Research reports

Also see FLoSse Research, a searchable repository of LSAC research.

2011

Huerta, M., Adema, W., Baxter, J., Corak, M., Deding, M., Gray, M.C., Han, W., Waldfogel, J. (2011), Early Maternal Employment and Child Development in Five OECD Countries, OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, No. 118, OECD Publishing.
Misson, S., Sanson, A., Berthelsen, D., Rogers, H., Rothman, S., Sipthorp, M., & Wake, M. Tracking children's development over time: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children Outcome Indices, Waves 2 and 3. (Research Paper No. 50) Australian Institute of Family Studies, Melbourne.
Baxter, J., Gray, M., & Hayes, A. (2011). Families in regional, rural and remote Australia. Australian Institute of Family Studies, Melbourne.
Baxter, J., & Smart, D. (2011). Fathering in Australia among couple families with young children. (Occasional paper no. 37). Canberra: Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.

2010

Australian Institute of Family Studies. (2010). The best start: supporting, happy childhoods.
Australian Institute of Family Studies, Melbourne
The Australian Institute of Family Studies has prepared this Facts Sheet about the diversity of families to support the 2010 National Families Week.
Baxter, J. (2010). An exploration of the timing and nature of parental time with 4-5 year olds using Australian children's time use data. (Research Paper No. 45). Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.
Parental time with children contributes to children's development and is positively associated with children's wellbeing. However, the amount of parent-child shared time does not necessarily capture its "quality". While this parent-child time is often analysed using adults' time use data, it is also possible to analyse this time from the child's perspective. This paper uses just over 5,000 time use diaries of 4-5 year old children, collected in the first wave (2004) of Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC).
Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. (2010) FaHCSIA Research News No. 36, Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Canberra.
FaHCSIA reports on the second Growing up in Australia: the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) research conference held on 3–4 December 2009 in Melbourne. The report contains a brief summary of presentations of particular relevance to the FaHCSIA portfolio.
Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. (2010). FaHCSIA Research News No. 36. Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Canberra
FaHCSIA hosted its ninth annual Social Policy Research workshop, where Deputy Secretary Serena Wilson delivered a presentation on Evidence and policy-making. Ms Wilson explained that the key to evidence-based policy is ongoing dialogue between researchers and policy makers. Ms Lynne Pezzullo, Director, Access Economics also gave a presentation on 'Scoping study into the economic value of positive family functioning'. Both presenters drew on data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children.
Harrison, L., Ungerer, J., Smith, G., Zubrick, S., Wise, S., with Press, F., Waniganayake, M., & The LSAC Research Consortium. (2010). Child care and early education in Australia - The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. (Social Policy Research Paper No. 40). Canberra: Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Commonwealth of Australia.
The research undertaken for Child care and early education in Australia is based on data collected in Wave 1 of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) from parents, children and child care/early education carers and teachers.
Rutherford, L., Bittman, M., & Biron, D. (2010). Young children and the media: A discussion paper.
Melbourne: Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth.
Professor Michael Bittman and Dr Leonie Rutherford were commissioned to prepare a discussion paper to inform further strategy and project development work to be undertaken by ARACY. The paper brings together the best Australian and international evidence about the impact, positive or otherwise, of media on the wellbeing, education and socialisation of young children; how young children engage in decision-making about media use, their engagement directly in the creation of content and the nature of media content on offer and the effectiveness or otherwise of media-related technologies, activities and mediators of use by young children. What works to maximise positive outcomes?
Strazdins, L., Shipley, M., Clements, M., Obrien, L. V., and Broom, D. H. (2010). Job quality and inequality: Parents' jobs and children's emotional and behavioural difficulties. Social Science & Medicine.
Taylor, M., Edwards, B., & Gray, M. (2010) Background Paper: Unemployment and the wellbeing of children aged 5 to 10 years. Sydney: The Benevolent Society.
Walker, S. & Berthelsen, D. (2010). Social inequalities and parent involvement in children’s education in the early years of school. In V. Green & S. Cherrington (Eds.), Delving into diversity: An international exploration of issues in diversity in education (pp. 139-149). Nova Science Publishers, New York, USA.

