Family Matters articles from December 2002

Family Matters archives from December 2002

Director's report.
December 22, 2002... This issue of Family Matters contains a diverse array of articles about the family in Australia. David de Vaus writes on marriage and mental health; Boyd Hunter and Matthew Gray on the labour supply of Indigenous Australians; Michael Gilding on...

Obituary.(public officer Ann Henderson)(Obituary)
December 22, 2002... The Honourable Ann Henderson 31 December 1941-4 June 2002 The Director, Board Members, and Staff of the Australian Institute of Family Studies were deeply saddened by the news of the death of Ann Henderson, Presiding Member of the...

Families of the new millennium: designer babies, cyber sex and virtual communities: there is a growing consensus that it is the technological revolution that is driving the transformation of society and culture--not least the family. Designer babies, cyber sex and virtual communities are all new expressions that highlight the role of new technologies in the changing character of family and personal relationships.
December 22, 2002... In the 1970s and 1980s nobody was quite sure what was happening to the family. The statistical trends were clear enough: less marriage, more de facto relationships, more divorce, fewer children, more children born outside marriage and so on....

The origin of lone-parent concentrations in metropolitan and regional Australia: research shows that there are higher concentrations of lone-parent families in Australia's regional centres than in its major cities.
December 22, 2002... But is this a result of a decline in "traditional" family values? Or a product of migration into these centres? Or is it a consequence of the higher incidence of socio-economic disadvantage in these centres relative to metropolitan areas? ...

Family and social factors underlying the labour force status of Indigenous Australians: the importance of family, cultural and social environmental factors in determining the labour force outcomes of Indigenous people is highlighted in a recent study.
December 22, 2002... The recent public debate over the impact of welfare dependency on Indigenous communities highlights the need for economic independence--for example, Indigenous leader Noel Pearson and others point to the need for a widespread Indigenous...

Marriage and mental health: does marriage improve the mental health of men at the expense of women? David de Vaus investigates whether this widespread belief is supported by data from the 1997 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing of Adults.
December 22, 2002... In 1972 Jessie Bernard coined the now famous phrase "his and her marriage". By this she meant that a man experiences his marriage very differently from the way a women experiences her marriage. Bernard argued that men do well out of marriage...

Research into parent-child contact after parental separation: good policy requires good data. The Institute is currently developing a study to explore qualitative and quantitative differences in the ways that separated parents might share time with their children. In this article, the author sets out some of the emerging methodological issues that confront this endeavour.
December 22, 2002... As part of the broad policy shift towards encouraging post-separation co-parenting, there remains keen interest in ascertaining the nature, amount, and quality of contact that non-resident parents have with their children. This interest stems...

Meeting the needs of self-represented litigants in family law matters: the recent surge in the number of litigants appearing before the Family Court without legal representation poses a challenge to the notions of justice and due process that underpin Australia's adversarial system. This discussion draws, in particular, on the picture which emerged from the most recent study commissioned by the Family Court of Australia. (Family Law).
December 22, 2002... One of the most significant developments in family law in Australia in the last five years is one on which the statute books are (as yet) silent but which is nonetheless effecting a sea change in the way litigation in that jurisdiction is...

AIFS at international conference. (AIFS Visitors/Activities).(Australian Institute of Family Studies)
December 22, 2002... The Institute's Director and a number of staff attended the 15th World Congress of Sociology, held by the International Sociological Association (ISA) at Queensland University, Griffith University and the Queensland University of Technology, in...

A German perspective. (AIFS Visitors/Activities).
December 22, 2002... Dr Karl-Franz Kaltenborn, from the Medical Centre for Methodology and Health Research, Institute of Medical Informatics, Philipps-University of Marburg, Germany, visited the Institute from 16 July to 15 August. During this time, Dr Kaltenborn...

Family law workshop. (AIFS Visitors/Activities).(Australian Institute of Family Studies)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2002... Institute researchers Bruce Smyth and Ruth Weston accepted an invitation by the Socio-Legal Research Centre, School of Law at Griffith University in Queensland to participate in a meeting entitled "Workshop on families, law and social policy:...

