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The article presents information about the 2004 Family Conference, held in Singapore. The Australian Institute of family Studies participated in the conference that was held to mark the tenth anniversary of the International Year of the Family (IYF). The IYF celebrations culminated in a two-day Family Conference followed by a Family Festival. The Family Conference was organized by Singapore's Committee on the Family, the IYF taskforce, and the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports. The conference comprised two parts: a Regional Family Policy Forum and Family Matters Seminar. Speakers from various countries were nominated to present papers and to join in panel discussions which involved considerable audience participation. The article discusses various issues raised in the papers presented at the Regional Family Policy Forum. In total, nine papers were presented during the Forum. Considerable consistency in findings or conclusions emerged not only within the three sessions but also across these sessions.

This article focuses on the Australian Institute on Family Studies' Housing Across the Life Course project. This paper set out to illustrate how the key concepts of a risk society might become manifest in contemporary Australian housing careers. This led to a consideration of whether entry to home purchase shows signs of increased differentiation and disconnectedness. Analysis reveals no evidence of increased differentiation; on the contrary, the age-related norm of entry to home ownership appears to be strengthening. That is, entry to home ownership by later cohorts is increasingly likely to have been attained within a narrower span of years than earlier cohorts. The data suggest that if individuals have not entered home ownership by their early thirties, they are increasingly unlikely to do so. With regard to disconnectedness, analysis found that entry to home ownership is becoming increasingly disconnected from other life course events. The paper has provided brief illustrations of the manifestation of risk society concepts and what they might mean for our understanding of family life.

Presents an edited version of a paper presented to the Sixth Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference "Changing Families, Challenging Futures," held in Melbourne, Victoria on 25-29, November 1998, concerning low pay and family poverty in Australia. To be in paid work but poor used to be a contradiction in terms in Australia's "wage earners" welfare state. In the early 1970s, the Commission of Enquiry into Poverty estimated that less than 2 per cent of families with an adult in full-time employment could be described as poor. In the 1990s, however, having employment is no longer a guarantee of staying out of poverty. The ACTU's Living Wage Case attempted to put working poverty on the public agenda by expressly linking the question of low pay with that of household deprivation. Yet many low-paid workers live in better-off households, and the links between individual and family income status are complex. A study in progress at the Social Policy Research Centre suggests that a trend towards working poverty has accelerated in the 1990s, and this article draws on the research to trace the links between individual low pay and family poverty.

The article presents an edited version of a paper presented to the Sixth Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference "Changing Families, Challenging Futures," held in Melbourne, Victoria on 25-29, November 1998, concerning attachment theory and marital adjustment. Pre-marriage education has a long history in Australia and there is a wide range of pre-marriage and relationship education programs offered by religious and secular organisations. Some of these programs, through raising awareness and teaching relationship skills, aim to prepare young couples for marriage, while others provide opportunities for married couples to identify their strengths and develop ways of dealing with current and potential problems. Practitioners in both the education and counselling fields draw on a vast body of theory and knowledge about relationships which provides both descriptive and explanatory information, and experiential learning tools and resources. A rapidly expanding field of research, attachment theory, provides a framework for explaining how relationships form, develop, and break down, and offers educators and counsellors tools for informing and challenging those preparing for, and experiencing difficulties in, marriage. INSET: Attachment theory and research..

The article presents information about the Asia Pacific Family Dialogue hosted from October 11-13, 2004 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Asia Pacific Family Dialogue was the final in a series of four Regional Dialogues, leading up to an international conference on the family held in Doha, Qatar, from November 29-30, 2004, as agreed upon at the United Nations General Assembly in December 2003. The other three gatherings took place in Mexico City, Stockholm and Geneva. The ultimate aim of this entire process is to provide recommendations to strengthen and fortify the natural and fundamental group unit of society. The Dialogue was hosted by the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development, in conjunction with the World Policy Center, Brigham Young University, Utah. More than 70 papers were presented by speakers from 20 countries, including Australia and New Zealand. In addition, round-table discussions were held on such issues as marriage, parents and children, family life, family values and families and government policies.

