CANBERRA, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Australians who were abused as children are more likely to be victimized as adults, statistics revealed.
According to data from the 2016 Personal Safety Survey (PSS) released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Monday, 71 percent of people who experienced childhood abuse were subjected to violence as an adult.
By comparison, only 33 percent of those who did not experience childhood abuse were the victims of violence in adulthood.
There are 2.5 million Australian adults who experienced abuse in their childhood -- 1.1 million who experienced physical abuse, 913,100 who experienced sexual abuse and 500,000 who experienced both.
"The survey found that people who experienced childhood abuse also reported worse outcomes, as adults, in other aspects of their lives," ABS Director of the National Center for Crime and Justice Statistics William Milne said in a media release.
"For instance, they were more likely to have lower levels of educational attainment, to experience financial stress, and to rate their health as poor, compared to those who did not experience childhood abuse."
The 2016 survey marked the first time that it was used to analyze the socio-demographic characteristics of victims of childhood abuse and the connection between being abused in childhood and subjected to violence as an adult.
