary prevention.