The article highlights the 1998 Sixth Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference "Changing Families, Challenging Futures," held in Melbourne, Victoria on November 25-29, 1998. The conference attracted more than 450 delegates and over 150 papers were presented across the three days. The presiding member of the Institute's Board of Management, Dame Margaret Guileful, welcomed Senator the Jocelyn Newman, Minister for Family and Community Services and Minister assisting the Prime Minister on the status of women, who opened the conference. It was the Minister's first opportunity to meet with the Institute's Board, having assumed responsibility for the Institute after the federal election in October. The conference theme, changing Families, Challenging Futures, was introduced in the opening session by Keynote speaker Richard Eckersley, a visiting fellow at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University. After several conferences in which developmental issues dominated the children and young people stream, this conference focused more on policy and programs.

The article presents information about a new feature on the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) web site, and identifies various worldwide family research and family policy resources on the Internet. AIFS sminar papers are available on www.aifs.org.au/institute/seminars/seminarpapers.html. The following papers presented as part of the Australian Institute of Family Studies Seminar series are now available. It is planned to provide as many papers as possible to assist inquirers from interstate and for those unable to attend these Institute seminars. The 1999-2000 AIFS annual report is available on www.aifs.org.au/institute/pubs/annualreports/ar00.html. The Annual Report presents a comprehensive outline of the institute's research and other activities for the year. Youth Suicide Prevention Bulletin no. 4 October 2000 is available on www.aifs.org.au/ysp/pubs/bulletin4.html. The Bulletin offers news about government initiatives, suicide prevention projects, research findings, reviews and research in progress.

The article presents some features on the Australian Institute of Family Studies Web site, and identifies various worldwide family research and family policy resources on the Internet. The Australian Institute of Family Studies Seventh National Conference--Family futures: Issues in research and policy--has featured in "What's new" on the Institute's Web site in the last few months, as well as recent Institute publications and other new pages. The Institute's biennial conference provides an opportunity for presenters and participants to hear about the latest research and current issues in family studies in Australia. For those unable to attend and for participants who would like copies of papers, they can get them on the Institute's Web site. A non-exclusive licence from the author as copyright owner is required to allow papers on the Web site to be used for personal and educational purposes. There are two conference sites: In response to the many inquiries the Institute's reference service receives, a new links page has been developed to highlight Web resources on Australian demographic statistics and trends.

This article presents "Australian Family & Society Abstracts," commonly known by its short title "Family," which is the Australian Institute of Family Studies' bibliographic database. It has been operating since 1984 and covers literature from 1980 to the present. Approximately 3000 new documents are added each year. Family covers the research, policy and practice literature about Australian families and the social issues that impact on them. Publications indexed in the database are drawn from a wide range of social science disciplines including sociology, psychology, demography, health sciences, education, economics, law, history and social work. Source documents are journal articles, conference papers, books, book chapters, government reports, working papers and research reports, unpublished papers, statistical documents and theses. Some of the topics covered in the bibliographic database are: trends and change in marriage and the family; family law; family and social policies; social and community services. INSET: Sample record..

The article presents abstracts of various research papers that were contributed to the Australian Institute of Family Studies. Conferences give authors the opportunity to present preliminary findings and progress from research studies which are not at publication stage, to present progress reports and evaluation of service programs or projects, to examine the effectiveness of government programs in the field, and to float new ideas for discussion. While papers predominantly appear in conference proceedings, they may also be published in journals or edited collections. Some of the papers that have been selected for the Conferences are "Balancing the scales: National Conference on Sexual Assault, Perth"; "Enhancing access to justice"; "Family research: pathways to policy"; "The role of state, family and market in social policy." The Institute's Australian Family & Society Abstracts database can be accessed in all Australian university libraries, in state and government department libraries, and many TAFE, school, and public libraries.

