Family Dynamics and Family Policy

Contemporary Family Dynamics and Family Policy

Changes in Patterns of Post-separation Parenting Over Time
Child Support Reform Study
Do Australian Parents Want Both a Son and a Daughter?
The Experiences of Parents and Children after Family Court Oders About Relocation
Generations and Gender Programme
Intergenerational Family Resource Allocations and Reallocations among Skipped-Generation and Three-Generation Households
Life Course Studies
Measurement and Explanation of Family Change in Australia in Comparative Perspective: A Longitudinal Approach
Post-divorce Housing and Children’s Needs
Second Time Around - Understanding the Institution of Repartnering in Australia
Social Exclusion and Teenage Motherhood

Historical Family Demography

Aboriginal Population History in Victoria
Family Formation and Fertility Decline in Nineteenth-century Tasmania
Fertility Decline in Nineteenth-century Britain
Founders and Survivors: Australian Lifecourses in Historical Context
Historical Demography in China

Contemporary Family Dynamics and Family Policy

Changes in Patterns of Post-separation Parenting Over Time
Bruce Smyth, Lawrie Moloney (AIFS/La Trobe), Ruth Weston (AIFS), Nick Richardson (AIFS), and Jeromey Temple

Drawing on data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, and the Caring for Children after Parental Separation (Australian Institute of Family Studies 2003), this investigation examines changes in parenting arrangements over time. AIFS data collection was funded by the Australian Institute of Family Studies.

Child Support Reform Study
Bruce Smyth, Bryan Rodgers (NCEPH, ANU) and Jeromey Temple

In November 2007, the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) commissioned the Australian National University to collect baseline information prior to the introduction of the new child support formula on 1 July 2008. Telephone interviews of around 25 minutes duration have been conducted with a large random sample of Child Support Agency clients. Analysis of these data is now underway by the ANU research team. Further information about the study can be obtained from Bruce Smyth (Bruce.Smyth@anu.edu.au).

Do Australian Parents Want Both a Son and a Daughter?
Ann Evans, Edith Gray, Rebecca Kippen

This ARC funded project investigates Australian parents’ desire for both a son and a daughter. The project will develop an informed theory about whether there is a differential value to parents of sons and daughters and explore how much impact the desire for children of both sexes has on completed family size in Australia. The project will explore the ‘substitutability’ of children of different sexes as well as the propensity of parents to ‘try again’ to achieve their desired mix of sexes. The project will combine analyses of census data, panel surveys and in-depth interviews. This rich combination of data will establish Australian research at the forefront of research on fertility behaviour and the value of sons and daughters to parents.

The Experiences of Parents and Children after Family Court Oders About Relocation
Juliet Behrens (ANU Law), Bruce Smyth and Rae Kaspiew (AIFS)

The Family Court often decides whether to allow a parent to relocate with children despite opposition from the other parent. A parliamentary review of the family law system conducted in 2003 lamented the lack of research about the aftermath of decisions about children. This ARC funded project will begin to fill this gap by exploring experiences after relocation decisions. Interviews will be conducted with affected parents and, importantly, children. The resulting analysis will inform future decision-making on relocation after separation. It will also contribute to the debate about the development of a more flexible and responsive family law system.

Generations and Gender Programme (website: http://www.unece.org/pau/ggp/)
Peter McDonald and Edith Gray

The GGP addresses gender issues throughout its wide range of topics. It uses stratified nationally representative samples that include approximately equal numbers of men and women. It collects most of its data from a couple perspective, that is, the respondents provide a large amount of information also about their current partner if they have one. The gender issues are taken into account throughout the questionnaire in the formulating the response items and including thematic blocks of questions. All this allows to study the system of gender relationships in a country and its link with demographic behaviour.

The GGP covers relationships between generations also from the viewpoint of the population above the reproductive ages, which allows analysts and policy-makers to address the pertinent issues of population ageing in developed countries.

Intergenerational Family Resource Allocations and Reallocations among Skipped-Generation and Three-Generation Households
Peter Brandon

Funded by the Department of Family and Community Services.