2009

Australian Communications and Media Authority. (2009). Use of electronic media and communications: Early childhood to teenage years. Canberra: Australian Communications and Media Authority.
This paper brings together the ACMA's research on media use by 8-17 year olds and new findings about 3-4 and 7-8 year olds from the Australian Institute of Family Studies study Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2009). A picture of Australia's children 2009. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
This report delivers the latest information on how, as a nation, we are faring according to key indicators of child health, development and wellbeing. Death rates among children have fallen dramatically, and most children are physically active and meet minimum standards for reading and numeracy. But it is not all good news. Rates of severe disability and diabetes are on the rise. Too many children are overweight or obese, or are at risk of homelessness, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children fare worse on most key indicators.
Baxter, J. (2009). Parental time with children: Do job characteristics make a difference? (Research Paper No. 44). Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.
To contribute to our understanding of how paid work and family time interact, this paper examines how characteristics of parental paid employment are associated with differences in parent-child time. With an increased participation of mothers in paid employment, especially in part-time work, and an increase in non-standard paid work hours, it is important to understand how such factors are related to a loss of time shared between parent and child.
Baxter, J., & Smith, J. (2009). Breastfeeding and infants' time use (Research Paper No. 43). Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.
Being breastfed during infancy is known to improve developmental outcomes, but the pathways by which this occurs remain unclear. One possible yet unexplored mechanism is that breastfed infants may spend their time differently to infants who are not breastfed. This paper analyses infants' time use according to breastfeeding status in order to help inform the debate about how breastfeeding leads to improved child outcomes.
Bowes, J. & Grace, R. (Eds.). (2009). Research on children, families and communities. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. (2009). Longitudinal Study of Australian Children: Key research questions. Canberra: Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Commonwealth of Australia.
At the commencement of Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) seven broad research questions were established to guide the direction of the study. The seven questions incorporated 14 further specific research questions grouped under the headings of family functioning, health, non-parental child care, education and cross-discipline. The research questions were reviewed in early 2009 to ensure they continue to be relevant given the increasing age of the child, developments in child psychology literature and the changing policy environment.
Productivity Commission (2009). Paid Parental Leave: Support for Parents with Newborn Children, Report no. 47, Canberra.
Submissions:

2008

Baxter, J. (2008). Timing of mothers' return to work after childbearing: variations by job characteristics and leave use (Research Paper No. 42). Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.
This paper presents research based on data from the 2005 Parental Leave in Australia Survey (PLAS), which was conducted as a nested survey in Wave 1.5 of LSAC. It analyses how different factors relate to the timing of women's return to work after having a child, contributing significantly to our understanding of maternal employment in Australia. The focus is on how different aspects of employment prior to a birth, and the use of paid and unpaid leave, are related to the timing of return to work after a birth. The paper contributes to the current policy debate on paid maternity leave and also informs on how labour market features impact on this aspect of family life.
Leigh, A. & Gong, X. (2008). Estimating cognitive gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians [PDF 208 KB] (Discussion Paper No. 578). Canberra: Australian National University Centre for Economic Policy Research.
Smart, D., Sanson, A., Baxter, J., Edwards, B. & Hayes, A. (2008). Home-to-school transitions for financially disadvantaged children. Sydney: The Smith Family.
The Smith Family. (2008). Home-to-school transitions for financially disadvantaged children: Final report. Sydney: The Smith Family.
The Smith Family. (2008). Home-to-school transitions for financially disadvantaged children: Summary report. Sydney: The Smith Family.
Zubrick, S., Smith, G.J., Nicholson, J., Sanson, A. & Jackiewicz, T. (2008). Parenting and families in Australia (Social Policy Research Paper 34). Canberra: Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Commonwealth of Australia.
Wake, M., Sanson, A., Berthelsen, D., Hardy, P., Misson, S., Smith, K., & Ungerer, J. (2008). How well are Australian infants and children aged 4 to 5 years doing? (Social Policy Research Paper 36). Canberra: Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Commonwealth of Australia.
The researchers used Wave 1 of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) dataset. The findings are broadly applicable to all Australian families with young children and directly relevant to social policy development and practice.

2007

Baxter, J., Gray, M., Alexander, M., Strazdins, L., & Bittman, M. (2007). Mothers and fathers with young children: Paid employment, caring and wellbeing (Social Policy Research Paper 30). Canberra: Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Commonwealth of Australia.
This paper is based on Wave 1 of the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Children confidentialised unit record file. It examines how the use of child care, the time parents spend with children, and parental wellbeing relate to parental employment.
Baxter, J., Gray, M. & Hayes, A. (2007). A snapshot of how Australian families spend their time (Factsheet). Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.
Bradbury, B. (2007). Child outcomes and family socio-economic characteristics: Final report of the project: LSAC Outcomes and the Family Environment [PDF 603 KB] (SPRC Report No. 10/07). Sydney: Social Policy Research Centre.
Gong, X. & Gorgens, T. (2007). Is it good for children to attend child care early? Canberra: Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Commonwealth of Australia.
Hayes, A. (2007) Why early in life is not enough: Timing and sustainability in prevention and early intervention. In A. France & R. Homel (Eds.), Pathways and crime prevention: Theory, policy and practice. (pp 202-224), Willan Publishing, Devon, UK.
Johnstone, D., Shah, M. & Shields, M.A. (2007). Handedness, time use and early child development (IZA Discussion Paper 2752). Bonn, Germany: The Institute for the Study of Labor.
Zhu, A. (2007). The effect of maternal employment on the likelihood of a child being overweight (School of Economics Discussion Paper 2007/17). Sydney: University of New South Wales.

