Snapshots of family relationships

Lixia Qu and Ruth Weston
To celebrate National Families Week in 2008, the Australian Institute of Family Studies prepared Snapshots of Family Relationships. This report, which was commissioned by the Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA), provides a brief outline of the following issues:

• trends in couple formation, dissolution and family size;
• the personal satisfaction teenagers and adults derive from their family relationships (including step-relationships) and parents’ views about the closeness of relationships between their own parents and children;
• parents’ opinions about various issues, such as the ease or difficulty most parents have in raising children;
• the sources of professional support that parents expect they would use if they were separating from their partner or had difficulties in handling their children’s behaviour, and any professional support that they have used; and
• post-separation patterns of parenting.

Work and family responsibilities through life

To support the 2008 National Families Week, the Australian Institute of Family Studies prepared this Facts Sheet about work and family balance. The theme for Families Week in 2008 was "Work and family: Getting the balance right", which reflects the importance of encouraging Australians, particularly working parents, to find ways to more effectively achieve work and family balance.

How Australian families spend their time

To support the 2007 National Families Week, the Australian Institute of Family Studies prepared this Facts Sheet about the time that families spend together. The aim of the 2007 National Families Week was to encourage families to take the time to do things together that will improve their physical and emotional wellbeing.

Australian families with adolescents

To support the 2006 National Families Week, the Australian Institute of Family Studies prepared this Facts Sheet about families with adolescent children aged 12 to 18 years - the group that was given special emphasis in the 2006 National Families Week.

Over the last few generations the composition of families and the roles and responsibilities of parents have changed substantially. Despite these transformations, the family unit remains the foundation of society and the place in which children are nurtured as they grow to maturity.