The article presents information on trends in family studies in Australia. It monitors trends in the literature, both published works and unpublished papers such as conference and research papers and other non-commercial literature from universities and non-government agencies. The database also makes possible the identification of organisations and individuals working in particular subject areas. The database is divided into 70 broad subject categories. This structure makes it possible to analyse the amount and type of literature indexed in each category and to make observations about the attention or concern different social issues receive in a given time period. The majority of categories are surprisingly stable, mostly recording a slight increase each year, or occasionally a small decrease, in numbers of documents indexed. This year, 25 categories recorded more than 50 new documents; 13 with between 50 and 99 documents; nine with between 100 and 199 documents; and three categories with more than 200 documents.

The article provides updates on "Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC)." The third round of interviews for LSAC have been underway for most of 2008. Meanwhile, the paper "How Important is Marriage to Australians' Health, Wealth and Happiness?" has been presented by Linda Bencic. Furthermore, a paper on "Determining the Effects of Housing Costs on the Well-Being of Australian Families" has been presented by Sebastian Misson.

The article reports that the Australian Institute of Family Studies, in partnership with RMIT Publishing has launched a new database, Family & Society Plus. Family & Society Plus is based on Australian Family & Society Abstracts, the database produced by the institute since 1984, but has a much higher proportion of full text material, especially journal articles normally available only on subscription. For busy researchers, service providers, and policy makers, Family & Society Plus provides instant access to online versions of the latest journal literature, conference papers, government reports, academic working papers and research reports. Family & Society Plus was launched by the Director of the Australian Institute of Family Studies, Professor Alan Hayes, at the Family Services Australia Conference in Sydney on October, 24 2004.

The article presents news about the Australian Institute of Family Studies. The International Social Security Association's conference, "Social Security in the Global Village," held in Helsinki, Finland, in September 2000, covered a wide array of research topics, including issues to do with the social protection of families. The Institute presented a paper at this conference on the topic 'Social capital, social cohesion and social security' which was well received. A conference was held in Melbourne in November 2000 on 'Welfare Reform,' hosted by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research and the Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services. Welfare reform was also a key theme for discussion at the Australian Council of Social Service National Congress in Canberra in November. There was vigorous discussion at both of these conferences on the advantages and disadvantages of current proposals for welfare reform, as well as the implications for administration. At both conferences a number of keynote presenters emphasized the importance of history. Social protection and poverty are important areas of research that need to be considered in the context of social protection, particularly incentive issues and their impact on families.

This article presents information about several publications related to family research. Working Paper No.16 "Spousal Support in Australia: A Study of Incidence and Attitudes," Juliet Behrens, Lecturer in Law at the Australian National University, and Bruce Smyth ,a Research Officer at the lnstitute, draws on data from the Australian Divorce Transition Project, a random national sample of 650 divorced Australians, conducted by the institute in late 1997. The paper suggests that periodic spousal support, not to be confused with child support, continues to be rare, minimal and brief, and it identifies some of the personal circumstances associated with this economic transfer. Working Paper No.17, "Reconceptualising Australian Housing Careers," by Ian Winter and Wendy Stone, researchers at the Australian Institute of Family Studies, reports on how the links between housing outcomes and particular stages of the family life course are being redrawn in the wake of widespread demographic, social and economic restructuring.

The article focuses on the working paper "Family Relationships and Intergenerations Exchange in Later Life," by Christine Millward. This new working paper from the Australian Institute of Family Studies, is based on data from the Later Life Families Study, conducted in late 1996. The paper explores family relations and supports in the light of the trend toward redistribution of private and public resources for family support services and welfare provision. It ties together many aspects of the intergenerational obligations and exchanges experienced by people aged between 50 and 70 years.

