Ruth Weston

The Disappearing Link between Premarital Cohibitation and Subsequent Marital Stability, 1970-2001

Previous research has demonstrated that marriages preceded by premarital cohabitation have higher rates of dissolution than those in which the couple marry without first living together. Most of this research relies on data generated by couples who cohabited in the 1970s and early 1980s when premarital cohabitation was relatively uncommon and usually of brief duration. Since then, premarital cohabitation in Australia has become normative and thus less prone to selection effects. The period of premarital cohabitation has also lengthened and is thus more likely to provide opportunities to screen out unviable matches. This paper uses national survey data from Australia to explore whether, in the light of these changes, the previously observed higher level of marital dissolution among those who live together before marrying has persisted. It demonstrates that the higher risk of marital dissolution among those who cohabited before marriage has declined substantially in the 1990s marriage cohort and, after controlling for selection factors, has disappeared altogether.

Family structure, co-parental relationship quality, post-separation paternal involvement and children’s emotional wellbeing

Abstract It is well documented that children who experience parental divorce are more likely than those in intact families to experience a range of emotional and behavioural adjustment problems, and to perform less well academically. However, few studies of the impact of divorce have exclusively considered young children. This paper takes advantage of a recent Australian child cohort study to examine links between young children’s emotional wellbeing, the quality of the co-parental relationship, and post-separation paternal involvement. We found that while children aged 6–7 years living with both parents generally had better emotional wellbeing than similar aged children living with one parent, inter-parental hostility was an important factor in explainingyoung children’s emotional wellbeing. But regardless of family type, children whose parents had a hostile inter-parental relationship tended to have poorer emotional wellbeing than children whose parents did not have a non-hostile relationship, as reported by children and their parents.

Changes in patterns of post-separation parenting over time: Recent Australian data

Abstract This article examines continuity and change in post-separation patterns of parenting across a three-year time span. We analyse longitudinal data from two recent Australian studies: the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey; and the Caring for Children after Parental Separation (CFC) Project. Mother-residence was found to be the most common and the most stable pattern. Though far less common, father-residence also appeared to be reasonably stable. By contrast, shared care was found to be the most fluid of these three parenting configurations.

Key social issues in the development of Australian family law: Research and its impact on policy and practice

Abstract As in other Western countries, Australian society has changed considerably over the past 50 years, creating demands for shifts in family-related policies, practices and legislation. The social sciences have played an important role in this process by monitoring changes, informing the development of appropriate responses and assessing the effectiveness of such responses. In this article, we briefly explore four key social changes that have had a profound impact on Australian families – women’s increasing participation in the workforce; changing perceptions of fatherhood; greater recognition of the existence and destructive consequences of family violence and child abuse; and the increased emphasis on the rights of the child. We suggest that the first two of these changes contributed significantly to the introduction of the Australian Family Law Act 1975 (Cth), and that the other two changes have had a continuing significant influence on legislators’ attempts to articulate and implement acceptable decision-making principles with regard to post-separation parenting. Next we consider the most recent major amendments to Australian family law, the 2006 ‘shared parental responsibility legislation, and its subsequent evaluation by the Australian Institute of Family Studies. We show how this evaluation has provided a basis for examining both the extent to which the policy and practice intentions of these reforms were being achieved, and the extent to which further changes were required. We conclude by noting how the evaluation, along with other research, has contributed to further important changes to family law service provision and further significant legislative amendments.

Legislative aspirations and social realities: empirical reflections on Australia's 2006 family law reforms

The Australian government has recently introduced a Bill into Parliament that is intended to improve the way concerns about family violence and child abuse are dealt with in the context of post-separation parenting disputes. The move follows recent reports examining the impact of significant reforms to the family law system introduced in 2006. Motivated by a desire to ensure that children maintain involvement with both parents after separation and to place greater emphasis on non-court-based dispute resolution mechanisms, the reforms encompassed legislative change and new and expanded relationship services. The empirical evidence base on the 2006 reforms has highlighted shortcomings in the existing responses to family violence and child abuse, with one large-scale study by the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) demonstrating that a history of family violence was as prevalent among shared care arrangements as other arrangements, contrary to the intention of the reforms. This article uses the empirical findings from the AIFS Evaluation to reflect on some key theoretical ideas about how law operates. The Evaluation findings highlighted the prevalence of a history of family violence among separated parents in Australia and provided evidence that this issue complicates the fulfilment of the reform objectives in a range of ways, most obviously in the context of applying appropriate dispute resolution processes and making parenting arrangements that safeguard the well-being of children.

The shaping of strengths and challenges of Australian families: implications for policy and practice

Abstract This article traces some of the key historical events that have combined with Australias geography, climate and patterns of immigration in shaping characteristics of Australian families—characteristics that are remarkable for their diversity on many fronts. These factors, along with changing patterns of family formation, stability and structure, evolving parenting roles, and the ever-increasing spatial concentration of families, have all contributed to diverse strengths, vulnerabilities and lifestyles of families. Policies directed towards helping families identify and draw on their own strengths and those of their community have gained momentum since the late 1990s. The article outlines some of these policies, along with a project on family strengths that has helped shape interventions.

Mandatory Dispute Resolution and the 2006 Family Law Reforms: Use, Outcomes, Links to Other Pathways, and the Impact of Family Violence

Abstract Community-based mandatory family dispute resolution (more generically known as family mediation) is a central plank of the 2006 changes to the Australian family law system. This paper provides an overview of the data on family dispute resolution from the Australian Institute of Family Studies’ evaluation of the 2006 changes. It reports on usage rates of family dispute resolution as well as immediate and medium term outcomes, perceived pathways towards resolution and the impact of family violence on both outcomes and pathways. Though the story is a generally positive one, the data also suggest a need for family relationship sector practitioners and family lawyers to engage proactively in assisting those families who are experiencing significant violence and or significant levels of ongoing serious conflict.