Dr Jennifer Baxter
Research Fellow

BSc (ANU), MPS (ANU), PhD (ANU)

Biography

Dr Jennifer Baxter is a demographer who joined the Australian Institute of Family Studies in 2005. Her research focuses on the interaction between work and family.

Since starting at AIFS, Jennifer has made a significant contribution to a number of important reports, including the FaHCSIA Social Policy Research Paper No. 30, Mothers and Fathers with Young Children: Paid Employment, Caring and Wellbeing (Baxter, Gray, Alexander, Strazdins,& Bittman, 2007) and AIFS' submission to the Productivity Commission Parental Leave inquiry (2008). She has also contributed several Family Matters articles and had work published in other journals. Her research interests include maternal employment following childbearing, childcare use, job characteristics and work-family spillover, breastfeeding, children's time use and parental time with children. She has made extensive use of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) to explore these areas of research.

Jennifer is also a Partner Investigator on the Negotiating the Life Course Project.

Jennifer completed a PhD in the Demography and Sociology Program of the ANU, titled The Changing Employment of Partnered Mothers in Australia, 1981 to 2001. Her work experience includes more than fifteen years in the public sector, having worked in a number of statistical and research positions in government departments.

Specialist areas

• Statistical analysis on issues relating to parental employment (including changes over time, within-family decision-making, the role of income support and child care)
• Analysis of employment transitions

Current research activities

• Analyses of parents' and children's time use
• Breastfeeding and return-to-work
• International comparisons of work-family policies
• Childcare and parental employment
• Analyses of changing lifetime employment patterns of women
• Financial wellbeing and parental employment

Selected recent publications

• Gray, M., Edwards, B., Hayes, A., and Baxter, J. (2009). The impacts of recessions on families. Family Matters, 83, 7-14.
• Edwards, B., Baxter, J., Smart, D., Sanson, A., and Hayes, A. (2009). Financial disadvantage and children’s school readiness. Family Matters, 83, 23-31.
• Edwards, B., Gray M., Baxter, J., and Hunter, B. (2009). The tyranny of distance? Carers in regional and remote areas of Australia, Commissioned report, Carers Australia.
• Baxter, J (forthcoming). An exploration of the timing and nature of parental time with 4–5 year olds using Australian children’s time use data. AIFS Research Paper.
• Baxter, J. (forthcoming). Flexible Work Hours and Other Job Factors in Parental Time with Children. Social Indicators Research.
• Baxter, J. & Smith, J. (under review). Family influences on infants’ development opportunities: An Australian time use study of infant activities and social contexts.
• Baxter, J. (2009). Parental time with children: Do job characteristics make a difference? (Research Paper No. 44). Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.
• Baxter, J. , Cooklin, A.R., & Smith, J. (2009). Which mothers wean their babies prematurely from full breastfeeding? An Australian cohort study. Acta Paediatrica, 98(8), 1274-1277
  
• Baxter, J., & Smith, J. (2009). Breastfeeding and infants' time use (Research Paper No. 43). Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.
• Renda, J., Baxter, J., & Alexander, M. (2009). Exploring the work-family policies mothers say would help after the birth of a child. Australian Journal of Labour Economics, Vol 12, No. 1 2009, pp 65-87.
• Baxter, J. (2009). Mothers' timing of return to work by leave use and pre-birth job characteristics. Journal of Family Studies, 15(2) 153-166 .
• Baxter, J., Gray, M & Hayes, A. (2009). Diverse families making a difference. Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies
• Baxter, J. (2008). Is money the main reason mothers return to work after childbearing? A quantitative analysis of reasons for return to work. Journal of Population Research, 25(2), 141–160.
• Smart, D., Sanson, A., Baxter, J., Edwards, B., & Hayes., A. (2008). Home-to-school transitions for financially disadvantaged children (PDF 623 KB), Commissioned report, The Smith Family.
• Baxter, J. (2008). Timing of mothers' return to work after childbearing: Variations by job characteristics and leave use (PDF 414 KB) (Research Paper No. 42). Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.
• Baxter, J. & Alexander, M. (2008). Mother’s work–family strain in single and couple parent families: The role of job characteristics and supports (PDF 472 KB). Australian Journal of Social Issues, 43(2), 195-214.
• Gray, M., Baxter, J. & Alexander, M. (2008). Parent-only care: a child care choice for working couple families? Family Matters, 79, 42-49.
• Baxter, J. & Gray, M. (2008). Work and family responsibilities through life (PDF 736 KB). Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.
• Baxter, J. (2008). When Dad works long hours: How work hours are associated with fathering 4-5-year-old children. Family Matters, 77, 60-69.
• Baxter, J., Gray, M., Alexander, M., Strazdins, L. & Bittman, M. (2007). Mothers and fathers with young children: Paid employment, caring and wellbeing (PDF 858 KB) (Social Policy Research Paper No. 30). Canberra: Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.
• Baxter, J. (2007). Children's time use in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children: Data quality and analytical issues in the 4-year cohort (PDF 5.2 MB) (LSAC Technical Paper No. 4). Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.
• Baxter, J., Gray, M. & Hayes, A. (2007). A snapshot of how Australian families spend their time. Melbourne, Vic.: Australian Institute of Family Studies.
• Baxter, J. & Hayes, A. (2007). How four year olds spend their day: Insights into the caring contexts of young children. Family Matters, 76, 34-43.
• Baxter, J., & Gray, M. (2006). Paid work characteristics or mothers with infants. Family Matters, 74, 34-41.
• Baxter, J. (2005). Women's work transitions around childbearing (PDF 1.1 MB) (Negotiating the Life Course discussion paper DP-021). Canberra, ACT: Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University.
• Baxter, J. (2005). The employment of partnered mothers in Australia, 1981 to 2001 (PDF 2.58 MB). Unpublished PhD thesis, Australian National University.
• Baxter, J. (2005), Mothers' employment transitions following childbirth. Family Matters, 71, 11-17.
• Baxter, J., & McDonald, P. (2005). Why is the rate of home ownership falling in Australia? (PDF 147 KB) AHURI Research and Policy Bulletin, 52, 1-4.
• Baxter, J., & McDonald, P. (2004). Trends in home ownership rates in Australia: The relative importance of affordability trends and changes in population composition. Final report (PDF 3.0 MB). Melbourne, Vic: Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, 31p.

Submissions

• Inquiry into implications of the proposed National Broadband Network Parliament of Australia. (PDF 477 KB). Parliament of Australia. Senate Select Committee on the National Broadband Network.
• Inquiry into Paid Maternity, Paternity and Parental Leave (PDF 597 KB). Productivity Commission.

Presentations

See Staff papers and presentations