Forty-three per cent of young people agreed it was"natural for a man to want to appear in control of his partner in front of his male friends",with men and women equally likely to believe this.
Loading
"That's a substantial number of young people who have normalised the idea of male control at a time when they are learning and practicing what a normal relationship should look like,"Dr Powell said.
Nicole Juniper,22,was in a year-long emotionally abusive relationship in her late teens. While she was originally shocked by the survey results,after reflecting on her own experience,she said she was less surprised.
"[It was] my first serious relationship,I couldn't see red flags,"she said.
The Moonee Ponds student took months to recognise her ex-partner's behaviour,which included reading her emails without her knowledge and not letting her see male friends,as abusive,and stayed in the relationship once she did.
"I thought he would be in danger without me;he said he would end his life multiple times."
Ms Juniper said there needs to be better education about emotional abuse in schools,to empower young people to speak up when they think their friends could be in an unhealthy situation.
"There's not a lot of understanding around abuse when it isn't physical,"she said.
Renee Imbesi,principal program officer for mental wellbeing at VicHealth,said,although failure to recognise emotional abuse as domestic violence occurs in all demographics,it can be a particular problem for young people without much experience in intimate relationships,who might confuse controlling behaviour with care.
Loading
"There's the attitude that,'Oh,they want to know where you are because they love you.'"
Sixty per cent of young people surveyed indicated that they don't know where to go for help in a domestic violence situation.
"[Services] need to start talking about'control',because a lot of young people aren't calling it domestic violence or abuse,"Ms Imbesi said.
From a health policy perspective,Ms Imbesi said the benefits of achieving gender equality in the home are"significant".
"Intimate partner violence is still the leading contributor to women's ill health and disease in women aged 18 to 44,and the majority of that burden of disease is mental health related:anxiety,depression,and also suicide,"she said,noting gender norms can also take a toll on men's mental health.
"When you're promoting equal relationships between men and women,you're promoting mental wellbeing."
Lifeline 13 11 14
National Domestic Violence Hotline 1800 799 7233