A new study led by researchers from the University of Western Australia (UWA) has found that children exposed to domestic and family violence (DFV) are at a much greater risk of mental health issues such as anxiety and depression than children with no experience of violence, and are also five times more likely to require help from a mental health service by the age of 18.
It was also found that, on average, there was a six-year delay between health or police intervention and the child receiving mental health assistance, leading researchers to stress the critical need for early intervention in order to reduce the risk of poor mental health in adulthood.
