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The Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS), a national survey of the prevalence of child maltreatment and its correlates: methodology

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Haslam, Divna M, Lawrence, David M, Mathews, Ben, Higgins, Daryl J, Hunt, Anna, Scott, James G, Dunne, Michael P, Erskine, Holly E +5 more·2023·Medical Journal of Australia
DOI 10.5694/mja2.51869PMC PMC10953333
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Abstract

Objectives: To describe the aims, design, methodology, and respondent sample representativeness of the Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS). Design, setting: Cross‐sectional, retrospective survey; computer‐assisted mobile telephone interviewing using random digit dialling (computer‐generated), Australia, 9 April – 11 October 2021. Participants: People aged 16 years or more. The target sample size was 8500 respondents: 3500 people aged 16–24 years and 1000 respondents each from five further age groups (25–34, 35–44, 45–54, 55–64, 65 years or more). Main outcome measures: Primary outcomes: Emotional abuse, neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, exposure to domestic violence during childhood, assessed with the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire‐R2 Adapted Version (Australian Child Maltreatment Study). Secondary outcomes: selected mental disorder diagnoses (Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, MINI), selected physical health conditions, health risk behaviours, health service use. Results: The demographic characteristics of the ACMS sample were similar to those of the Australian population in 2016 with respect to gender, Indigenous status, region and remoteness category of residence, and marital status, but larger proportions of participants were born in Australia, lived in areas of higher socio‐economic status, had tertiary qualifications, and had income greater than $1250 per week. Population weights were derived to adjust for these differences. Associations between the number of calls required to recruit participants and maltreatment rates and health outcomes were not statistically significant. Conclusions: The ACMS provides the first reliable estimates of the prevalence of each type of child maltreatment in Australia. These estimates, and those of associated mental health and health risk behaviours reported in this supplement can inform policy and practice initiatives for reducing the prevalence of child maltreatment and its consequences. Our benchmark study also provides baseline data for repeated waves of the ACMS that will assess the effectiveness of these initiatives.

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  • Extensive analyses to detect potential bias in the sample found no evidence of sample bias.

    “Extensive analyses to detect potential bias in the sample were conducted and no evidence of sample bias was found (Haslam et al., 2023).”

    From Child sexual abuse by different classes and types of perpetrator: Prevalence and trends from an Australian national survey (2024) · cites this paper as Haslam et al., 2023

    The Discussion reports checks for potential response bias: the sample was generally representative on major characteristics, and the number of recruitment calls was not significantly associated with maltreatment rates or health outcomes. But it also says that little can be known about nonparticipants, while the Results (Population representativeness of the respondent sample) identify demographic differences. The unqualified conclusion that there was no evidence of sample bias overstates these findings. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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  • Survey data were weighted by age group, sex, Indigenous status, country of birth, educational attainment, and SEIFA quintiles to ensure the sample was representative of the population.

    “To ensure the sample was representative of the population, survey data were weighted by age group, sex, Indigenous status, country of birth, educational attainment, and Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas SEIFA Index of Relative Socio-economic Advantage and Disadvantage quintiles”

    From Child sexual abuse by different classes and types of perpetrator: Prevalence and trends from an Australian national survey (2024) · cites this paper as Haslam et al., 2023

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Research works printed but not linked: 26

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Authors
Haslam, D. M., Lawrence, D. M., Mathews, B., Higgins, D. J., Hunt, A., Scott, J. G., Dunne, M. P., Erskine, H. E., Thomas, H. J., Finkelhor, D., Pacella, R., Meinck, F., & Malacova, E.
Affiliations
  • Queensland University of Technology (AU)
  • Curtin University (AU)
  • Johns Hopkins University (US)
  • Australian Catholic University (AU)
  • The University of Queensland (AU)
  • QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute (AU)
  • Crimes against Children Research Center University of New Hampshire Durham NH United States of America
  • University of Greenwich (GB)
  • University of the Witwatersrand (ZA)
Corresponding author
Haslam, Divna M
ORCID
Venue
Medical Journal of Australia
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2023-04-02
Volume
218
Issue
S6
Pages
S5-S12
ISSN
  • 0025-729X (ISSN-L)
  • 1326-5377
DOI
10.5694/mja2.51869
PMC
PMC10953333
OpenAlex
W4362508803
Cited by
53
References
3
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 10
FWCI
13.35
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • The Medical Journal of Australia (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Greenwich Academic Literature Archive (University of Greenwich) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Edinburgh Research Explorer (University of Edinburgh) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Greater South Information System
Funders
  • National Health and Medical Research Council (APP1158750)
  • Australian Institute of Criminology
  • European Research Council
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Survey Methodology and Nonresponse
  • Social Sciences › Health › Intimate Partner and Family Violence
Keywords
child abuse, prevalence, emotional abuse, neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, domestic violence exposure, mental illness, health risk behaviors, health care utilization, sample representativeness, population weights
MeSH terms
Australia, Child, Child Abuse, Cross-Sectional Studies, Humans, Retrospective Studies, Prevalence

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