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Data for these projects will be collected from a longitudinal study of families at different points in the family life cycle. Its design will provide an ongoing study of the state of the nation's families which will incorporate policy relevant parameters making it a valuable source of contemporary information about family functioning for policy makers and service providers.
CATI fieldwork was completed mid December 1996. The final number of interviews for all three studies (Stage 1; Housing Across the Life Course; and, Later Life Families) was n=2688, the sample size for the Life Course Survey was 1964 and for the Later Life Families Survey 724. Non-English speaking interviews were conducted in March 1997.
Publications and Presentations
The Australian Family Life Course Study:
Stage
1
Project Manager: Helen Glezer (Email: heleng@aifs.gov.au)
With the broad aim of achieving a better understanding of major demographic and economic changes over the last thirty years and their implications for family well being and stability The Australian Family Life Course Study surveys, over time, individuals aged 25-50 years living in varying family circumstances. The study focuses on family well being for a range of family types at major family transition points within the life course.
The data are drawn from a national random telephone survey of 2000 households. In scope respondents are those aged between 25-50 years, or for if under 25 years, a parent with primary responsibility for a child. Data for this study were collected at the same time as the data for the Housing across the Life Course and Later Life Families projects. Data collection has been completed and data are currently being analysed.
The study is a broad-based study which will provide a large data set able to be used for diverse purposes. Some of the main research issues being addressed are:-
Publishing plans from the project include:
Publications and Presentations
Later Life Families
Project Manager: Ilene Wolcott (Email: ilene@aifs.gov.au)
Later Life Families is a study of 50-70 year olds which explores the present and anticipated impacts of intergenerational family relationships. Its focus is on the transitions at retirement from paid employment and on changes in family structure due to marital dissolution or widowhood.
A number of papers have been prepared and presented at national conferences and appeared in Family Matters or have been published as Working Papers. The issues examined include: an overview of families in later life, families and retirement, the impacts of marital status on intergenerational transfers from parents to children and children to parents, marriage relationships in later life and aspects of grandparenting.
Publications and Presentations
Housing Across the Life Course
Project Manager: Dr Ian Winter (Email: ian@aifs.gov.au)
This project investigates how family life course and housing career events interrelate. The first task will be to establish the nature of contemporary family life courses and housing careers and to examine the extent to which these have changed over time, a signficant strength of the life course approach. Analysis will then focus upon housing moves in terms of tenure and/or location, the reasons for such moves, and the nature of their relationship to different phases of the family life course. The housing circumstances of those who have made housing adjustments in relation to changing family form will then be compared with those who have not made such adjustments and related to differences in family well being.
Data collection from a national random sample has been completed and data are currently being analysed. Case studies of families with particular types of housing careers are currently being conducted to identify factors and processes underlying housing careers. In 1997-8 it is anticipated that papers on the following topics will be prepared:
Publications and Presentations
Intergenerational Transfers Across the
Life
Course (Project Completed)
This project involved an analysis of the 1992 ABS Family Survey - a
survey of
16,343 families and 33,542 individuals. The data from the survey enabled
an
assessment of the extent and type of intergenerational assistance and
transfers
to different family members at different points of the life course. The
project
identified the level of transfers, mapping who is giving what to whom,
the giving
and receipt of assistance from other family members and the correlates
of intergenerational
transfers (gender, relationship, life stage, family type, location etc).
An
important focus of the analysis was the extent to which these
intergenerational
transfers are linked to a family's social class and economic position.
The analysis
addressed the question of whether the increasing expectation that
families will
look after themselves will disadvantage particular types of families and
individuals.
It explored the implications of a reliance on intergenerational family
transfers
for family equity, generational equity, ethnic equity and socio-economic
equity.
Publications and
Presentations
Australian Divorce Transitions
Project
Project Manager: Grania Sheehan (Email: granias@aifs.gov.au)
This is a core study that builds on earlier Institute work reported in Settling Up, Settling Down, and Remaking Families. It examines divorce transitions of parents, children's views of divorce, and older persons and divorce.
Data have been collected from a national representative sample of 500 people who have divorced since 1988 and a national representative sample of 120 older divorcees. In addition, a sample of 100 children of these divorcing families were interviewed to provide the child's view of the divorce and on the fairness of post-separation division of financial responsibility for children.
Working papers to inform policy debates on child support, matrimonial property division and superannuation, spousal support, current trends in child contact, and living arrangements are currently in preparation.