2006

Blakemore, T. (2006). Examining potential risk factors, pathways and processes associated with childhood injury in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (Australian Social Policy 2006). Canberra: Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Commonwealth of Australia.
Brinkman, S., Silburn, S. & Lawrence, D. (2006). Construct and concurrent validity of the Australian Early Development Index: A report to the Technical Advisory Group for the Australian Early Development Index Building Better Communities for Children Project [PDF 120 KB]. Parkville: Centre for Community Child Health, Royal Children's Hospital.
Dawe, S., Frye, S., Best, D., Moss, D., Atkinson, J., Evans, C., Lynch, M. & Harnett, P. (2006). Drug use in the family: impacts and implications for children [PDF 1.0 MB] (ANCD Research Paper No. 13). Canberra: Australian National Council on Drugs.
Gong, X. & Gorgens, T. (2006). The demand for child care: A review of the literature and patterns from the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Children. Canberra: Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Commonwealth of Australia.
Harrison, L., Ungerer, J., Smith, J., Zubrick, S. & Wise, S. (2006). Child care in Australia. Canberra: Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Commonwealth of Australia.
Hayes, A. (2006). Foreword. In A. Elliot, Early childhood education: Pathways to quality and equity for all children. Melbourne: Australian Council for Educational Research.
Leigh, A. & Gong, X. (2006). Does parental age matter? Comparing test scores for very young children with younger and older parents. Canberra: Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Commonwealth of Australia.
Leigh, A. & Gong, X. (2006). How large are cognitive and non-cognitive gaps between very young children from rich and poor households, and between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children? Canberra: Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Commonwealth of Australia.
The aim of this research was to compare the early-age cognitive and non-cognitive gaps between children from rich and poor households, and Indigenous and non-Indigenous children.
O'Halloran, S. (2006) Growing Up in Australia continues. Putting Children First No. 17, 10. National Childcare Accreditation Council Inc., Sydney.
Whitehouse, G., Baird, M., Diamond, C. & Hosking, A. (2006). The Parental Leave in Australia Survey: November 2006 report [PDF 205 KB]. Brisbane: School of Political Science and International Studies, University of Queensland.

2005

Blakemore, T. (2005) Risk factors for childhood injury: preliminary findings from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, FaCS Research News No. 21, 1-4. Department of Family and Community Services, Canberra.
Department of Family and Community Services. (2005) FaCS Research News No.23, 7-12. Department of Family and Community Services, Canberra.

2004

Department of Family and Community Services. (2004) FaCS Research News No.19, 5-9. Department of Family and Community Services, Canberra.
Fletcher, R., Fairbairn, H. & Pascoe, S. (2004). Fatherhood research in Australia: Research report. Calligan, NSW: Family Action Centre, University of Newcastle.
Logie, H., Hogan, R., & Peut, A. (2004). Longitudinal studies of ageing: Implications for future studies [PDF 158 KB]. Canberra, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
Vimpani, G. (2004) Growing Up in Australia: A new longitudinal study of children. Joint Medical and Health Sciences Newsletter, Faculty of Health, University of Newcastle, Hunter Area Health Service and Hunger Medical Research Institute, No. 120, June, 11.

2003

Sayers, M. (2003) Putting Children First No. 7, 6-7. National Childcare Accreditation Council Inc., Sydney.
Sanson, A. (2003) Largest ever longitudinal study of children. In Research news, Market Research Society of Australia newsletter.
Soriano, G. (2003) Growing Up in Australia: the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. In Child Health and News Update, electronic information Update No. 7, Child and Youth Health Unit, Queensland Health, 11.

2001

Department of Family and Community Services. (2001) FaCS Research News No.8, 1-2. Department of Family and Community Services, Canberra.

2000

Wilson, K. (2000) ACSPRI Newsletter No. 42, 15-17, Australian Consortium for Social and Political Research, Inc, Melbourne.

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