The Scale and Nature of Family Violence in New Zealand: A Review and Evaluation of Knowledge

Family violence is a major issue that affects the lives of many New Zealanders and creates significant social and economic costs across the wider society. While there has been a significant volume of research conducted on family violence in New Zealand, there is no single authoritative volume that brings together what is known about levels of family violence in New Zealand in all its various manifestations.

This report examines what is known about the nature and scale of family violence in New Zealand and assesses the quality of the evidence.

Five main types of family violence are examined in the report:

• intimate partner violence
• dating violence
• child abuse and neglect
• elder abuse and neglect
• sibling abuse.

Because of the covert nature of family violence much remains unreported; the report identifies the need for more research into areas such as elder abuse and neglect and violence in same-sex relationships.