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June 5, 2025 15 mins

More than one in three men report using intimate partner violence – any behaviour in an intimate relationship that causes physical, sexual or psychological harm – according to a Government-backed study into men's mental health and wellbeing, paternal relationships, demographics, social support, and life satisfaction. Launched in 2013, 'Ten to Men' is the largest longitudinal study on male health globally, with a total cohort of 24,000 men involved today.  Its program lead, Dr Sean Martin from the Australian Institute of Family Studies joins us is today's deep dive to talk about the latest Ten to Men findings.

You can read more about the report here.

Lifeline: 13 11 14
1800 RESPECT: 1800 737 732

Guest: Dr Sean Martin, Program Lead for Ten to Men
Hosts: Emma Gillespie and Lucy Tassell
Producer: Elliot Lawry

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Justa heads up. Today's episode contains distressing themes, including intimate
partner violence and suicide. Listener discretion is advised.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Already and this this is the Daily ARS.

Speaker 1 (00:12):
This is the Daily ohs oh, now it makes sense.
Good morning, and welcome to the Daily ODS. It's Friday,
the sixth of June. I'm Emma Gillespie, I'm Lucy Tassel.
More than one in three men report using intimate partner violence,

(00:34):
which is any behavior in an intimate relationship that causes physical, sexual,
or psychological harm, while an estimated one hundred and twenty
thousand men nationally each year start to use it for
the first time. That's according to a government backed study
known as ten to Men, a research initiative that measures
mental health and wellbeing, paternal relationships, demographics, social support and

(00:59):
life satisfaction.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Launched in twenty thirteen, Ten to Men is the largest
longitudinal study on male health globally, with a total cohort
of twenty four thousand men involved.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
Today.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Its program lead doctor Sean Martin from the Australian Institute
of Family Studies says these findings provide a set of
risk factors to help support the development of effective policies
and programs for young men.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
Sean is a clinical epidemiologist with over twenty years experience
in men's health related research, and he joins us now
to talk about these findings. Doctor Sean Martin, Welcome to
the podcast.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
We are talking, of course today about the data from
the Ten to Men report this week, a really comprehensive
study into the use of intimate partner violence among Australian men.
But before we get into the findings, I'd be really
interested to hear your involvement in the study, how the
data was collected. What do we need to know about

(02:00):
this report?

Speaker 4 (02:01):
Sure, well, I'm the program lead for the study, have
been for the past three years or so, but I've
been involved in men's health really for over twenty years now,
so I have some familiarity with both the content and
the field in general. But in terms of ten to Men,
it's really the largest longitudinal study of male health in

(02:23):
the world at this point. In terms of this specific report,
what we did was when the guys were recruited back
in twenty thirteen and fourteen, we asked them, as we
always do, a series of measures. One of them was
around intimate partner violence, and at that point, around one
in four men reported having ever used any form of

(02:46):
intimate partner violence. And so this report demonstrates that when
we last assess these guys back in twenty twenty two,
that estimate had increased to over one in three thirty
five percent. Our study, by design is meant to represent
the broader Australian population that they're drawn from. So when

(03:07):
we took the estimates from this report and applied it
to the Australian population that it quates to around about
one hundred and twenty thousand men per year using these
types of behavior for the first time.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yeah, I think it's a pretty startling number for a
lot of people who might not be as familiar with
this space and the prevalence of intimate partner violence. But
of course that term represents a whole range of different
forms of violence. What are we talking about when we're
talking about intimate partner abuse? What can you tell us

(03:42):
about these different forms and what the study found about
their prevalence.

Speaker 4 (03:46):
Sure, so we used a measure called the Coosa measure,
which is one of the only measures that was validated
or tested for use in men at the time back
in twenty thirteen fourteen. There's since mostly been a really
increase in the measures that covers a whole range of
these types of behaviors that are covered under the umbrella

(04:06):
of intimate partner violence. But for us, we're talking specifically
about emotional type violence. So our guys sent a series
of questions around those types of behaviors as well as
physical type violence and sexual type violence. So they collectively
focused around the use of intimate partner violence.

Speaker 3 (04:29):
In the case of this.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
Report, how did the study account for these boys and
men self identifying those behaviors versus a potential kind of
lack of keenness to disclose maybe some more concerning behaviors.
What was the kind of self awareness like in that process.

