Ready to launch? young Australians’ work and family transitions. This project aims to establish reasons for young Australians delaying life-course milestones such as nest leaving and marriage. Are we seeing a shift of these milestones from “cornerstones” that lay the foundations for accomplishment to “capstones” that depend on economics accomplishments in areas such as employment? The project will investigate the timing of and conditions surrounding young Australians’ economic accomplishments an ....Ready to launch? young Australians’ work and family transitions. This project aims to establish reasons for young Australians delaying life-course milestones such as nest leaving and marriage. Are we seeing a shift of these milestones from “cornerstones” that lay the foundations for accomplishment to “capstones” that depend on economics accomplishments in areas such as employment? The project will investigate the timing of and conditions surrounding young Australians’ economic accomplishments and key household transitions. This will provide significant benefits such as identifying the economic, personal and family drivers of life-course transitions that are consequential for Australians' health, economic and social well-being, and use of public assistance programs.Read moreRead less
Transition to adulthood in greater Jakarta: A longitudinal perspective. Interviewing 3,000 young adult Indonesians at two points in time, this project examines whether their economic and social outcomes change across time or whether early experience determines longer-term outcomes. What are the factors involved in transition to adulthood among young people in a rapidly developing metropolis of a developing country?
Understanding an important aspect of current-day family dynamics: the institution of repartnering in Australia. 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 project will illuminate the patterns and issues central to repartnering and provide a significa ....Understanding an important aspect of current-day family dynamics: the institution of repartnering in Australia. 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 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.Read moreRead less
Do Australian parents want both a son and a daughter? From the late 1990s, policy makers became more aware of the importance of fertility in influencing population age structure and growth rates in Australia. The proposed project will augment our understanding of fertility dynamics both current, and over high and low fertility regimes. It will also highlight an important factor in fertility decision-making. There is considerable speculation on the impact of shifting gender-role attitudes on sex ....Do Australian parents want both a son and a daughter? From the late 1990s, policy makers became more aware of the importance of fertility in influencing population age structure and growth rates in Australia. The proposed project will augment our understanding of fertility dynamics both current, and over high and low fertility regimes. It will also highlight an important factor in fertility decision-making. There is considerable speculation on the impact of shifting gender-role attitudes on sex preference, but evidence supporting this is mixed. By developing a deeper understanding of the factors influencing progression to having more children we will be better able to predict fertility trends and provide support to Australian parents. Read moreRead less
Family Formation and Fertility Decline in Nineteenth-Century Tasmania. The fertility decline which began across 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 project will explore the mechanisms by which fertility decline was achieved in nineteenth-century Tasmania and the broader societal influences that brought these m ....Family Formation and Fertility Decline in Nineteenth-Century Tasmania. The fertility decline which began across 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 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.Read moreRead less
Hidden relationships: living apart together in Australia. Australians who are in a relationship but do not live together pose a challenge to social surveys and scholarship, which qualify people as cohabiting, married or single. The project study how many Australians 'live apart together', and why, to produce a better understanding of the complex and dynamic factors behind modern Australian relationships.
Childbearing within cohabiting unions in Australia: trends, explanations and comparison. This project will explore the trends and determinants of childbearing within cohabitation in Australia. The project will contribute to our understanding of modern family dynamics and change. By comparison with other countries we will learn more about the policy settings that assist and support couples to realise their family formation plans.
The time of our lives: Time equity and the balancing of market and non-market production in the modern Australian population. This project will yield new information relevant to the national social inclusion agenda and the research priority goal of understanding and strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric to help families and individuals live healthy, productive, fulfilling lives. Through a multilayered analysis of gender, class, life course stage, time allocation and the connection ....The time of our lives: Time equity and the balancing of market and non-market production in the modern Australian population. This project will yield new information relevant to the national social inclusion agenda and the research priority goal of understanding and strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric to help families and individuals live healthy, productive, fulfilling lives. Through a multilayered analysis of gender, class, life course stage, time allocation and the connections between them, it will demonstrate links between various forms of social and economic participation and identify how they could be distributed more evenly. This knowledge is important to inform policy to better enable young people to become independent, families to both earn a living and care well for their children, and older people to be productive and socially engaged.Read moreRead less
If men did more housework, would women have more babies? Cross-national fertility rates and the gender division of labour. This project could contribute to the future well being of Australian society and its citizens by addressing the increasingly pressing social issue of fertility decline, and its consequence, population aging. The Treasury Intergenerational Report 2002-3 has identified structural aging of the population as a major social challenge because it threatens labour supply, social sta ....If men did more housework, would women have more babies? Cross-national fertility rates and the gender division of labour. This project could contribute to the future well being of Australian society and its citizens by addressing the increasingly pressing social issue of fertility decline, and its consequence, population aging. The Treasury Intergenerational Report 2002-3 has identified structural aging of the population as a major social challenge because it threatens labour supply, social stability and economic growth. The taxes of a shrinking work force may have to support a mounting number of dependent elderly. The proposed research could identify practical social interventions to facilitate higher birth rates, which would slow population aging by increasing the ratio of young people to elderly. Read moreRead less
Mapping the developmental trajectories of foster families. Currently lacking in Australian research on foster care is a developmental account of foster families. This research will, through an ethnographic study of foster families, provide a map of the unique shapes that foster families take, and will provide much needed information about the support needs of both foster carers and children.