This article presents information on features of Web sites of the Australian Institute of Family Studies on the family. The Institute's Annual Report 1998-99 and a number of new Institute papers can now be accessed from the Publications page at: www.aifs.org.au/institute/pubs/pubsmenu.html. The Institute has recently established two email discussion forums to support discussion and networking in the fields of child abuse prevention and marriage and relationship education, and an Institute announcements list. Childprotect aims to promote the exchange of information and ideas between Australasian and other professionals working in the field of child abuse prevention and child protection, including child protection workers, other health and welfare service providers, people working in the criminal justice system, in education and training or in policy and service planning, researchers and information providers. Marriage and Relationship Education aims to establish a network of marriage and relationship education researchers and practitioners, and to provide a forum for discussion of issues related to the research, practice and further development of marriage and relationship education in Australia. Aifs-alert has been set up as a means of keeping people up to date with Institute activities and new developments on the Web site.

This article presents reference material relating to families across the life course represent an important component of the information available on the Australian Family & Society Abstracts database at the Australian Institute of Family Studies. All of these references are available on interlibrary loan from the Institute's Family Information Centre, with a few of them being available online. The article "Family Relationships Education Services," outlines family relationships education services which offers preventive activities focusing on providing information and skills to foster positive and stable relationships. The services aim to enhance the achievement of sustained family relationships through increased self awareness and understanding of relationships and processes, the capacity to apply them,and an awareness of community resources and support groups. The research paper "Towards Understanding the Reasons for Divorce," examines the reasons for divorce in relation to selected demographic and socio-economic factors, who initiated separation, whether assistance was sought during the marriage, whether the couple prepared for their final separation, aspects of post-divorce adjustment and reflections of regret.

The article presents information about an international seminar organized by the Australian Institute of Family Studies in October 2004 on parental leave in Brussels. Principal research fellow, Michael Alexander, represented the seminar. The seminar was jointly hosted by the Thomas Corum Research Unit and the Centre for Population and Family Studies in Brussels. The purpose of the seminar was to exchange information on recent policy developments and research, explore a particular theme with respect to parental leave, particularly the issue of diversity and how successful parental leave policies are in dealing with the diversity of family types and personal circumstances and establish a more regular network of researchers on family leave policies, research and practice. The seminar considered the substantial variation that exists between countries with respect to parental leave policies, as well the major developments that had occurred in each country since 1999. The seminar resolved to bring out a working paper that summarizes the parental leave arrangements in each country, to meet again in 12 months time to discuss further developments and publish a book detailing the important research in this area.

This article focuses on the Australian Institute of Family Studies' Web site. The Web site provides Institute research, information projects and publications, and access to Institute databases and resource collections. A feature of the Institute's Web site for the past two months has been the Institute's conference, "Changing Families, Challenging Futures," held in Melbourne, Victoria in November 1998. The Institute's Web site offers a full listing of Institute publications with descriptions, prices and information for ordering print copies. A growing collection of papers is also directly available from the Web site. Users should select "Publications" and click on "Current Publications," to find works arranged in subject groupings and also a list of titles available in full text. Child protection and youth suicide prevention are the foci of two specialist information projects hosted by the Institute. To provide access to the current literature in these subject areas a series of regularly updated bibliographies has been compiled.

The article discusses several developments concerning the Australian Institute of Family Studies. The institute invites registrations from people wishing to attend the sixth Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference, to be held at the Carlton Crest Hotel in Melbourne from November 25-27,1998. The conference will provide a valuable forum for those interested or involved in family research, the development of family policy, or providing services to families in Australia. The conference will focus on family issues in Australia and feature the presentation and discussion of findings of the Institute's own studies, along with work from other researchers, government bodies, service providers and community organizations. It reports that over 150 presentations will be made during the course of the conference. The conference will include keynote addresses, papers, symposia, display and discussion poster presentations, and workshops. All have been grouped into the following broad themes. The article also presents information on family values and family relations, effects of divorce on family members, demographic change, life courses and family futures, and others.