Speaker 3 (04:50):
Yeah, it's a really important question.

Speaker 4 (04:53):
The first thing we always do is make sure that
we do use these excuse me, validated measures that have
been tested for these sorts of issues.

Speaker 3 (05:00):
So some of those issues.

Speaker 4 (05:02):
Are like the test recall by so whether or not
people consistently report that the same sorts of measures across time.
Another thing we can do as a study is treat
really seriously the privacy and confidentiality of our respondents. None
of our respondents are able to be identified personally. The

(05:23):
information that they provide us is safe, it's secure. They
know that in providing that information they don't put themselves
or their families at risk or at harm, and we
make sure that they know of that and they're confident
around that because we do ask a range of sensitive information,
including intimate partner violence, so we need to be really

(05:45):
consistent in making sure we dedicate some efforts to that area.
And also too, I guess as we go along we
build some trust with our participants, so we're able to
have trust ourselves in the validity of the data.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
We've done a lot.

Speaker 4 (06:01):
Of work in making sure that the information that we
do is extracted is as accurate as possible.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
The study also looks at men's mental health, providing this
longitudinal snapshot of mental health. What were the standout findings
in that topic area. Is there a relationship between poor
mental health and intimate partner violence?

Speaker 4 (06:23):
Yes, there is a very strong one. Actually, it's one
of our strongest predictors. So when we looked again at
our men, those that had clinically significant depressive symptoms were
much more likely to report intimate partner violence later on.
Down the track and again when we looked at suicidality.
So unfortunately, men who might have had suicidal thoughts or

(06:46):
plans or even attempts, they were all sort of significant
risk of later use of intimate partner violence. But we
were also interested in identifying some protective factors, so we
looked particularly at social connectedness. So that's a respondent's sense
of connection to friends, to families, and also their community.

(07:06):
And those men who reported higher levels of social connection
were actually much less likely to use intimate partner violence.
And also, and I think uniquely for our study, we're
Arabi demonstrate that people who report at a very high
level of paternal affection, so we use it again and
other validated measures called the paternal affection score. Those men

(07:26):
that had a high level of paternal affection were at
a much reduced level of risk for using intimate partner
violence in their adult life. In fact, their risk was
almost half.

Speaker 1 (07:36):
So we'll be back with today's deep dive right after this. Yeah,
I was really interested in the findings around men and
their relationships with their fathers and the role that plays
in intimate partner violence. Also the data around well being
and social connection that you've touched on men who were

(08:01):
in the two in three who had not reported intimate
partner violence. What were the key points that differentiated their
outcomes as opposed to the one in three men who
did report intimate partner violence.

Speaker 3 (08:16):
Yeah, look, it's a great question.

Speaker 4 (08:17):
So I mean, first of all, we did some sort
of descriptive analyses, so we looked at some of the
age differences of a range of other what's called priority
population groups, and essentially that there was no differences between
those groups.

Speaker 3 (08:31):
The sort of tie brows equally amongst.

Speaker 4 (08:34):
All of those groups, if you like, So not too
many differences there.

Speaker 3 (08:38):
The differences were really sort of concentrated on those.

Speaker 4 (08:41):
Risk factors that have just spoken about, so around mental health,
around paternal affection, and around social connections. So yeah, as
I say, these types of studies are relatively new in
terms of using longitudinal analyses to I guess, predict what
factors may prevent these sorts of behaviors. But they're certainly
a couple of key ones we've been able to identify beforehand,

(09:05):
and hopefully they will be able to be used to
inform some targeted prevention strategies to try to, as I say,
minimize the rise of this type of behavior and in
fact try to reduce it's.

Speaker 1 (09:18):
Importantly, were there any trends around inequality? You know, does
a person's kind of demographic socioeconomic status does that play
a role in intimate partner violence or do these findings
suggest that this is an indiscriminate issue.

Speaker 3 (09:34):
Yeah, look, great question.

Speaker 4 (09:36):
In terms of I guess socio economic factors, we're really
keen to take a deep dive look at those into
the future. Decades of research that have identified the key
roles that some of those factors might play, like also
relationship issues like previous abuse people might have suffered, like

(09:56):
alcohol and other drug usage. It's a whole range of issues. Mercifully,
we have a lot of data around that, so we're
very keen to sort of explore that further. And as
I mentioned before and in future ways, we'll be trying
to expand our measures so we can have a comprehensive
view of how these behaviors arise.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
What's the path forward now that we have this research.
What will it mean in terms of supporting men to
develop healthier relationships in their families with their partners, as
well as encouraging them to seek support to reduce rates
of intimate partner violence. What are the next steps?

