Work, Love, Play: Understanding resilience in same-sex parented families

Research Team: Dr. Amaryll Perlesz (The Bouverie Centre), Dr. Jennifer Power (The Bouverie Centre), Rhonda Brown (Nursing, DeakinUniversity), Professor Marian Pitts (Australian Research Centre for Sex, Health and Society), Professor Margot Schofield (School of Public Health, La Trobe University), Dr. Ruth McNair (Department of General Practice, University of Melbourne), and Dr. Andrew Bickerdike (Relationships Australia). 

Summary: The Work, Love & Play study is about the way in which parents organise household and parenting responsibilities and the impact of parenting on relationships. We are particularly interested in the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (same-sex attracted) parents. The study will look at the broader social and legal contexts in which parents raise their children and the impact this can have on families.

So far, the study has involved an online (internet-based) survey that was completed in 2008 by nearly 500 same-sex attracted parents across Australia and New Zealand. Around 350 of these participants will be involved in follow-up surveys so we can track how they are going over the next five years. The study will run until 2014.

Sruveys will ask participants about their family relationships and roles within the household such as work arrangements, division of household tasks and time spent with children, as well as how satisfied people are with their current family and household arrangements. It also asked about family and social supports, things that create stress in the family, legal arrangements that may impact upon individuals and families and how people rated their own mental health.

It is hoped that the findings from this project will be used to assist professionals working with families in a range of areas to become better informed and better able to acknowledge and support those choosing to parent in diverse ways. Information from this project will also be used to inform public and organisational policy development.

What have we found so far?

The data collection phase of the research has only recently been completed and we are just starting to look at the findings. So watch this space for more information about the results as they emerge. You can also contact the project researchers.

Project funding
The study is being funded by the Australian Research Council, Relationships Australia (national and Victorian branch), Vic Health (the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation) and ACON (formerly the AIDS Council of NSW) with generous in-kind support from Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria and the Queensland Association for Healthy Communities.

Ethics approval

This project has been approved by the LaTrobe University Faculty of Health Science Human Ethics Committee. If you have any concerns about the ethics of this project please feel free to contact Natalie Humphries, Faculty Human Ethics Committee Secretary, email: n.humphries@latrobe.edu.au or phone +61 3 9479 3573.

Contact the Researchers

Any questions you have about this project or the survey can be directed to:

Dr Jennifer Power or Dr Amaryll Perlesz at the Bouverie Centre. Email: a.perlesz@latrobe.edu.au or Jennifer.power@latrobe.edu.au.

Links

Please see our Services and Resources page for useful links

Project blog

For ongoing and less formal information about Work, Love & Play, you can follow the Work, Love & Play blog.

Publications for download

Overview of Wave One Sample (December 2009)