Mental health and life satisfaction of young Australians : the role of family background

This paper uses the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey to investigate the factors that influence young Australians’ mental health and life satisfaction, with an emphasis upon the role of family background. It also explores male and female differences concerning those background effects. The results indicate a particularly significant negative association between parental divorce and well-being, and suggest that the timing of divorce matters. Distinguishing the samples by gender shows that this relationship remains significant only for females. Past living arrangements consistently turn out to be statistically insignificant whether the sample used is the total, males or females. The current living arrangements, however, appear to be significantly associated with both mental health and life satisfaction of males. Adding potentially confounding characteristics to our basic regression, which includes only the family background variables, suggests that some of the ‘aggregate’ effects of family background might work indirectly through the mediating variables such as education or lifestyles, though most of them remain direct. Among those, marital status, education, labour market experience and lifestyles seem to be the major factors explaining the dispersion in well-being of young Australians. Income and wealth, on the other hand, have only a minor impact.

Living high but healthy : high-rise housing, nature, health and wellbeing

This exploratory mixed method study investigated the factors, including access to nature (i.e. parks and gardens), impacting on inner city high-rise residents' health and wellbeing. Analysis of the integrated findings revealed that a range of factors (including accessibility, choice and control and tenure) impact on residents' health and wellbeing.

Making a finding : guardianship and construction of substituted decisions about women's health and fertility

Substituted decisions about health and fertility of women deemed incompetent, because of a disability, expose the constitutive power of knowledge about the female, disabled body and its stereotypical place in social relations. This study addresses issues about the self of modern citizenship and feminist politics in a changing policy climate.

The Australian longitudinal study of health and relationships

Background

Ensuring the sexual and reproductive health of the population is essential for the wellbeing of a nation. At least three aspects of sexual and reproductive health are among the key policy issues for present Australian governments: maintaining and increasing the birth rate; reducing the abortion rate; and preventing and controlling Chlamydia infections.

The overall aim of the Australian Longitudinal Study of Health and Relationships is to document the natural history of the sexual and reproductive health of the Australian adult population.
Methods/design

A nationally representative sample of Australian adults 16–64 years of age was selected in a two-phase process in 2004–2005. Eligible households were identified through random digit dialling. We used separate sampling frames for men and women; where there was more than one eligible person in a household the participant was selected randomly. Participants completed a computer-assisted telephone interview that typically took approximately 25 minutes to complete. The response rate was 56%. A total of 8,656 people were interviewed, of whom 95% (8243) agreed to be contacted again 12 months later. Of those, approximately 82% have been re-contacted and re-interviewed in 2006–07 (Wave Two), with 99% of those agreeing to be contacted again for Wave Three.
Discussion

ALSHR represents a significant advance for research on the linked topics of sexual and reproductive health. Its strengths include the large sample size, the inclusion of men as well as women, and the wide age range of the participants.