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Objective: This study provides the first systematic account of how father–child time (in total and across activity types) relates to children's cognitive development as well as examining whether paternal education moderates these associations. Background: Fathers in Western countries allocate progressively more time to child care. However, most research on how parental time inputs affect child development focuses on maternal time. It remains unclear how paternal involvement in the child's upbringing influences child outcomes. Method: The study uses three waves of unique, longitudinal, time-diary data from an Australian national sample of children aged 4 to 8 years (Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children; N = 3,273 children, 6,960 observations). Children's cognitive development is measured using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. The data are modeled using a range of estimation strategies for panel data. Results: The total amount of father–child time is associated with, at best, small improvements in children's cognitive functioning. In contrast, the amount of father–child time in educational activities is associated with moderate to large improvements. Such associations are similar for highly and less-highly educated fathers. Conclusion: Our findings are relevant for policy and practice, being indicative that enabling paternal involvement in their children's upbringing should bring moderate to high gains to their children in terms of cognitive functioning, particularly if paternal involvement is directed at educational activities.

Objective: This study investigates the effects of first and second births on time pressure and mental health and how these vary with time since birth and parental responsibilities. It also examines whether time pressure mediates the relationship between parenthood and mental health. Background: Childbirth is a major life course transition that adds a new role to parents' role set and contributes to role strain, of which time pressure is one manifestation. Longitudinal analyses can help determine whether the impact of children on parental time pressure endures or eases over time and whether any changes affect parents' mental health. Method: This study uses 16 years of panel data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (n= 20,009 individuals). The data are modeled using fixed effects panel regression models. Results: First and second births increase time pressure to a similar extent. Their estimated effects are larger for women than men and persist over time, but there is limited evidence of moderation by parental responsibilities. Maternal mental health improves after a first child, whereas second children are associated with declines in paternal mental health. These effects are long lasting. Mediation analyses suggest that in the absence of time pressure maternal mental health would improve significantly. Conclusion: Children have a stronger effect on mothers' than fathers' experiences of time pressure. These differences are not moderated by changes in parental responsibilities or work time following births. The increased time pressure associated with second births explains mothers' worse mental health. Implications Parenthood is an important factor underpinning gendered experiences of time pressure. Reducing time pressure among parents may improve parental mental health, particularly among mothers.

We examine the effects of transitions in marital and parenthood status on 1,091 men's and women's housework hours using two waves of data from an Australian panel survey titled Negotiating the Life Course. We examine transitions between cohabitation and marriage, and from cohabitation or marriage to separation, as well as transitions to first and higher-order births. We find extraordinary stability in men's housework time across most transitions but considerable change for women in relation to transitions in parenthood. Our results suggest that the transition to parenthood is a critical moment in the development of an unequal gap in time spent on routine household labor.

Background The role of migration pathway (refugees vs. asylum seekers) is seldom addressed in extant literature that looks at gender and mental health of humanitarian migrants. The aim of this study is to assess the relationship between gender and psychological distress among humanitarian migrants in Australia including the potential moderating role of migration pathway. Methods We analyse data from 2399 humanitarian migrants that participated in the first wave of Building a New Life in Australia, a survey of humanitarian migrants in Australia, using Ordinary Least Squares multivariate regression. Results Women report significantly higher psychological distress than men. Migration pathway moderates the relationship between gender and psychological distress with women asylum seekers reporting higher psychological distress. There is also a significant association between pre-migration trauma, settlement arrangements (particularly those associated with finance, housing, getting used to life in Australia and loneliness) and psychological distress. Conclusions Findings indicate higher psychological distress among asylum seeking women and suggest the importance of migrant status in predicting psychological distress. Settlement arrangements are key predictors of psychological distress among humanitarian migrants. While strategies aimed at addressing their mental health are warranted, policies aimed at the broader social determinants of health are needed to alleviate some of their mental distress especially in light of the recent changes to the Australian Refugee and Asylum-seeking policies.

We use data from matched dual earner couples from the Australian Time Use Survey 2006 (n = 926 couples) to investigate predictors of different forms of domestic outsourcing, and whether using each type of paid help is associated with reduced time in male or female-typed tasks, narrower gender gaps in housework time and/or lower subjective time pressure. Results suggest domestic outsourcing does not substitute for much household time, reduces domestic time for men at least as much as for women, and does not ameliorate gender gaps in domestic labor. The only form of paid help associated with significant change in gender shares of domestic work was gardening and maintenance services, which were associated with women doing a greater share of the household total domestic work. We found no evidence that domestic outsourcing reduced feelings of time pressure. We conclude that domestic outsourcing is not effective in ameliorating time pressures or in changing gender dynamics of unpaid work.

