Abstract
Violence related Australian statistics reveal a higher prevalence of violence among indigenous Australians than non-indigenous Australians. Using the latest National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (2014/2015) available from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, this study investigates the socio-economic and demographic factors that influence the likelihood of physical violence among indigenous Australians and the effects of physical violence on life satisfaction, with a special focus on gender differences in such effects. The results indicate that while gender is an important determinant of violence victimisation, homelessness, alcohol and substance consumption, a victim of the stolen generation and remote living increase the likelihood of physical violence victimisation. Our results also reveal that, while physical violence negatively affects the life satisfaction of both women and men, exposure to physical violence reduces the life satisfaction of indigenous women more than indigenous men.
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Notes
None of the interaction between any other variable and gender dummy other than the interaction between violence and gender dummy was statistically significant.
For more details, please refer to The National Council to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children (2009). Domestic Violence Laws in Australia. Canberra, Commonwealth of Australia.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the team in Customised and Microdata Delivery, Australian Bureau of Statistics for providing access to NATSISS data. We are also grateful to the participants at the Australian Gender Economics Workshop, 2019 in Melbourne for their constructive comments and suggestions. The authors gratefully acknowledge the funds provided by Griffith Asia Institute to undertake this research project. The authors also wish to thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.
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Jayasinghe, M., Selvanathan, E.A. & Selvanathan, S. Are Effects of Violence on Life Satisfaction Gendered? A Case Study of Indigenous Australians. J Happiness Stud 22, 71–94 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-020-00219-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-020-00219-7