PERSONAL SAFETY SURVEY

DASHBOARD METADATA

Collection Type Survey

Geographic Coverage National State/Territory (all)

Frequency Every 4 years

Data Availability Detailed publication / report publicly available Data cubes / spreadsheets publicly available Microdata available through Detailed Microdata product and TableBuilder Customised data - Charged consultancy1

[1] May be subject to release conditions

CONTACT DETAILS

Data custodian: Australian Bureau of Statistics
Telephone: 1300 135 070
Email: client.services@abs.gov.au
Web Address: https://www.abs.gov.au

DESCRIPTION

The Personal Safety Survey (PSS) collects information from men and women aged 18 years and over about the nature and extent of violence experienced since the age of 15. It also collects detailed information about men's and women's experiences of:

• Current and previous partner violence and emotional abuse since the age of 15;
• Experiences of stalking since the age of 15;
• Physical and sexual abuse before the age of 15;
• Witnessing violence between a parent and partner before the age of 15;
• Lifetime experience of sexual harassment; and
• General feelings of safety.

The PSS is based on the design of the Women's Safety Survey (WSS) which was conducted in 1996, and has been adapted to include men's experiences of violence. The PSS has been conducted three times in 2005, 2012, and 2016, and will next be run in 2020.

COLLECTION HISTORY

Collection commenced: 2005
Breaks in series: None
Other details: The PSS is based on the design of the 1996 Women's Safety Survey (WSS). Results from the WSS are published in Women's Safety Australia, 1996 (cat. no. 4128.0).

COLLECTION METHODOLOGY

Personal face-to-face interviews are conducted with one randomly selected person aged 18 years or over who was a usual resident of the selected household. Information is collected by specially trained ABS interviewers via Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI – or interviewer conducted interview). The option of a Computer Assisted Self Interview (CASI) for the voluntary component of the survey was introduced in 2016.

SCOPE AND COVERAGE

The scope of the 2016 PSS was persons aged 18 years and over in private dwellings across Australia (excluding very remote areas).

Both urban and rural areas in all states and territories were included in the survey, except for very remote areas of Australia. The following groups were excluded from the scope of the survey:

• visitors at a dwelling whose usual place of residence is Australia;
• overseas visitors intending to stay in Australia for less than 12 months;
• non-Australian diplomats, non-Australia diplomatic staff and non-Australian members of their household;
• members of non-Australian defence forces stationed in Australia and their dependants;
• people who usually reside in non-private dwellings; and
• households where all residents are aged less than 18 years.

DEFINITION OF FAMILY AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

The PSS does not have a distinct definition of family and/or domestic violence. Instead, the survey defines violence as any incident involving the occurrence, attempt or threat of either physical or sexual assault experienced by a person since the age of 15, with violence being broken down into two main categories, physical violence and sexual violence.

Physical violence is defined as the occurrence, attempt or threat of physical assault experienced by a person since the age of 15. There are two components of physical violence:

• Physical assault - any incident that involved the use of physical force with the intent to harm or frighten a person.

• Physical threat: - any attempt to inflict physical harm, or a threat or suggestions of intent to inflict physical harm, which was made face-to-face and which the person believed was able and likely to be carried out.

Additionally, the PSS also collects in-depth information about men's and women's experience of violence by a current and/or previous partner (partner violence). Partner violence refers to any incident of sexual assault, sexual threat, physical assault or physical threat by a current and/or previous partner. The term 'partner' in the PSS is used to describe a person the respondent lives with, or lived with at some point, in a married or de facto relationship.

DEFINITION OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE

The PSS defines sexual violence as the occurrence, attempt or threat of sexual assault experienced by a person since the age of 15. There are two components of sexual violence:

• Sexual assault - an act of a sexual nature carried out against a person's will through the use of physical force, intimidation or coercion, including any attempts to do this. This includes rape, attempted rape, aggravated sexual assault (assault with a weapon), indecent assault, penetration by objects, forced sexual activity that did not end in penetration and attempts to force a person into sexual activity. Incidents so defined would be an offence under state and territory criminal law.

• Sexual threat - the threat of acts of a sexual nature that were made face-to-face where the person believed it was able to and likely to be carried out.

The PSS also collects information about men’s and women’s experiences of selected types of sexual harassment by male and female perpetrators, for both lifetime experiences and the 12 months prior to the survey. Additionally, the survey collected data from men and women aged 18 years and over about their experience of stalking by a male and by a female since the age of 15.

DATA AVAILABILITY AND DISSEMINATION

The main publication and accompanying data tables can be downloaded free of charge from the ABS website.

Microdata are available in the form of TableBuilder and Detailed Microdata products. TableBuilder is an online tool for creating tables from ABS survey data, where variables can be selected for cross-tabulation. The Detailed Microdata product is available through the ABS Data Laboratory. The Microdata Entry Page on the ABS website contains links to microdata related information to assist users to understand and access microdata. Additionally, information about how to apply for microdata is available on the ABS website.

Other data from the survey may be available from the ABS on request. Subject to confidentiality and data quality constraints, special tabulations can be produced incorporating data items, populations and geographic areas selected to meet individual requirements. These are available on request, on a fee-for-service basis. Contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or client.services@abs.gov.au for further information.