Changes in men's and women's labour market investments over recent decades raise questions about how today's couples negotiate household earnings arrangements. Using insights from human capital theory, we examine associations between household characteristics and couples' relative earnings. Drawing on longitudinal data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey spanning the 2000 to 2019 period, we compare couple-level human capital characteristics of female-breadwinner, male-breadwinner and equal-earner households. Our analyses reveal an increase in the share of equal-earner households over the first two decades of the 2000s, coinciding with a decline in male-breadwinner households. We also find that women in female- breadwinner households have greater levels of human capital than their partner and women in other household types; men with a long-term health condition are more likely to be in female-breadwinner households; and female-breadwinner households have the lowest overall earnings of all household types. These results offer broad support to the directions taken by the Australian Government's 2023 White Paper on Jobs and Opportunities, indicating that policies that enable women to invest in their human capital May reduce the disproportionate number of male-breadwinner households.

Objective This study examined potentially gendered net worth changes over the marital dissolution process, starting up to 3 years prior to separation and continuing up to 15 years postdivorce. Background Incipient literature showed steep wealth declines for men and women associated with divorce, treating marital dissolution as a single point‐in‐time event. These findings may be limiting as legal regulations and divorce‐stress‐adjustment research conceptualize marital dissolution as a process that lasts several years. Method Using fixed effects regression models, we analyzed changes in personal net worth as well as changes in personal net housing worth and financial net worth of individuals whose marriages dissolved between 2002 and 2017. Analyses used comprehensive wealth data from the German Socio‐Economic Panel study. Results Although wealth declines commenced prior to separation, separation was the most critical point with 82% and 76% reductions in personal wealth of men and women, respectively. Divorce did not pose additional wealth penalties, but wealth was also not recovered in years after divorce. The lasting separation penalty was mainly driven by declines in housing wealth and a lack of financial wealth recovery. Overall, both men and women experienced dramatic relative wealth declines with negligible gender differences. Predicted wealth levels, however, indicated that men may be in a financially better position compared to women due to higher preseparation wealth levels. Conclusion Results illustrated important variations in personal wealth measures over the marital dissolution process, which may drive lasting wealth inequalities, particularly with regard to housing wealth for both men and women.

The researchers aim is to develop knowledge about the experiences of different union types by investigating relationship satisfaction of people in LAT, cohabiting, and marital relationships. They differentiate those with intentions to marry for cohabiters, and those with intentions to marry or live together in LAT relationships. Using data from Wave 1 of the Generations and Gender Survey in France, Germany, Australia, and Russia, OLS regressions are estimated to investigate the differences in relationship satisfaction across relationship types, and across countries. Married people have the highest levels of relationship satisfaction. People in non-marital unions with intentions to marry or live together are significantly more satisfied than those without marriage or cohabitation intentions. Those in LAT relationships with no intentions to live together have the lowest levels of relationship satisfaction. There is evidence of cross-national variation with differences in relationship satisfaction by union type most pronounced in Australia and Russia. Gender differences are found with women reporting lower levels of relationship satisfaction than men.

Objective To investigate the quality of intimate relationships of bisexual, gay, lesbian, and heterosexual individuals in Australia and the United Kingdom. Background There is a shortage of research on the relationship quality of nonheterosexual individuals, and the majority of the available evidence comes from the United States. We add to existing knowledge by considering bisexual individuals; examining mixed‐orientation couples; and using recent, large, and nationally representative cross‐national data. Method Data from 25,348 individuals in the United Kingdom (Understanding Society study) and 9,206 individuals in Australia (Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey) were used to estimate regression models predicting relationship quality while adjusting for confounds. Results Relationship quality in same‐sex couples was as high as in heterosexual couples in the United Kingdom, and higher in Australia. The lowest relationship quality in both countries was reported by bisexual individuals. Conclusion Our results provide robust evidence to combat deep‐rooted and erroneous social perceptions of same‐sex relationships being conflictual, unhappy, and dysfunctional. Implications Our findings support policies that seek to legalize same‐sex marriage and parenting rights. They also highlight the need to give further attention to bisexual individuals as a distinct group because their outcomes are comparatively poor.

The importance of sleep cannot be underestimated, as sleep affects domains such as physical and mental health, work-related productivity, and longevity. Yet, we know surprisingly little about the social determinants of sleep in contemporary Australia. International evidence suggests that parenthood and gender are important factors influencing individuals' sleep quantity and quality, with parents sleeping less and worse than non-parents and mothers sleeping less and worse than fathers. We provide first-time evidence of these patterns in the Australian context using data from the 2013 wave of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey and multivariate regression models. Our findings are consistent with those from previous US and UK research, and indicate that sleep quantity and sleep quality are greater amongst (i) childless individuals than parents, (ii) parents of young children (ages 2 to 4) than parents of very young children (ages 0 and 1), and (iii) fathers than mothers. We take these results as evidence of gender-unequal sleep arrangements in Australian family households, whereby women take primary responsibility for the overnight care of children. Programs aimed at reducing the sleep debt experienced by parents, particularly mothers, are needed to reduce sleep inequalities that may compound with inequalities in other life domains.