Family Formation in 21st Century Australia PDF
Preview Family Formation in 21st Century Australia
Genevieve Heard Dharmalingam Arunachalam E ditors Family Formation in 21st Century Australia Family Formation in 21st Century Australia Genevieve Heard (cid:129) Dharmalingam Arunachalam Editors Family Formation in 21st Century Australia Editors Genevieve Heard Dharmalingam Arunachalam School of Social Sciences, Monash University Melbourne , Australia ISBN 978-94-017-9278-3 ISBN 978-94-017-9279-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-9279-0 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg New York London Library of Congress Control Number: 2014949247 © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015 T his work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. Exempted from this legal reservation are brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis or material supplied specifi cally for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the Copyright Law of the Publisher’s location, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Permissions for use may be obtained through RightsLink at the Copyright Clearance Center. Violations are liable to prosecution under the respective Copyright Law. T he use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Pref ace I n the fi rst decade of the twenty-fi rst century, Australia experienced increased prosperity, albeit punctuated by the global fi nancial crisis. This decade also saw the introduction or enhancement of progressive social policies, including paid parental leave and family benefi ts. However, housing and education became more expensive, income inequality increased and job security deteriorated. Against this background, there has been rapid and fascinating change in patterns of family formation. As a consequence, demographic research, sociological theory and population projections have dated quickly. In this decade, new partnering and fertility patterns have emerged, some of which are common to other developed nations. (Indeed, Australian trends have the potential to illuminate many of the most pressing issues in international research on family formation.) This book provides a timely empirical overview of family formation trends, using up-to-date sources. E ach contribution contained in this volume investigates a different and topical aspect of family formation in Australia. Some chapters interrogate data from the most recent (2011) Australian Census of Population and Housing. Others take advantage of the fact that more than ten waves of data are now available from the large-scale longitudinal survey, Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA), enabling analysis of change over the full decade. The methodology employed across chapters is diverse and is mostly quantitative, with qualitative insights providing depth on key issues. Findings are described with reference to contemporary theories of family change. W e are thankful to the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on earlier drafts of the chapters. We would also like to acknowledge the funding support from the Australian Research Council (Discovery Project 110103211) that helped us undertake this project and some of the research reported in this volume. Melbourne, Australia Genevieve Heard Dharmalingam Arunachalam v Contents 1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 1 Genevieve Heard 2 Entering a Union in the Twenty-First Century: Cohabitation and ‘Living Apart Together’ ........................................... 13 Ann Evans 3 Marriage .................................................................................................. 31 Janeen Baxter , Belinda Hewitt , and Judy Rose 4 Interethnic Partnering: Patterns by Birthplace, Ancestry and Indigenous Status ............................................................ 53 Lyndon Walker and Genevieve Heard 5 Relationship Dissolution ......................................................................... 77 Belinda Hewitt and Janeen Baxter 6 Repartnering ........................................................................................... 101 Edith Gray 7 Patterns of Contraceptive Use................................................................ 123 Edith Gray and Dharmalingam Arunachalam 8 Australians’ Desire for Children ............................................................ 141 Dharmalingam Arunachalam and Genevieve Heard 9 Fertility Differentials .............................................................................. 159 Genevieve Heard and Dharmalingam Arunachalam 10 Indigenous Family Formation ................................................................ 197 Nicholas Biddle and Kim Johnstone vii viii Contents 11 Familiarly Queer? Same-Sex Relationships and Family Formation ......... 225 Deborah Dempsey Technical Appendix ......................................................................................... 241 Index ................................................................................................................. 243 Chapter 1 Introduction Genevieve Heard T reating contemporary patterns as an end-point in theories of family change is an occu- pational hazard for social scientists, and late twentieth century theories were no excep- tion. Low and declining rates of marriage and childbearing and increasing rates of relationship dissolution have been considered central to the ‘second demographic tran- sition’. The nuclear family is sometimes viewed as a twentieth century relic, as the focus has turned to the proliferation of alternative relationship and family forms and styles such as cohabitation, ‘living apart together’, and family formation by same-sex couples. Each of these subjects is investigated at length in this volume. And yet, while these newer family forms fl ourish, more traditional practices of family formation are proving resilient. In the fi rst decade of the twenty-fi rst century, Australian marriage and divorce rates stabilised, while the total fertility rate increased after long-term decline. These interruptions to long-term trends in partnering and fertility are equally fascinat- ing and each of these demographic phenomena is also investigated in the book. 1.1 Partnering 1.1.1 Marriage and Cohabitation F or decades, we have heard that marriage is on the wane, in Australia and across the secular West. The true picture is somewhat more complex (Heard 2 012 ). Certainly, the married proportion of the total population has been falling. It is no longer the case that a majority of the population is married. In 2011, the proportion of the Australian population (aged 15 years and over) in registered marriages fell below half. Taking a longer view, the married proportion was as high as 64 % during the G. Heard (*) School of Social Sciences , Monash University , Melbourne , Australia e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015 1 G. Heard, D. Arunachalam (eds.), Family Formation in 21st Century Australia, DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-9279-0_1
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