Reducing child deaths among the poor in Asian cities: the cultural, social and institutional determinants of child survival. The urban poor experience more, and more variable, child mortality than richer compatriots. Although there are many contributing factors including material poverty, insanitary housing, inaccessible health services, and parental ignorance of good childcare, these do not explain the full extent of the inequities. A key factor is the interest and ability of poor households to ....Reducing child deaths among the poor in Asian cities: the cultural, social and institutional determinants of child survival. The urban poor experience more, and more variable, child mortality than richer compatriots. Although there are many contributing factors including material poverty, insanitary housing, inaccessible health services, and parental ignorance of good childcare, these do not explain the full extent of the inequities. A key factor is the interest and ability of poor households to use their resources, and those of the health services to protect their children's health. This project will use an anthropological-demographic approach in Dhaka and Jakarta to investigate the cultural, social and institutional factors influencing health beliefs and hence treatment decisions at the household level.Read moreRead less
Using national surveys to uncover and assess potentially harmful sexual practices in Southeast Asia. Studies in Southeast Asia have revealed a wide variety of sexual practices carrying risks to the reproductive health of women and men. This proposal builds on that base to design methods for population level analysis of behaviour and attitudes. It will address key hypotheses related to gender and the assessment of risk, harm and disadvantage. The Australian Aid program and national health depart ....Using national surveys to uncover and assess potentially harmful sexual practices in Southeast Asia. Studies in Southeast Asia have revealed a wide variety of sexual practices carrying risks to the reproductive health of women and men. This proposal builds on that base to design methods for population level analysis of behaviour and attitudes. It will address key hypotheses related to gender and the assessment of risk, harm and disadvantage. The Australian Aid program and national health departments will use the data on unhealthy practices for reproductive health programs. Major beneficiaries include individuals who will be guided away from unhealthy practices, and medical providers who will have more evidence to guide their practice.Read moreRead less
Population Ageing, Health Status and Health Outlays: Assessing Impacts and Policy Options During the Next 40 Years. This project will enable the Commonwealth and Australia to develop the modelling infrastructure that will allow them to assess the future distributional consequences of the far-reaching human capital and health reforms that are likely to be on the policy agenda during the next few decades. The project will also place Australia at the forefront internationally in the construction of ....Population Ageing, Health Status and Health Outlays: Assessing Impacts and Policy Options During the Next 40 Years. This project will enable the Commonwealth and Australia to develop the modelling infrastructure that will allow them to assess the future distributional consequences of the far-reaching human capital and health reforms that are likely to be on the policy agenda during the next few decades. The project will also place Australia at the forefront internationally in the construction of dynamic microsimulation population models, particularly including the simulation of health status and health services. This technology will improve public policy in Australia and be able to be exported to our Asia-Pacific neighbours in the near future.Read moreRead less
Socio-economic determinants of future fertility trends in Australia and other developed countries. Future demographic trends will do much to determine Australia's future. Fertility levels will dominate in deciding population numbers, age structure, and the optimum balance between natural increase and immigration. Current ARC-supported research on the theory of demographic transition provides a paradigm for forecasting likely trends, especially when employed with an existing data bank of findings ....Socio-economic determinants of future fertility trends in Australia and other developed countries. Future demographic trends will do much to determine Australia's future. Fertility levels will dominate in deciding population numbers, age structure, and the optimum balance between natural increase and immigration. Current ARC-supported research on the theory of demographic transition provides a paradigm for forecasting likely trends, especially when employed with an existing data bank of findings on social and demographic interrelations. The research is of great national benefit because even small differences in age structure will impact significantly on the size of the labour force, health services, the support of the aged and taxation levels. Relevant policy decisions will need to be made in the near future.Read moreRead less
Interactive Demographic Transition: Analysis and Theory. The demographic transition, or decline in mortality and fertility levels to produce the modern small family and normally long-lived individuals, may well be the most important social change of our time. It has occasioned much research but theory is still in disarray. This is at least partly explained by a disregard for feed-back mechanisms in the form of organized movements supporting and opposing such demographic change. My aim is to r ....Interactive Demographic Transition: Analysis and Theory. The demographic transition, or decline in mortality and fertility levels to produce the modern small family and normally long-lived individuals, may well be the most important social change of our time. It has occasioned much research but theory is still in disarray. This is at least partly explained by a disregard for feed-back mechanisms in the form of organized movements supporting and opposing such demographic change. My aim is to reanalyze data from my own and others? work, taking such interactions into account, to produce a demographic transition theory suited both to historical explanation and the guidance of contemporary policy.Read moreRead less
