Family Matters articles from March 2002

Family Matters archives from March 2002

"The fertility crisis"? (Director's report).
March 22, 2002... The "fertility crisis" has been the subject of active debate in the last year or so. We have been subjected to newspaper headlines such as: "Populate or stagnate", "Procreate or perish", "Marry and multiply", "Adapt or depopulate". It has...

Why is the fertility rate falling? A discussion of the literature: after decades of falling birth rates, fertility in Australia is now at an all-time low. Ruth Weston and Robyn Parker look at what might lie behind this new scenario.
March 22, 2002... Two countervailing trends dominate demographic discussion. On the one hand, the world's population is increasing rapidly; on the other, fertility is on the decline. In Australia, the population was 10.5 million in 1961--the year when the...

Fertility decline in Australia: a demographic context: the declining birth rate is a major factor in population ageing and also has important implications for the way families function, for the economy and society more generally, and for issues of environmental sustainability.
March 22, 2002... Although fertility decline has been apparent for some time, it has only recently been taken seriously by policy makers. However, as the baby boomer generation ages, the workforce shrinks and health care and income support costs increase, the...

Three facts about fertility: cross-national lessons for the current debate: in a world where socio-economic and cultural patterns are usually slow to change, there has been a radical reversal in the traditional factors that influence levels of fertility.
March 22, 2002... The current debate on below-replacement fertility, and the policy instruments Australia might adopt to tackle the problem, is both welcome and confused. The debate is welcome because, with some exceptions in the work of Peter McDonald and...

Relationships, marriage and parenthood: views of young people and their parents.
March 22, 2002... Australia's birth rate is now below the population replacement rate, and continues to decrease. But is this trend paralleled by diminished aspirations for marriage and parenthood? Data from the Australian Temperament Project are used to explore...

Marriage, births and fertility.
March 22, 2002... The fertility decline over the last 30 years (see de Vaus elsewhere in this issue) has gone hand in hand with sharp changes in marriage patterns. While marriage and children were once a package deal for all but the involuntarily childless, this...

Lesbian parenting: issues, strengths and challenges.
March 22, 2002... A new study of lesbian and bisexual parents and prospective parents examined the structuring of family relationships, preferred methods of conception, the nature and level of involvement of biological fathers in the lives of children, the use...

Fertility rates, women in the workforce, and economic health. (Opinion/Comment).(Interview)
March 22, 2002... Today on The Europeans we'll be looking at the connection between fertility rates, women in the workforce and economic health. The debate over paid maternity leave that is happening in Australia at the moment was resolved decades ago in...

When the difference is night and day: parent-child contact after separation.
March 22, 2002... The broad cultural, legal and policy push towards encouraging post-separation cooperative parenting needs to be underpinned with detailed research that goes beyond simply measuring the frequency of contact between children and non-resident...

Relationship diversity and the law: families in Australia take many and varied forms--blended families, sole-parent families, families headed by same-sex couples, with children conceived from donor sperm ... How is the law responding to accommodate diversity in relationships and family structure? (Family Law).
March 22, 2002... Rapid social change in the developed world, with higher divorce rates, fewer marriages, greater acceptance of same-sex relationships, and advancements in reproductive and gender assignation technology, has resulted in an increasingly diverse...

HILDA has arrived! Research into Australian families has been given an enormous boost with the recent release of the first wave of data from the longitudinal Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey. (New Survey On Australian Households And Families).(Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey)
March 22, 2002... In the first survey of its type in Australia, the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (commonly known as the HILDA Survey) will yield valuable insights into the dynamics of family relationships, parenting, housing...

AIFS/CPV launch. (AIFS Activities).(Australian Institute of Family Studies)(Crime Prevention Victoria)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2002... The first report from the collaborative project between Crime Prevention Victoria and the Australian Institute of Family Studies was recently launched by the Hon. Andre Haermeyer, the Victorian Minister for Police and Emergency Services, during...

AIFS links with FLC. (AIFS Activities).(Australian Institute of Family Studies)(Family Law Council)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2002... Since its inception in 1980, the Australian Institute of Family Studies has enjoyed a long and fruitful association with the Family Law Council. The Family Law Council is a statutory authority established by the Family Law Act 1975 to advise...

AIFS address changes from org to gov. (AIFS Activities).(Australian Institute of Family Studies changes web site address)(Brief Article)
March 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...

HILDA launched.
March 22, 2002... Wave One data of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey was released by at the Melbourne Institute Public Economics Forum held at Parliament House on Tuesday 15 October 2002. The launch, by Senator the Hon. Amanda...

Life chances and policy outcomes. (AIFS Seminars).
March 22, 2002... Janet Taylor, Research Coordinator, and Alex Fraser, Research Assistant, with the Social Action and Research, Brotherhood of St Laurence, presented a seminar on preliminary data from the most recent (sixth) wave of the Life Chances Study--a...

