Australia has a problem with its teenage boys, and new research suggests it's bigger than anyone wanted to admit.

A national survey by University of Melbourne researchers has found that approximately 40% of boys aged 13-17 believe women lie about domestic and sexual violence. The findings, published this week, come as Australia continues to grapple with one of the developed world's worst domestic violence rates.

Mate, if nearly half of teenage boys don't believe women when they report violence, we're not just looking at a social problem - we're looking at the next generation of perpetrators.

Sara Meger and Kate Reynolds, the researchers behind the study, surveyed over 2,300 adults and approximately 1,100 young people aged 13-17. What they found should alarm anyone paying attention to Australia's domestic violence crisis.

The numbers get worse. The study revealed that 25-30% of boys in this age group expressed agreement with various forms of violent extremism, while 36% agreed with misogynistic attitudes generally. Most troubling: 28% of adolescent boys supported using violence to resist feminism, compared to 21% of girls.

These aren't fringe attitudes we're talking about - this is nearly one in three teenage boys saying they'd support violence against women who advocate for equality.

The researchers frame misogyny not just as a social issue, but as "a potential driver of extremism" and a national security concern. They identified two distinct clusters of harmful attitudes: those justifying intimate partner violence and those supporting restrictions on women's public rights.

"This represents a potential national security concern," the researchers wrote, according to The Conversation.

Social media users responding to the research expressed alarm but little surprise. one commenter noted.