AIFS report draws media attention. (AIFS Visitors/Activities).(Australian Institute of Family Studies)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2002... The release of the Institute's latest publication, Why Marriages Last (Research Paper no.28), sparked a flurry of media activity, all wanting to know the "secrets to a long and happy marriage". The research was picked up by radio,...

ABS-AIFS-LSAC-LINKS. (AIFS Visitors/Activities).(Australian Bureau of Statistics)(Australian Institute of Family Studies)(Longitudinal Study of Australian Children )(Brief Article)
December 22, 2002... Carol Soloff was appointed as Survey Manager of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children in July 2002. An employee of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Carol has been released as an outposted ABS officer to contribute to this important...

Developing links. (AIFS Visitors/Activities).(Australian Institute of Family Studies)(linking social services)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2002... Catherine Caruana, a researcher in the Institute's Family and Marriage program, and Paul Crowley, Family Law Primary Dispute Resolution Coordinator at Victoria Legal Aid, meet after the seminar presented by Mavis MacLean on 18 July 2002 to...

Consultant's return visit to Institute. (AIFS Visitors/Activities).(Institute for Social and Economic Research)(Australian Institute of Family Studies)(Heather Laurie)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2002... Dr Heather Laurie visited the Institute on 16 July 2002 to meet with Institute members of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) team. Heather is the Principal Research Officer at the Institute for Social and Economic Research....

Separating without law. (AIFS Seminars).(Australian Institute of Family Studies)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2002... Mavis Maclean is a Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Law at Wolfson College, University of Oxford. and Academic Adviser for the Lord Chancellor's Department in the UK. She has had a long and close association with the Institute through...

Why social capital matters. (AIFS Seminars).(Australian Institute of Family Studies)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2002... John Wiseman. Assistant Director of the Policy Development and Research Branch of the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet in Victoria, presented a seminar on 18 April 2002, on behalf of himself and the Director of the Branch. Dr David...

Post-separation parenting arrangements. (AIFS Seminars).(Australian Institute of Family Studies)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2002... In his seminar at the Institute on Thursday 20 June 2002. Patrick Parkinson, Professor of Law and Pro-Dean (Teaching Programs) at the University of Sydney, examined current conflicts in family law in Australia and argued that we are now moving...

New millennium families. (AIFS Seminars).(Australian Institute of Family Studies)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2002... Michael Gilding, Director of the Centre for New Technologies and Society School of Social and Behavioural Sciences at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne. presented an entertaining and thought-provoking seminar at the Institute on...

Young people leaving care. (AIFS Seminars).(Australian Institute of Family Studies)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2002... Judy Cashmore, Honorary Research Associate at the Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, presented a seminar at the Institute on 15 August 2002 on behalf of herself and Marina Paxman. "Young people leaving care: Five...

Institute address changes from org to gov.(Australian Institute of Family Studies)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2002... The Australian Institute of Family Studies domain name is now www.aifs.gov.au to reflect its status as a Commonwealth Government agency. However, its original name of www.aifs.org.au will continue to operate simultaneously for as long as is...

Family-friendly France? The rhythm of life in France is in many ways different from that in Australia, but the work/family balance is one of those preoccupations which crosses cultural boundaries. (Opinion/Comment).
December 22, 2002... The reconciliation of work and family life is as important an issue in France as it is in Australia, and the announcement of another annual increase in the birth rate (for the year 2001) to 1.9 (Australia's was 1.75) has been hailed as showing...

Fertility and public policy. (Family Database).(Bibliography)
December 22, 2002... Why is the birth rate in Australia low? Why do people choose not to have children? Are there implications for labour supply and international migration of below replacement fertility? It has been argued that a combination of immigration and...

Stronger families team on the road!
December 22, 2002... As reported in the last edition of Family Matters, the Stronger Families Learning Exchange was established earlier this year at the Australian Institute of Family Studies, with the objective of contributing to the evidence base about the...

Jalaris project.(aboriginal children)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2002... The Jalaris Aboriginal Corporation, established in 1994 in Derby in the far north west of Western Australia, is attempting to meet the fundamental needs of the Aboriginal community's children for education, nutritious food, clothing, safety and...