Effects of time pressure on mothers' health. (AIFS Seminars).
March 22, 2002... Dr Michael Bittman, Senior Research Fellow, Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, presented a seminar on the effects of time pressure on mothers' health. Making use of two Australian data sets, the 1997 Time Use Survey...

Immigrant mothers. (AIFS Seminars).
March 22, 2002... Associate Professor Pranee Liamputtong in the School of Public Health, La Trobe University, presented a seminar on the challenge of motherhood from an immigrant mother's perspective. The seminar was presented from a feminist perspective, and...

Connecting families and communities.
March 22, 2002... Around 120 people representing a range of organisations throughout Australia attended the "Connecting Families and Communities" conference in Darwin on 8-11 October 2002. This national conference was hosted by Family Services Australia, a...

Child care for children from different cultural backgrounds.
March 22, 2002... The Australian Institute of Family Studies Child Care in Cultural Context study explores the child rearing goals, attitudes and behaviours of caregivers in home and child care settings, and how differences between them impact on child outcomes....

Relationship education services. (New Research).
March 22, 2002... In June 2001, the Australian Institute of Family Studies, in partnership with the Centre for Research in Education, Equity and Work, secured the contract to conduct a survey of relationship education services across the country for the...

Siblings: Brothers and sisters of children with special needs.(Book Review)
March 22, 2002... by Kate Strohm, Wakefield Press, Kent Town, 2002. Price: $27.50. This book came out of the work undertaken by the Sibling Project based at the Women's and Children's Hospital in Adelaide. The aim of the project is to develop and coordinate...

Surviving stalking.(Book Review)
March 22, 2002... by Michele Pathe, Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne, 2002. Price: $59.95. This Australian publication aims to give practical advice to victims of stalking. Individual chapters cover: definitions of stalking; how common is...

New perspectives on bullying.(Book Review)
March 22, 2002... by Ken Rigby, Jessica Kingsley, London, 2002. This book examines bullying in a wide social context. The author begins by attempting to define bullying, looking at issues of power imbalance, aggression, types of bullying, and individual and...

Australia's health 2002, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Canberra, 2002.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2002... This biennial publication of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reports on the health status of Australians. Chapters analyse the overall health of Australians; determinants of health; population health; use of health services and...

Me and my kids: Parenting from a distance.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2002... Child Support Agency, Canberra, 2002. Price: free of charge. Available from the Child Support Agency http://www.csa.gov.au Subtitled "Tips and hints to help you build on your relationship with your children after separation," this booklet...

More than refuge: Changing responses to domestic violence.(Book Review)
March 22, 2002... by Suellen Murray, University of Western Australia Press, Crawley, 2002. Price: $34.95. This work traces the responses to domestic violence within an Australian (specifically, a Western Australian) context. Taking a historical approach,...

Rethinking ADHD: Integrated approaches to helping children at home and at school.(Book Review)
March 22, 2002... by Ruth Schmidt Neven, Vicki Anderson and Tim Godber, Allen and Unwin, 2002. Price: $39.95. Written for both professionals and parents, this book argues that many behavioural difficulties of young children are related to changes in society...

Creating a life: Professional women and the quest for children.(Book Review)
March 22, 2002... by Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Talk Miramax Books, New Year, 2002. This book explores the dilemmas faced by many professional women with regard to career and family. Drawing on her own personal experience, plus those of many professional women who...

Work-Lifestyle Choices in the 21st century: Preference Theory.(Book Review)
March 22, 2002... by Catherine Hakim, Oxford university Press, Oxford, 2000 Although published two years ago, this important work retains it's relevance as the debate over work and family life continues. The author proposes a new theory (preference theory)...

Conferences.(Calendar)
March 22, 2002... 16-19 January 2003 Home Economics Adelaide, SA Reflect and Revitalise is the theme of this conference, which will enable participants to consider and debate contemporary issues surrounding individuals and families in their everyday...

Contemporary issues in family research. (AIFS seminar series).(Calendar)
March 22, 2002... In 2003, 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...

Population change and an ageing Australia. (Publications).(Brief Article)
March 22, 2002... Australia is experiencing falling fertility in the context of increasing life expectancy--and thus an ageing population. Published by the Institute last year, this Briefing Paper remains a timely analysis of the implications of declining...

Welfare reform in the US and Australia. (New).(Brief Article)
March 22, 2002... Recent developments in policies towards lone parents in Australia have emphasised the role of employment in increasing income and self-sufficiency. The emphasis on employment is also the case in other OECD countries with a general trend towards...

Marriages that last. (Publications).(Brief Article)
March 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,...

Growing up in Australia. (Publications).
March 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. Funded by the Commonwealth Department...

AIFS Annual Report. (New).
March 22, 2002... Family Matters readers who would like to know more of the Institute's operations and activities may obtain copies of the Annual Report 2001-2002 available now (free of charge) from the Institute. HOW TO ACCESS FREE PUBLICATIONS The...