Violence and Financial Outcomes
Project Manager: Grania Sheehan(Email: granias@aifs.gov.au)
This is a collaborative project with the Office of the Status of Women. It addresses issues relating to the impact of emotional and physical violence on the processes of negotiation and the economic outcomes of divorce. The project builds on and extends data collected in the ADTP. Data collection and analysis are completed and a report titled 'Spousal violence and post-separation financial outcomes' willl be published by the office of Status of Women in 1999.
Sibling Relationships and Adjustment to
Parental
Separation and Divorce
Project Manager: Grania Sheehan(Email: granias@aifs.gov.au)
There is scant information available to the Family Court on how to make decisions in the best interests of the child, particularly when decisions can affect children from the same family differently. This project explores the function of the sibling relationship for children during and following the divorce of their parents with a view to assisting the Family Court in making decisions relating to residential and contact arrangements.
The project is being undertaken in conjunction with the Family Court of Australia and the University of Queensland Family Centre. The first wave of data collection is underway.
Parenting-21 Study
Acting Project Manager: Violet Kolar (violet@aifs.gov.au)
The Parenting-21 Study is a comparative study of relationships between parents' beliefs and attitudes on childhood and their childrearing practices. The project focuses on the hopes and aspirations parents have for their children; the values they bring to their role as parents; the strategies they use to raise their children; their sources of information about children and childrearing; and who they turn to at times of stress for help, advice and support. Parenting 21 is an international research project being conducted in the Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Sweden, United States of America, Italy and Australia.
The Australian Parenting-21 study has two components. In the first, 380 volunteer families Australia-wide were asked to provide information about their child rearing practices by means of a series of brief self-completed questionnaires. Families with one child aged between 5 months and 8.5 years were eligible for this component. Data collection and preparation of data for analysis has been completed. Initial data analysis has begun.
In the second component parents, in addition to completing the questionnaires, participated in a face-to-face interview where child rearing values and practices were explored in more detail.
It was anticipated that this second component would comprise samples of Australian families from Aboriginal, Anglo, Italian, Polish and Vietnamese communities in Melbourne. Each of these cultural groups would consist of 60 volunteer families, each with a child in one of five target age groups: 6 months, 18 months, 3 years, 4.5 years, and 7-8 years.
Currently, this component of Parenting-21 only includes the Anglo and Vietnamese samples; data collection and preparation of data for analysis has been completed, with data analysis and writing the main ongoing tasks. Practical considerations have meant that the inclusion of the Aboriginal, Italian and Polish samples will not proceed.
However, another project with the same policy relevance and objectives as for the main Parenting 21 project has been funded by the Office of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Service to study indigenous communities in the Torres Strait - the Buai Sei Boey Wagel Project. Commencing in 1997 and due for completion in 1999 it is being conducted jointly with the University of Queensland.
The information collected in the project will be used to develop a portrait of contemporary parenting among the indigenous communities participating in the project and of factors, contemporary and historical, which influence the quality of the parenting experienced by children in the Islander communities. Outputs from the project will provide a valuable resource for policy makers and service providers concerned with the design and delivery of family support services to Torres Strait Islander people.
It is essential that this project is owned by the communities involved and is to be of direct relevance and assistance to them. To this end both the Steering Committee and the project team are composed largely of Islanders.
Publications and Presentations
Self Care of Primary School Aged
Children
(Project Completed)
This project analyses data from the Australian Living Standards Study on 1900 primary school aged children whose parents are both working (or in the case of a lone parent family the resident parent is working). The study focuses on the extent to which young children are left home alone to care for themselves (or with a young sibling) before or after school.
It examines patterns of work related use of before and after school self care for children aged 5-12 years in a national sample of Australian children. It examines the prevalence and the demographics of self care and evaluates the importance of four sets of factors in predicting work related self care use for young children. Contrary to prevailing stereotypes self care usage was not linked to minority groups, poverty, lone parent households or ethnicity. Rather, the use of self care was linked to the age of children, level of mothers workforce participation, family size, isolation from kinship networks and lack of integration into the local community.
Publications and Presentations
Evaluation of a Pilot Implementation of
Looking
After Children
Project Manager: Sarah Wise (Email: sarahw@aifs.gov.au)
The Looking After Children system was developed in the U.K as a means to ensure the immediate wellbeing and long-term development of children who have been taken into public care.The system has generated a great deal of international interest, and is currently being piloted in the Eastern Metropolitan region of Victoria. The AIFS has been successful in obtaining funds from the Rotary Health Fund of Australia to evaluate the extent to which Looking After Children improves the quality of life of children living away from the homes of their familes of origin.
