To examine the impact of domestic and family violence on parenting and child development, this research analysed data from Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), Australia’s leading source of data on children’s development and wellbeing. LSAC collects data every two years on ‘inter-parental conflict’: mothers’ experiences of conflict with their domestic partner. This fact sheet reports on a range of measures of mothers’ health and parenting and childrens’ development.

These statistics suggest that inter-parental conflict is related to poorer health and wellbeing for mothers and children. Though, the pattern of differences between those who experienced conflict at some time, compared to those who had experienced persistent conflict, indicates that escape from conflict may lead to a recovery in at least some aspects of maternal and child functioning.