Demographic information for total population children, children with mothers with a mental health or perinatal mental health contact, and children with child maltreatment allegation and a mother with a mental health or perinatal mental health contact
| Birth cohort 1990–2005 | Total population—children, n (%) | Children with a mother who has a mental health contact*, n (%) | Children with an allegation and mother with a mental health contact*, n (%) | Child with a mother with a perinatal mental health contact, n (%) | Child with an allegation and a mother with a perinatal mental health contact, n (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | 404 022 | 74 888 | 6887 | 22 748 | 2850 |
| Gender | |||||
| Male | 207 416 (51.3) | 38 627 (51.6) | 3391 (49.2) | 11 753 (51.7) | 1436 (50.4) |
| Female | 196 606 (48.7) | 36 261 (48.4) | 3496 (50.8) | 10 995 (48.3) | 1414 (49.6) |
| Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander | 30 849 (7.6) | 11 400 (15.2) | 2221 (32.2) | 3372 (14.8) | 919 (32.2) |
| Marital status | |||||
| Married/de facto | 362 658 (89.8) | 60 314 (80.5) | 4272 (62.5) | 17 554 (77.6) | 1651 (58.5) |
| Never married | 36 479 (9.0) | 12 698 (17.0) | 2299 (33.6) | 4405 (19.5) | 1039 (36.8) |
| Divorced/widowed | 4224 (1.0) | 1625 (2.2) | 268 (3.9) | 671 (3.0) | 133 (4.7) |
| Missing | 661 (0.2) | 251 (0.3) | 48 (0.7) | 118 (0.5) | 27 (0.9) |
| Maternal age at birth, years | |||||
| <20 | 19 169 (4.7) | 5855 (7.8) | 1082 (15.7) | 1729 (7.6) | 412 (14.5) |
| 20–29 | 191 296 (47.3) | 39 493 (52.7) | 4075 (59.2) | 11 468 (50.4) | 1626 (57.0) |
| 30–39 | 182 732 (45.2) | 27 641 (36.9) | 1628 (23.6) | 8904 (39.1) | 767 (26.9) |
| >39 | 10 825 (2.7) | 1899 (2.5) | 102 (1.5) | 647 (2.8) | 45 (1.6) |
| Father’s age at birth, years | |||||
| <20 | 5545 (1.4) | 1606 (2.1) | 294 (4.3) | 480 (2.1) | 107 (3.7) |
| 20–29 | 129 221 (32) | 26 978 (36.0) | 2621 (38.1) | 7550 (33.2) | 972 (34.1) |
| 30–39 | 205 355 (50.8) | 30 524 (40.8) | 1637 (23.8) | 9341 (41.1) | 726 (25.5) |
| >39 | 41 918 (10.4) | 6704 (9.0) | 457 (6.6) | 2200 (9.6) | 204 (7.2) |
| Missing | 21 983 (5.4) | 9076 (12.1) | 1878 (27.3) | 3177 (14.0) | 841 (29.5) |
| Socioeconomic status group | |||||
| 1 (least disadvantaged) | 30 719 (7.6) | 3334 (4.5) | 98 (1.4) | 1025 (4.5) | 34 (1.2) |
| 2 | 52 291 (12.9) | 6906 (9.2) | 297 (4.3) | 2237 (9.8) | 124 (4.3) |
| 3 | 89 429 (22.1) | 14 238 (19.0) | 797 (11.6) | 4185 (18.4) | 301 (10.6) |
| 4 | 95 858 (23.7) | 18 204 (24.3) | 1500 (21.8) | 5394 (23.7) | 612 (21.5) |
| 5 | 60 792 (15.1) | 13 763 (18.4) | 1531 (22.2) | 4142 (18.2) | 624 (21.9) |
| 6 (most disadvantaged) | 38 811 (9.6) | 11 332 (15.1) | 1935 (28.1) | 3627 (15.9) | 845 (29.7) |
| Missing | 36 122 (8.9) | 7111 (9.5) | 729 (10.6) | 2138 (9.4) | 310 (10.9) |
| Mental health diagnostic group† | |||||
| Organic disorders | 548 | 52 (9.4) | 114 | 20 (17.5) | |
| Substance-related disorders | 18 654 | 2947 (15.8) | 744 | 245 (32.9) | |
| Schizophrenia, affective and non-affective psychoses | 9995 | 797 (8.0) | 3434 | 440 (12.8) | |
| Depression not elsewhere classified and neurotic disorders | 21 101 | 1326 (6.3) | 6949 | 607 (8.7) | |
| Adjustment and stress-related disorders | 16 010 | 1249 (7.8) | 5087 | 429 (8.4) | |
| Disorders of childhood and psychological development | 2371 | 257 (10.8) | 102 | 26 (25.5) | |
| Personality disorders | 2104 | 333 (15.8) | 540 | 161 (29.8) | |
| Intellectual disability | 232 | 105 (45.3) | 113 | 50 (44.2) | |
| Other mental disorders | 5670 | 226 (4.0) | 2198 | 75 (3.4) | |
| Self-harm | 7241 | 851 (11.8) | 694 | 162 (23.3) | |
| Mean time in years between mental health contact and first allegation | 3.7 years (SD=4.6 years) | 2.4 years (SD=2.8 years) | |||
| Age of child at allegation | 4.0 years (SD=3.5 years) | 2.8 years (SD=2.9 years) | |||
| Number of children with allegations | 14 317 (3.5) | 6887 (9.2) | 6887 | 2850 (12.5) | 2850 |
*For those children with a child maltreatment allegation the mother's mental health contact had to occur prior to the allegation.
†Mothers who have comorbid diagnoses could be counted in more than one group.