New research has found a link between childhood abuse and maltreatment and mental health conditions, with high rates of suicide attempts and self-harm.
The University of Sydney study found that maltreatment such as physical, sexual, or emotional abuse, emotional or physical neglect and domestic violence before the age of 18, is the leading risk factor and cause of lifelong mental health conditions.
Maltreatment and abuse are accountable for 41 percent of suicide attempts, 39 percent of self-harm cases and 21 percent for depression.
Lead researcher Lucinda Grummitt said it has affected many young children into their adulthood.
“We see rates of childhood maltreatment everywhere,” Dr Grummitt told AAP.
More than 1.8 million cases of depressive, anxiety, and substance use disorders could have been prevented if childhood maltreatment was eradicated. Dr Grummitt says these patterns are consistent, with many cases being a result of generational trauma.
“We certainly know that parents do parent their children in the way that they were parented when they were children,” she said.
“We learn how to parent our children from how our parents treated us.”
Researchers who conducted the study examined three cross-sectioned national surveys. This included the Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS) 2023, the National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing 2020-2022, and the Australian Burden of Disease Study 2023.
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