Social exclusion and teenage motherhood in Australia. Our current understanding of teenage motherhood paints a very grim picture of the lives of teenage mothers and their babies. An over-reliance on the welfare system and social isolation lead to inadequate opportunities for education, employment and productive relationships and are responsible for enhancing social exclusion and weakening a society's social and economic fabric. This project provides great benefit to both the Australian community ....Social exclusion and teenage motherhood in Australia. Our current understanding of teenage motherhood paints a very grim picture of the lives of teenage mothers and their babies. An over-reliance on the welfare system and social isolation lead to inadequate opportunities for education, employment and productive relationships and are responsible for enhancing social exclusion and weakening a society's social and economic fabric. This project provides great benefit to both the Australian community and individual teenage mothers and their children. A deeper understanding will lead to better design of support systems and programs for young mothers and their children.Read moreRead less
Interpersonal and Family Relations in Transcultural/Transnational Marriages. The research explores recent developments in internet-mediated courtship and the interpersonal and social relationships it generates. Literature on this topic is largely concerned with textual interpretations of match-making web sites, while media comment and academic writing promotes negative stereotypes of those who contract transnational marriages. Focusing on Australia's Indonesian and Filipino immigrant communitie ....Interpersonal and Family Relations in Transcultural/Transnational Marriages. The research explores recent developments in internet-mediated courtship and the interpersonal and social relationships it generates. Literature on this topic is largely concerned with textual interpretations of match-making web sites, while media comment and academic writing promotes negative stereotypes of those who contract transnational marriages. Focusing on Australia's Indonesian and Filipino immigrant communities we analyse such marriages in the context of contemporary forms of electronic intimacy and relationship brokering and develop a more nuanced picture of family values and gender relations in them. This timely study of an increasingly utilised means contracting Australian marriages takes current debates beyond narrow stereotypes.Read moreRead less
Founders and survivors: Australian lifecourses in historical context. This project will create one of the world's outstanding longitudinal studies of human health and resilience. It will contribute to the historical understanding of European migration, settler colonialism, forced labour and human health under stress, long-run family formation and falling fertility, household economy, and the social determinants of health. It will contribute to debate both nationally and internationally on the lo ....Founders and survivors: Australian lifecourses in historical context. This project will create one of the world's outstanding longitudinal studies of human health and resilience. It will contribute to the historical understanding of European migration, settler colonialism, forced labour and human health under stress, long-run family formation and falling fertility, household economy, and the social determinants of health. It will contribute to debate both nationally and internationally on the long-run effects of social and biomedical interventions and of investment in human capital. It will tell the grassroots history of the Australian penal and colonial experiments and it will form a scholarly coalition with the great community of family historians. Read moreRead less
Revisiting the 'Fourth Age': health, socioeconomic and cultural transformation of, and diversity in, Australia's oldest old population, 1981-2011. The oldest-old (those aged 85 years and over) is the fastest growing segment of the Australian population, and the changing make-up and experiences of this group needs attention. This project will expand our knowledge base about Australia's oldest old, helping to inform public policy and to improve discussions on what the 'Fourth Age' really means in ....Revisiting the 'Fourth Age': health, socioeconomic and cultural transformation of, and diversity in, Australia's oldest old population, 1981-2011. The oldest-old (those aged 85 years and over) is the fastest growing segment of the Australian population, and the changing make-up and experiences of this group needs attention. This project will expand our knowledge base about Australia's oldest old, helping to inform public policy and to improve discussions on what the 'Fourth Age' really means in Australia.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354771
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$20,000.00
Summary
Australian Population Research Network: Cross-Disciplinary Collaborations in Research on Australia's Population Transformations and Their Social, Economic and Environmental Implications. The wellbeing and sustainability of Australia's population are national priority issues. The primary outcome of the Initiative will be a plan for a Network that will promote collaboration among researchers across universities and disciplines whose work focuses on the following issues relating to Australia's pop ....Australian Population Research Network: Cross-Disciplinary Collaborations in Research on Australia's Population Transformations and Their Social, Economic and Environmental Implications. The wellbeing and sustainability of Australia's population are national priority issues. The primary outcome of the Initiative will be a plan for a Network that will promote collaboration among researchers across universities and disciplines whose work focuses on the following issues relating to Australia's population: family and work; health and longevity; immigration and identity; and environment and settlement. Linkages will be established with Commonwealth and State/Territory governments to better communicate the results of population research for policy development, and with researchers internationally to facilitate comparative work that is crucial to further theoretical and methodological development in the population field.Read moreRead less