PUBLICATIONS

Personal Safety, Australia, 2016 (cat. no. 4906.0)
Personal Safety Survey, Australia: User Guide, 2016 (cat. no. 4906.0.55.003)
Microdata: Personal Safety, Australia, 2016 (cat. no. 4906.0.55.001)

In Focus: Crime and Justice Statistics, Stalking - June 2017 (cat. no. 4524.0)
Experiences of Violence and Personal Safety of People with Disability, 2016 (cat. no. 4431.0.55.003)

HOW THE STATISTICAL COLLECTION INFORMS NATIONAL DATA INITIATIVES

This section provides an overview of if/how the statistical collection informs or aligns with key initiatives relating to family, domestic, and sexual violence statistics. These assessments are not an ABS endorsement or indication of data quality, but are intended to assist readers in determining whether the data will meet their data needs.

Relationship to 'Defining the Data Challenge for Family, Domestic, and Sexual Violence'

The summary table below is designed to indicate whether the data source informs the six statistical elements outlined in Defining the Data Challenge for Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence, 2013 (cat. no. 4529.0).

FDV - Family and domestic violence data
SV - Sexual violence data

STATISTICAL ELEMENTS	DATA AVAILABILITY
Context	FDV & SV
Environmental factors	FDV & SV
Psycho-social factors	FDV & SV
Risk	FDV & SV
Community prevalence	FDV & SV
Community incidence
Incident/Experience	FDV & SV
Characteristics of incident	FDV & SV
Responses	FDV & SV
Formal responses	FDV & SV
Informal responses	FDV & SV
Impacts/Outcomes	FDV & SV
Programs, Research, and Evaluation

Relationship to the 'Foundation for a National Data Collection and Reporting Framework for Family, Domestic, and Sexual Violence'

The three tables below provide an indication of which data items can be informed by the data source. The data items have been conceptually grouped into the key information units - Person, Event, and Transaction - as described in the Foundation for a National Data Collection and Reporting Framework for Family, Domestic, and, Sexual Violence, 2014 (cat. no. 4529.0.00.003).

PERSON

FDV - Family and domestic violence data
SV - Sexual violence data

DATA ITEMS	DATA AVAILABILITY
	Victim/Respondent1	Perpetrator2
Socio-demographic	FDV & SV	FDV & SV
Sex	FDV & SV	FDV & SV
Age	FDV & SV	FDV & SV
Indigenous status
Cultural and linguistic diversity	FDV & SV	FDV & SV
Marital status	FDV & SV
Disability status	FDV & SV
Employment status	FDV & SV	FDV & SV
Educational attainment	FDV & SV	FDV & SV
Socioeconomic status	FDV & SV	FDV & SV
Mental health
Other	FDV & SV feelings of safety; social connectedness

[1] Respondent may or may not have experienced family and domestic violence.
[2] Perpetrator data was only collected if the perpetrator was the respondent's current partner that they lived with (this data was collected regarding a current partner, regardless of whether that partner was a perpetrator or not).

EVENT

FDV - Family and domestic violence data
SV - Sexual violence data

DATA ITEMS	DATA AVAILABILITY
Location	FDV & SV
Home/residential location	FDV & SV
Workplace/place of study	FDV & SV
Public transport	FDV & SV
At a place of entertainment or recreation	FDV & SV
Other public place	FDV & SV
Other	FDV & SV outside; at a motel/serviced apartments etc; in a car/truck/ute etc; other
Relationship	FDV & SV
Current partner/spouse	FDV & SV
Previous partner/spouse	FDV & SV
Boyfriend/girlfriend/date	FDV & SV
Parent	FDV & SV
Child	FDV & SV
Sibling	FDV & SV
Other relative/family member	FDV & SV
Other known person	SV
Stranger	SV
Other	SV friend or housemate; acquaintance or neighbour; employer/manager/supervisor; co-worker; teacher/tutor; client/patient/customer; medical practitioner; priest/minister/rabbi; carer; ex-boyfriend/ex-girlfriend; other known person
Other characteristics	FDV & SV
Weapon use	FDV
Alcohol/other substance involved	FDV & SV
Physical injuries sustained	FDV & SV
Hospitalisation	FDV & SV
Other	FDV & SV behaviours experienced; perception of incident as a crime; changes to routine; whether sought advice or support; whether experienced anxiety or fear; whether took time off work; frequency of violence; whether pregnant; whether violence seen or heard by children; separations from partner

TRANSACTION

FDV - Family and domestic violence data
SV - Sexual violence data

DATA ITEMS	DATA AVAILABILITY
Detection and prosecution	FDV & SV
Police	FDV & SV
Courts	FDV & SV
Corrections
Other	FDV & SV whether police contacted; reasons police not contacted; whether perpetrator charged; whether perpetrator went to court; whether restraining order issued
Formal support	FDV & SV
Police	FDV & SV
Doctor/other health professional	FDV & SV
Counsellor/social worker/mental health professional	FDV & SV
Legal/financial service	FDV & SV
Refuge/shelter/resource centre	FDV & SV
Government housing/community services	FDV & SV
Other	FDV & SV reasons for not seeking advice or support about partner violence
Informal support	FDV & SV
Friend/family member	FDV & SV
Pastoral care	FDV & SV
Helpline	FDV & SV
Other	FDV & SV