The project will utilise a comparative research design. Children participating in the pilot will be compared with a comparison group to determine whether outcomes on psychosocial, behavioural, health and education measures are enhanced. Looking After Children will also be evaluated in terms of the extent to which it involves parents in decisions which affect their child.
Data collection and analysis is completed and a schedule for dissemination of findings is being planned.
Child Protection Project Evaluations
Project Manager: Adam Tomison (Email: adamt@aifs.gov.au)
In July 1997 the Australian Institute of Family Studies was awarded a contract to conduct the evaluation of three DHS child protection pilot projects across three regions of Victoria. The results of the pilots will signficiantly influence child protection/child welfare work for a number of years.
Projects 1 & 2: Enhanced Client Outcomes (ECO) and Family and Neighbourhood Links (FANL) Demonstration Projects (Northern Metropolitan and Loddon-Mallee regions of Victoria)
The Enhanced Client Outcomes (ECO) and Family and Neighbourhood Links (FANL) Demonstration Projects developed by the Department of Human Services Victoria are the result of a recent change in child protection/child welfare policy which has been driven by the perceived need to redress the balance between primary and secondary prevention and tertiary prevention, focusing more on the former and shifting resources away from tertiary child abuse prevention services (i.e. child protection).
The Family and Neighbourhood Links (FANL) project is based on research in the areas of family support and child protection that indicates the importance of social support to family functioning and good parenting. The FANL project reflects a shift in approach towards prevention and early intervention, particularly in regard to family breakdown and child abuse. The essence of the FANL project is to enhance the supporting mechanisms currently available to families.
The Enhanced Client Outcome (ECO) project represents a revised model of child protection practice. The ECO approach aims to provide a system of responses to protective notifications which recognise the varying degrees of risk and diversity of needs within the client population by:
Project 3. Western Metropolitan Region Pilot Family Outreach Service
The Western Metropolitan Region Pilot Family Outreach Service has been developed as a joint initiative by the Department of Human Services Victoria, Brimbank Community Health Centre and a number of other non-government organisations. It has been initiated as a result of recent changes in child protection/child welfare policy which have been driven by a perceived need to redress the balance between primary and secondary prevention and tertiary prevention. The intention is to focus more on the former, shifting resources away from tertiary child abuse prevention services (i.e. child protection).
The pilot service will be a family centred service provided from a community based agency which provides universal services to the designated Local Government Area. A daily intake service will be provided, preferably incorporated into the general intake service offered by the agency.
The pilot service will accept referrals from families, service providers, protective workers and the community at large regarding situations where there are concerns about family functioning and will actively approach families in the role of "friendly visitor". For example, Maternal and Child Health Nurses currently visit families in their homes following the birth of a baby.
The roles of the service will include providing families with information regarding community, services; linking families to appropriate services; undertaking family assessments; notifying Protective Services on assessing a child to be at risk of significant harm; providing case management to families; liaising with other service providers in the community; administering a flexifund to purchase services and provide material aid; maintaining statistics regarding issues, services needed/available, waiting lists, and gaps in the Primary Care service system; and establishing and maintaining strong links with Protective Services.
AIFS Evaluation: The Institute is a joint evaluator with Burgell Consulting who are responsbile for all data collection in the project. The project was completed in September 1998; an Institute monograph is planned for 1999.
Project Manager: Ruth Weston (Email:ruth@aifs.gov.au)
Fathering 2000 will focus on fathers of adolescents and young adults in different family circumstances. Issues that will be examined include fathers' handling of family, work and other commitments, expectations and perceptions held by family members about the roles of fathers, and direct and indirect contributions of fathers to the wellbeing of adolescent/young adult children. Here, indirect contributions include fathers' provision of affection, warmth and support to their wives, and in the case of separated parents, contributions to the parenting relationship. In addition, family members' views about direct and indirect effects of children on parents and parenting will be examined. The study of fathers and their young adult offspring will involve collaborative research with Professor Paul Amato (University of Nebraska-Lincoln).
Bruce Smyth and Ruth Weston will work on this study. The project will begin with a review of existing literature (undertaken between February and April 1999). Two sets of analyses of data from the Australian Divorce Transitions Project (ADTP) and associated preparation of discussion papers will then be undertaken by these staff members.
It is intended that this work on the ADTP data will sharpen research questions and inform the development of Fathering 2000. Ruth Weston and Bruce Smyth will work full-time on the fathering project from November 1999. Fieldwork will be undertaken during the first quarter of the year 2000. The project will be completed the following year.