Speaker 4 (10:37):
Yeah, Okay, first of all, I've got to acknowledge we
are but one study, and so others will also be
looking at this area and we'll learn from their approaches
as well.

Speaker 3 (10:46):
In terms of what we all do. As I mentioned before, we've.

Speaker 4 (10:49):
Just completed our most recent wave, that is, the data
from that is coming to our fieldwork provider to us,
and so we'll be in a position to start to
look at these sorts of issues by the end of
the year, and we'll do so with our friends and
colleagues within government and outside of government. We'll also be
looking to expand our measures for our next wave and

(11:13):
hopefully future waves to start to really get to understand
some of those issues. But I guess, in terms of
a question around you know, what we do to address
some of these risk factors, like, for instance, mental health,
where there's a lot of conversations at the moment occurring
around mental health and specifically men's mental health.

Speaker 3 (11:31):
I think some of.

Speaker 4 (11:32):
Those some of those support services, those interventions are already
in place, and so I guess to some extent the
jury is still out on the effectiveness of those now
the focus from a research perspective is really focusing on
what works and making sure that people, when they do
recognize these sorts of issues, are able to get support

(11:54):
and able to get appropriate support, and able to get
time and support to reduce intomate partner violence.

Speaker 3 (12:00):
Also to for.

Speaker 4 (12:01):
Social connection where there's a great range of online and
other emerging initiatives that men and young men in particular
can engage with, and likewise for parents. You know, as
a society, obviously we've shifted to a space where men
and young men in particular are often the primary caregivers.

Speaker 3 (12:23):
As a government and also other.

Speaker 4 (12:26):
Errors is often not those levels of support that people
and young men need in that critical period of their life,
and that's also sort of emerging as well, So hopefully
we will start to see the effects of those shortly.

Speaker 1 (12:39):
You've obviously been very deep in the trenches of navigating
this data, compiling these findings, sharing them with the world.
Now the report's been out for a few days. What's
the response been like. Has it surprised you? Have there
been any sort of key findings that people have really
paid attention to that you weren't expecting.

Speaker 4 (13:00):
It's been a great response, really by and large, I
understand the point of view that this data will be
will be confronting to a lot of people. You know, again,
there's not much data like this that's out there. These
are lifetime estimates, so they are naturally higher than say
annual incident data or data that occurs every sort of

(13:22):
a couple of years. But nevertheless they're high in our
reports suggests that they're increasing. So it's a challenge for
us as a sector. It's a challenge for us really
as a community, is how we address those From a
government perspective, They've invested very heavily in the National Plan
to End Violence against Women and Children. My hope and

(13:42):
the hope of others is this is sort of a
high water mark and we will start to see those
rates begin to decline with our data and with others
that are sort of coming online shortly. It's obviously, as
you know, the Prime Minister himself and others have common
in a bit of what it is a national crist
so it's spawned a lot of activity. We're very keen

(14:03):
to continue to learn from others, work collaboratively with others,
and hopefully ultimately our job is to provide evidence that
can provide targeted intervention to try to reduce the levels
that we're seeing out there.

Speaker 3 (14:16):
In the community.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
That's all we've got time for today. Thanks to doctor
Sean Martin for joining us to go through those findings.
If this episode has raised any concerns for you, help
is available via Lifeline on thirteen eleven fourteen. For domestic,
family and sexual violence counseling information and support. Please contact
one eight hundred Respect on one eight hundred seven three

(14:40):
seven seven three to two or head to one eight
hundred respect dot org dot au.

Speaker 1 (14:45):
We will pop some resources in the show notes. There'll
be some links there if you want to learn more
about these support services, and if you'd like to read
the report that we talked through today, we will also
pop that in the episode description.

Speaker 2 (14:57):
We'll be back this evening with the headlines.

Speaker 4 (15:03):
My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda
Bunjelung Calkatin woman from Gadighl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges
that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the
Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and torrest
Rate island and nations.

Speaker 2 (15:17):
We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries,
both past and present,
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