This research snapshot explores how childhood adversity is linked to adult mental health among Australian men, highlighting patterns of adversity, resilience, and implications for policy and practice. The findings highlight the urgent need for population-based approaches to preventing adverse childhood experiences to be a core component of the primary prevention of mental ill-health in adulthood.

Ten to Men: The Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health (TTM) is a nationwide longitudinal study on the health and wellbeing of Australian boys and men. This snapshot is part of a series of research focused on male health and wellbeing over the life course.

Key findings

• Childhood adversity is widespread among Australian men.
• The most commonly reported adversities were emotional abuse (34%) and physical abuse (38%).
• Patterns of childhood adversity remained strongly linked to depression, anxiety and other mental health symptoms in adulthood even accounting for socio-economic and demographic factors.
• Resilience-enhancing factors reduce, but do not remove, the impact of ACES on mental healtrh.

The snapshot is provided with supplementary materials.