The Australian Living Standards Study (ALSS) was a major study conducted by the Institute from 1991 until late 1994, partially funded under contract by the Commonwealth Government. The conceptualisation of the study reflected the view that living standards depend on more than income and involve many other dimensions that contribute significantly to the quality of life - factors such as access to services, transport, environmental quality, safety, education, quality of family relationships, personal well being. Detailed information was collected from 12 local government areas throughout Australia and resulted in rich data sets collected from households and from the community.
A number of major reports and many journal articles were produced from the study. The Autumn 1996 issue of the Institute's journal Family Matters was devoted to articles and outcomes of the study including an overview and comprehensive bibliography of publications. Data from ALSS are the basis of the following current projects.
Exploring Living Standards
(Project
Completed)
Project Manager: Ruth Weston (Email: ruth@aifs.gov.au)
This project involved analysis of the Australian Living Standards Study (ALSS) data with a view to providing an overview of the dimensions of living standards and an evaluation of the extent to which the initial postulated dimensions existed independently of one another and independently of income. The project commenced on 1 February 1997. The first step involved a review of the literature concerning the components of living standards for subgroups of individuals (e.g. parents at different stages of the family life course, adolescents, sole mother families, and two parent families). Attention was directed not only to the literature that specifically refers to living standards or quality of life, but also to other literature that focused on key factors that are commonly linked with the wellbeing of these subgroups, for example, research into factors that may moderate the relationship between family type and wellbeing of parents and adolescents. These factors may be seen as aspects of living standards, for example, social support, the family's financial status, level of conflict or cooperation between parents.
The project has now finished and results have been published in several articles in the Institute journalFamily Matters.
Publications and Presentations
Newtown Revisited (Project
Completed)
Project Manager: Dr Ian Winter (Email:ian@aifs.gov.au)
Newtown Revisited is a collaborative research project between the Australian Institute of Family Studies and the University of Newcastle examining changes in family and community life between 1966 and 1991. Data sets from the original 1966 study by Lois Bryson and Faith Thompson and also from the ALSS study were used for an analysis across time of how family life has changed in a working class industrial suburb. The impact of economic restructuring and changes in the nature of welfare services were among the issues examined.
The project is now complete and findings will be published in a book to be launched at the AIFS Conference in November 1998.
Publications and Presentations
Housing and Capital Gains
Project Manager: Dr Andrew Burbidge (Email: andrewb@aifs.gov.au)
This is a cooperative research study between the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute and the Australian Institute of Family Studies which aims to measure the extent of capital gains accruing to owner occupiers in different parts of Sydney and Melbourne. It will examine the incidence of capital gains and losses among socio-economic groups and contribute to the debate on the impact of homeownership on inequality. The project combines unit record information collected in the Australian Living Standards Study from over 3500 households in Sydney and Melbourne with data on the value of the land and property of these families extracted from the records of Local Government and the Valuer General's data base.
The project will contribute to the debate on the impact of capital gains and housing on economic inequalities among families and on income transfers between generations. The study may also provide better understanding of the operations of the housing market and help reduce the incidence of families with economic difficulties spending too much on their housing or buying in the wrong location.
Findings from the study are available in a forthcoming paper in the international journal Housing Studies.
Publications and Presentations
Publications and Presentations
Plans and Aspirations of Young People
Project Manager: Christine Kilmartin (Email: chrisk@aifs.gov.au)
To enhance our ability to understand changes affecting young adults the Institute has contracted with the ABS Population Survey Monitor to collect information from a sample of 800 young adults aged 18-29. These young adults will be asked about their aspirations and expectations in relation to relationships, children, career, education and living arrangements. It is anticipated that publications from this research will be available early in 1998.
Rural and Regional Families.
Project Manager: Christine Kilmartin (Email: chrisk@aifs.gov.au)
As part of its demographic trends monitoring function the Institute is currently conducting research to obtain a clearer picture of regional and rural families from the 1991 Census. Using an enhanced version of the classification of local government areas developed by the Department of Housing and Regional Development with adaptations applied by the Institute, some comparisons will be drawn and similarities observed among families in urban developed areas compared with those in fringe areas, in regional cities and towns, in agricultural areas and remote areas.
1996 Census Output.
Project Manager: Christine Kilmartin (Email: chrisk@aifs.gov.au)
The Institute is working with the Australian Bureau of Statistics to design census output on families appropriate to the needs of small area service planners and providers.
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