Emeritus Professor David de Vaus
Research Projects (Current)
Family diversity and change
This is a wide ranging project in which I am collecting and analyzing
statistical data from a variety of national data sets, including census,
national surveys and registration data to map changes in family living
arrangements for the decades over which reliable data are available.
The main outcome from this project will be a lengthy book entitled Diversity
and Change in Australian Families: Statistical Profiles. This book contains
19 chapters and may be purchased from the Australian Institute of Family
studies (www.aifs.gov.au). Fuller details of the book’s contents
are available from www.social-research.org.
Funded by
La Trobe University and The Australian Institute of Family Studies
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Transitions of children, 1946-2001
This project examines the changes in the transitions in living arrangements
experienced by children in the first 15 years of their lives. Rather
than describing a static picture of how many children are living in
particular family types at a given point of time, the project adopts
a dynamic approach
to these living arrangements and tracks the number of different living
arrangements that children experience in the first 15 years and they
types of arrangements in which they live. Using data generated by the
Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (HILDA) this
project examines the changing experiences of different birth cohorts
since the Second World War. Unlike the information available from births,
marriages and divorces registration data this project is able to track
changes resulting from parental separations. It also provides a fuller
understanding of the family arrangements into which children are born
and is able to distinguish births to lone unmarried mothers from births
to partnered unmarried mothers. It will also be able to track the outcomes
for children born to cohabiting parents and parents who are married
and answer the question as to whether children born to cohabiting
parents
face more unstable family living arrangements.
Funded by
La Trobe University and made possible by data provided by the Australian
Government Department of Family and Community Services.
Research Collaborator
Dr Matthew Gray, Australian Institute of Family Studies
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Retirement and well being
This project consists of two parts. The first part involved a survey
of 5000 workers aged 50 and over and explored their views and plans
regarding retirement. From this sample 560 people were recruited
as they were about
to retire. These research participants then participated in the study
on retirement, 6 months later and again 12 months following their retirement.
The main focus of this part of the study was to explore the ways in
which people retired and how the pathways to retirement affected
post retirement
outcomes. There was a special emphasis on health outcomes. Health outcomes
were broadly defined to include physical health, emotional and psychological
well being and social well being.
The second phase of the project follows up the same participants over
a longer period and involved interviewing retirees at 24 and 36 months
after retirement.
Funded by:
The Victorian Health Promotion Foundation
Research Collaborators
Professor Hal Kendig, University of Sydney
Dr Yvonne Wells, La Trobe University
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Living alone
The proportion of households in which people live alone is increasing
steadily in all western countries. In Australia, lone person households
are the fastest growing household type and now represent 1 in 4 households
and by 2026 almost 1 in three households are projected to contain just
one person. This project maps the changes in patterns of living alone,
explores the outcomes for individual behaviour and well being and seeks
to understand the meaning of this very different form of living.
Funded by
Australian Research Council Discovery Grant
Australian Bureau of Statistics
Australian Academy of Social Sciences
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Cohabitation
The rise in non marital cohabitation (de facto relationships) and the
practice of partners living together before marriage are notable changes
in family formation patterns that have taken place since the mid 1970s.
This project explores the changing patterns of cohabitation and examines
the outcomes of cohabitation for matters such as relationship duration,
subsequent marital stability, mental health and the stability of family
life for children.
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Baby Boomer Retirement
Individuals, governments, and employers are becoming increasingly aware that baby boomers’ retirement from the workforce will have a major bearing on their own economic and social well being and also the future of younger generations. The national Ageing Baby Boomers in Australia project will focus on individuals born between 1946 and 1958 and will generate an innovative and comprehensive body of knowledge that informs constructive action for better retirement. The research will provide groundbreaking knowledge on baby boomers’ retirement processes from preparations and decision-making through to the consequences for the early years of retirement. Comparisons will be made with comparable data from the USA.
The research will improve understanding of baby boomers and inform action to achieve positive outcomes individually & for an ageing Australia. It will:
1) inform baby boomers of ways in which their actions in late middle age can increase the chance of having satisfying healthy lives in retirement;
2) inform employers & governments on key factors enabling people to work longer;
3) challenge stereotypes of baby boomers by showing their variability over the life course & in retirement;
4) provide four researchers with knowledge & expertise in applied, multi-disciplinary research on individual & population ageing;
5) identify baby boomers expectations for themselves, governments, & the community to guide directions for Australia’s response to ageing.
Funded by:
Australian Research Council Linkage Grant
American Association of Retired People
Co-researchers
Kendig Hal. The University of Sydney CI
Wells Yvonne, La Trobe University CI
Wooden Mark,The University of Melbourne CI
O'Loughlin Kathleen The University of Sydney CI
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Consequences in old age of divorce
As the first generation that experienced high rates of divorce reaches retirement age, the number of older Australians who have experienced divorce at some point in their lives will increase dramatically in coming decades. There is very little empirical evidence in Australia on the longer term financial, social and personal consequences of divorce for older people.
This project begins to fill this gap by providing some of the first estimates of the financial consequences, the long term well social and psychological well being of divorce for Australians aged 55 to 74 years. It uses data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey to examine these effects and to explore the ways in which gender and marital status (i.e. continued single, remarried) shapes the longer term outcomes of divorce for later life.
Co-researchers
Matthew Gray, Australian Instititute of Family Studies
Lixia Qu, Australian Instititute of Family Studies
David Stanton, Visiting Fellow, Policy and Governance, Crawford School of Economics and Government
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Rural and Regional Families: The Impact of Drought, Economic and Social Change
This research study will provide information on the health, family wellbeing and financial stress of families in rural and regional Australia and their communities. Although there are frequent reports of the negative impact on families of the current drought, relatively little large-scale research into this issue has been undertaken. As part of the study, telephone interviews will be conducted with 8,000 people living in rural and regional areas.
Funded by
Australian Insititute of Family Studies
Co-researchers: Ben Edwards, Boyd Hunter and Matthew Gray
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