Background and research

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New research on The Line

Many young people say they understand healthy boundaries – but few feel confident applying them.

Our new research shows that while many surveyed young people report a strong understanding of healthy boundaries and controlling behaviours, the data reveals a significant gap between perceived knowledge and actual confidence to apply it in real-life situations.

In March 2025 Our Watch commissioned research into young people’s understanding of healthy relationships, boundaries and controlling behaviours. The study was nationally representative and surveyed 1,000 Australian young people aged 14–20 years old.

The research found:

  • the majority of young people claim to understand what healthy boundaries and controlling behaviours are
  • however, more than a quarter confuse controlling behaviours as signs of healthy boundaries (27% thought being told you cannot walk away from an argument was a healthy boundary, and 29% thought forcing physical touch out of love was a healthy boundary)
  • a third of surveyed young people misidentified unhealthy relationship behaviours as healthy. For example, 31% identified ‘I have a right to know where my partner is most of the time’ as a healthy relationship behaviour, and 27% identified ‘it’s okay to be jealous because it means I care about my partner’ as a healthy relationship behaviour
  • close to half (49%) of surveyed young men aged 14–17 are unsure, or don’t know what makes a relationship healthy
  • over half (54%) of surveyed young people believe that if a guy wants to have sex with a girl, it’s up to the girl to make it very clear she doesn’t want to.

Many young people say they can recognise controlling behaviour, but most aren’t sure how to respond.

While many young people say they can recognise what controlling behaviour looks like, few feel fully confident in responding to it, highlighting a clear gap between awareness and action. This underscores the need for more practical support that builds young people’s confidence to act. 

  • Only 29% of surveyed young people feel completely confident communicating their boundaries. 
  • Just 22% feel completely confident knowing what to do when they feel uncomfortable, disrespected and/or unsafe in a relationship.
  • Only 24% feel completely confident taking action in resolving it.

The Line background

Our Watch delivers The Line, a primary prevention behaviour change campaign for young people.

Today’s young people are thinking about their own interpersonal relationships and the way people interact around them. As they consider a huge range of issues, from sex and gender, to social media and identity, The Line encourages young people to develop healthy and equal relationships, and to reject violence.

Recognising and respecting ‘the line’ can be confusing. The Line helps young people to understand what’s ok and what’s not when it comes to intimate relationships, and encourages them to call out behaviours that hurt and disrespect others.

Knowing that young people’s needs and concerns vary within and across individuals, cultures, regions, and communities The Line can be relevant to a range of audiences, depending on their age, needs and stages of development, however our advertising and marketing actively targets ages 14+.

The campaign’s long-term goal is to prevent violence against women and children by addressing the drivers of violence against women: condoning of violence against women, men's control of decision-making and limits to women's independence, stereotyped constructions of masculinity and femininity and disrespect towards women and male peer relations that emphasise aggression.

Our Watch officially launched The Line on 8 May 2015. This included launching a new website for The Line and releasing a summary of national research that provides insights into the attitudes of young people in Australia. The Line also supports Parents and carers, and Educators and practitioners.

The Line is an initiative under the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032 and is funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services.

Content on The Line

The Line content is assessed against 6 criteria to meet international and national standards for young people. This includes ensuring the content is age and stage appropriate, relevant and youth centered, accurate and evidence-based and avoids harmful communication strategies. Where appropriate, content promotes an intersectional approach to gender equality and provides links to relevant help-seeking services or additional information.

We recognise the right of young people to have a say on issues that affect them, and value young people's voices and perspectives on such issues.

Work with young people needs to be relevant and authentic, using language, images and material that young people are familiar with. Research shows that adult-developed and facilitated programming for adolescents can be seen as boring, repetitive, canned, and condescending. In order to avoid this, The Line is dedicated to working with young people through our research, campaign development and testing processes to ensure that content is engaging and relevant to our audience. Our work with young people uses youth-specific references (such as humour, abbreviated words, emojis, mild course language) that may not resonate with adults.

Other research