Understanding family change: there can be little debate that changes are occurring in contemporary families. But are these a sign of the disintegration of the family, and a symptom of moral collapse? Or do they signal constructive attempts by people to build families that work in the new, complex world in which we live? David de Vaus discusses an interesting new publication that takes up these issues.
December 22, 2002... New families for changing times by Pamela Kinnear Discussion Paper 47 Australia Institute (2002) The discussion paper by Pamela Kinnear, New families for changing times, is a useful and constructive contribution to the debate about...

Raising real people: Creating a resilient family.
December 22, 2002... by Andrew Fuller, Australian Council for Educational Research, 2002. Price: $26.95. "You can't learn parenting from a book. What you can learn is how other parents in similar situations have handled some of the issues you face and then use...

The ends and means of welfare: Coping with economic and social change in Australia.
December 22, 2002... by Peter Saunders, Cambridge University Press, 2002. Price: $39.95. Written by the Director of the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, this book examines the key trends in economic and social policy in...

Hell ... p! I'm a stepmother.
December 22, 2002... by Sonja Ridden, Australian Council for Educational Research, 2002. Price: $24.95. Written by a counsellor (who is also a stepmother),this book aims to give practical advice to all of those in blended families. Topics covered include: the...

Domestic violence in Australia: the legal response.
December 22, 2002... by Renata Alexander, Federation Press, Annandale, 2002. Price: $35.00. Now in it's third edition, this practical guide outlines the legal responses to domestic violence within Australia. The first chapter gives an overview of the...

Moving on without parents: Planning, transitions and sources of support for middle-aged and other adults with intellectual disability.
December 22, 2002... by Christine Bigby, MacLennan and Petty, 2000. With intellectually disabled people living longer lives, increasingly the issue of who will care for them after their parents die becomes a concern. This Australian research deals with this...

Early prediction and prevention of child abuse: a handbook.(Book Review)
December 22, 2002... edited by Kevin D. Browne, Helga Hanks, Peter Stratton and Catherine Hamilton, John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, 2002. Written for professionals who work in child protection and related fields, this book is a compilation of chapters written...

The psychology of men's health.
December 22, 2002... by Christina Lee and R. Glynn Owens, Open University Press, 2002. In this book the authors argue that social and cultural definitions of how men should act and behave have wide ranging negative effects on their health. These range from men...

Mixed matches: Interracial marriage within Australia.
December 22, 2002... by June Duncan Owen, UNSW Press, Sydney, 2002. Price: $34.95. This book outlines the history of interracial marriage within Australia. Using a chronological approach, the author begins with a brief discussion of interracial marriages...

Conferences.
December 22, 2002... 1-4 October 2002 The Worlds of Research Blue Mountains, NSW This conference from the Australian Association of Social Research has the theme The Worlds of Research: Coinciding and Colliding. Papers will focus on Methodological collisions;...

Contemporary issues in family research. (seminar series).
December 22, 2002... In 2002, the Australian Institute of Family Studies is continuing its series of seminars presenting research on national and international issues related to family. The seminars are designed to promote a forum for discussion and debate, and are...

Growing up in Australia. (Publications: new).
December 22, 2002... A major new study has commenced at the Institute. The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) will gather comprehensive, national Australian data on all the important domains of a child's life--their experiences within their families...

Marriages that last. (Publications: new).(Brief Article)
December 22, 2002... In the field of marriage and relationships research there has been a preoccupation with relationship breakdown and dissolution, which has tended to obscure the body of literature that explores the reasons why many marriages are enduring,...

A multidisciplinary approach to research on children.(Brief Article)
December 22, 2002... The papers in this volume are developed from those first presented at a workshop held at the Australian Institute of Family Studies in February 2001. The meeting contributed to the establishment of the Australian Research Alliance on Children...

Australian Institute of Family Studies Research Plan 2002-2005.
December 22, 2002... The Australian Institute of Family Studies is the key centre for family research in Australia. In planning its research program, the Institute seeks to make a positive contribution to policy development and debate on issues of critical and...