Life Course Studies
Ann Evans, Edith Gray, Peter McDonald, Deborah Mitchell, Jenny Baxter (Australian Institute of Family Studies) and Janeen Baxter (University of Queensland)

Current and past staff have utilised the Negotiating the Life Course Longitudinal Study to understand the complexity of family life, particularly the intersections with work. ADSRI promotes a multi-disciplinary approach in these areas with an emphasis on longitudinal techniques and mixed (qualitative and quantitative) research methods. The Negotiating the Life Course Project (NLC) is currently entering its tenth year of exploring the intersections of work and family life in Australia. The depth of this longitudinal panel data allows researchers the ability to examine both individual and structural factors across cohorts and over time. The Centre’s life course research has covered the transition to adulthood, fertility differentials and intentions, hours of work preferences, income mobility – with numerous publications in these areas.

Measurement and Explanation of Family Change in Australia in Comparative Perspective: A Longitudinal Approach
Peter Brandon

Research of the causes and consequences of changes in Australian families has been mainly cross-sectional and aggregate in nature. This can provide a misleadingly static picture of a dynamic reality in which people’s circumstances change throughout their life course. New international evidence suggests that dynamics at the individual level have more important impacts on people’s lives than the current arrangements in which they are living and that current arrangements are better explained using past dynamics. This project uses newly emerging Australian longitudinal data sets and new statistical procedures to advance such research in Australia.

Post-divorce Housing and Children’s Needs
Bruce Smyth, Jeromey Temple, Deborah Mitchell and Tom Altobelli (Federal Magistrates Court)

This small study draws on longitudinal data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey to assess changes in parents’ and their children’s housing circumstances after separation. These data will be used to explore the extent to which housing choices are responsive to children’s needs after separation.

Second Time Around - Understanding the Institution of Repartnering in Australia
Ann Evans and Edith Gray

Families are at the core of Australia’s social fabric. Understanding their dynamics assists in developing good policies and mechanisms to support them. Repartnering is an important aspect of current-day family dynamics. Yet we know relatively little about how these partnerships operate. This ARC funded project will illuminate the patterns and issues central to repartnering and provide a significant contribution to social research. Results from this study will equip policy makers with appropriate knowledge to develop policies aimed at assisting families. The findings will contribute to growing international knowledge on family dynamics in repartnered relationships, as well as strengthen Australia’s social and economic fabric through stronger families.

Social Exclusion and Teenage Motherhood
Ann Evans

This ARC funded project examines the social and economic consequences of teenage motherhood in Australia using the concept of social exclusion as a framework. Specifically, the project explores the education, family formation and labour force outcomes of teenage mothers’; uses longitudinal methods to analyse the effect of a teenage pregnancy on the life course of individuals of different generations, and; examines through in-depth interviews the experience of social inclusion and exclusion for young women in the years following a teenage birth. This multi-method approach will be used to determine the most appropriate forms of support required to garner the greatest outcomes for teenage mothers and their children.

Historical Family Demography

Aboriginal Population History in Victoria
Len Smith

Family Formation and Fertility Decline in Nineteenth-century Tasmania
Rebecca Kippen

The fertility decline which began in much of the industrialised world in the late nineteenth century greatly impacted the demographic, economic and social milieux of the twentieth century and beyond. Using family reconstitution techniques and a wide range of data, this ARC funded project will explore the mechanisms by which fertility decline was achieved in nineteenth-century Tasmania and the broader societal influences that brought these mechanisms into play. The results will advance our understanding of Australia's evolution over the nineteenth century and into the twentieth century. The research will result in three journal articles, a single-authored monograph and wide public dissemination.

Fertility Decline in Nineteenth-century Britain
Mac Boot

Founders and Survivors: Australian Lifecourses in Historical Context
Rebecca Kippen

This ARC funded project will result in a longitudinal study of Australian settlement -- founders both convict and free, and survivors. Based on an historical reconstruction of Tasmanian society across five generations, it includes a case study of the long-run effects of forced labour and emigration on health and survival. It will track for the first time the life course of ordinary people from the founder population to the present day. Using an interdisciplinary framework to guide research on health, human development and ageing at an individual level, and on family formation, community building and social cohesion at the collective, the project will result in a greater understanding of the forces which have shaped the lives of Australians.

Historical Demography in China
Zhongwei Zhao

The study will examine the survival of lineage populations, using of genealogies for demographic research, past co-residential patterns and related issues.