AIFS has been conducting high quality research relevant to both policy and practice for more than 30 years. Over this time, the Institute has built research expertise in a range of areas related to family wellbeing.
AIFS has conducted several important research studies on past adoption practices in Australia. Issues examined in the area have included the effects forced adoption policies and practices have on affected individuals.
AIFS has built expertise in a range of areas relating to child protection including risk and protective factors for child abuse and neglect, out-of-home care and strategies for prevention.
The way families juggle their work and child care arrangements has become a key research area for the Institute.
AIFS has developed expertise in child development research primarily through the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). Topics of research include education, health, work and family, time use and activities and social and emotional development.
Institute research on families and the military focuses on the mental and physical health of serving and ex-serving Defence members as well as the role of family in supporting seriously wounded Defence members.
Family trends and transitions has always been important research area for the Institute. Key topic areas in the area have included family demography, patterns of leaving home, family stability and couple and family formation.
Through the Australian Gambling Research Centre, AIFS has built a range of expertise relating to gambling in Australia, including gambling behaviour, trends, harms, prevention, treatment and policy.
Research at AIFS on Indigenous families has focused on identifying the strengths of cultural practices in family life and building safe and support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Family separation and family law have been a core focus of the Institute's research since its inception in 1980.
AIFS has built expertise in longitudinal research by conducting, leading and collaborating on several large-scale longitudinal research studies.
AIFS research on parenting has included research on work and family, post-separation parenting, caring for children outside of school hours, parental and unsupervised time.
Key focus areas of the Institute's research on relationship breakdown include separation and divorce, post-separating parenting, child support and service pathways for separated families.
AIFS has an extensive research program on families and violence that primarily examines how experiences of violence affect family functioning.
Work and family has always been a key area of research expertise for the Institute. Research in the area has explored child care use, parental employment and work-family policies.
