1286.0 - Family, Household and Income Unit Variables, 2005  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 01/06/2005   
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Contents >> Household composition >> Appendix A - Summary of the ABS Standard Variable 'Relationship between families'

This document was added or updated on 23/04/2007.

Appendix A

SUMMARY OF THE ABS STANDARD VARIABLE 'RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FAMILIES'

Introduction

1. 'Relationship between families' explains the links, familial or otherwise, between separate families usually resident in a single household. It does this by using 'Relationship in household' data to identify the relationships of the family reference persons to the household reference person. It can be used in cases where it is necessary to distinguish between multifamily households where the families are related to each other (eg where siblings each with dependent children share a dwelling), and multifamily households where the families are not related to each other.

2. For more information on the steps required to ascertain 'Relationship between families', see "Relationship in household', 'Family composition', and the standard 'Relationship between families' document.

Name and definitions

3. The name of the variable is 'Relationship of non-primary family to primary family'. The standard abbreviated name is 'Relationship between families'.

Nominal definition

4. The 'Relationship between families' is the familial and non-familial relationships between two families in a multifamily household.

Operational definition

5. The 'Relationship between families' is measured by determining the relationship between the family reference person in one family to the family reference person in the primary family.

6. The relationship is established by:

(a)Identifying the families which exist in a household.
(b)Identifying the family reference person in each family.
(c)Identifying the family relationships of the second, third or subsequent family reference persons to the primary family reference person.
(d)The relationship established by (c) then becomes the relationship of family 2,3 or subsequent family to the primary family.

7. 'Relationship between families' is an attribute of the counting unit 'family'.

The classification criteria

8. The criteria used to classify 'Relationship between families' are:
  • whether the family is present in a multifamily household, and
  • the type of relationship that one family reference person has to the family reference person of the primary family. The types of relationships that can be separately identified are immediate family, either vertically extended: parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren or horizontally extended: brothers, sisters. Relationships between more distant family members (e.g. aunt, uncle, cousin) will be grouped together into the Other related family category. If the family reference persons are not related to each other the relationship will be recorded as 'unrelated'.

The standard classification and code structure

9. The standard classification and code structure for 'Relationship between families' is:

1Mother's/father's family
2Grandparent's family
3Son/daughter's family
4Grandchild's family
5Brother's/sister's family
6Other related family
7Unrelated

Scope of the classification

10. This classification is only applicable to non-primary families in multifamily households.

Standard output categories

11. The standard output categories are the same as the standard input categories:

Mother's/father's family
Grandparent's family
Son/daughter's family
Grandchild's family
Brother's/sister's family
Other related family
Unrelated

Lone ancestor

12. An other related, usually resident, individual who is a Father/Mother or Grandfather/Grandmother. They are, thus, a usually resident parent or grandparent of a person in the household who has already formed a family relationship. To be identified as an other related individual, a person cannot have a spouse or partner usually resident in the household and cannot form a parent-child relationship with any other related individual in the household.



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