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HOUSEHOLD AND FAMILY CHARACTERISTICS Methodology Information was collected about the households and families to which people belong. This information enables some understanding of the situation in which people live, which may impact on their health and related characteristics.
Relationship in household and family composition are discussed below. More information on the other topics is available in Demographic characteristics. A full list of output data items are available from the Downloads tab of this publication. Household characteristics Household level estimates are available from this survey for household size, type and composition, geographic location, dwelling characteristics, income and SEIFA characteristics of the area in which the dwelling is located. Selected items are discussed below. Household composition Households are allocated to categories of the 'Household composition' classification on the basis of:
The standard 'Household composition' classification comprises the following categories:
Household type This refers to the composition of the household, based on the information about the residents of the household provided by the responsible adult (ARA). Output categories are:
Type of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander household was also identified, with categories output as follows:
Number of persons in household This refers to a count of persons who are usual residents of the household dwelling and members of the household to which the respondent belongs. Additional output items are available including:
Additional calculations can be made using available data on the All Persons level. Number of daily smokers in household In NATSIHS, the household spokesperson provided information on whether anyone in the household smoked regularly, and if so, the number of people (including themselves) and whether anyone smoked inside the house. For further information on smoking see Tobacco Smoking. Household income As reported by the household spokesperson on behalf of persons aged 15 years and over in the household. For NATSIHS, the income for selected persons aged 15 years and over is collected as part of their personal interview. For further information see Income sources. Equivalised income Differences in household types and compositions, and their requirements relative to income, can be taken into account by the application of equivalence scales. These scales are a set of ratios which, when applied to the income of different household or income unit types, produce standardised estimates of income which reflect the households' relative well-being. The modified OECD equivalence scale (1994) was used. Equivalised income is derived by calculating an equivalence factor and then dividing income by that factor. The equivalence factor is built up by allocating points to each person in the household unit and summing those points. One point is allocated to the first adult in the unit, 0.5 points for each other person aged 15 years and over, and 0.3 points for each person aged less than 15 years. For example:
Equivalised income is available in dollar amounts and deciles. Income deciles and quintiles Income deciles are groupings that result from ranking either all households or all persons in the population in ascending order according to some characteristic, such as income, and then dividing the population into ten equal groups, each comprising 10% of the estimated population. Generally, the first decile contains the bottom 10%, the second decile contains the next 10%, and so on. Quintiles are derived by adding together the first and second decile for the first quintile, third and fourth decile for the second quintile, etc. For the AATSIHS, to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander comparisons to the non-Indigenous population, the cut-offs for the household decile items (available on all AATSIHS data files) were calculated using combined data from both the National Health Survey (NHS) and National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey (NNPAS) and had an adjustment applied to account for Consumer Price Index (CPI) increases from the NHS/NNPAS enumeration period of 2011-12 and the NATSIHS/NATSINPAS enumeration period of 2012-13. As a result, even 10% deciles will not occur in the AATSIHS populations due to the different demographics of the sample compared to that of the combined NHS and NNPAS sample. Personal income deciles, with the same adjustment, were calculated using person weighted data from only the NHS sample and is only available on the NATSIHS data file and therefore will also not have even 10% deciles. To assist in the use and interpretation of income deciles or quintiles at the person or household level, it is necessary to exclude income which is not stated or not known. If one or more of the contributing person records in a household has a value of 'not stated' or 'not known', then household income and derived income deciles are set to '98. Not stated' or '99. Not known', as it is not possible to determine an accurate value. Care should be taken to exclude these codes when categorising higher income values, and when calculating means, medians and other summary statistics. For 2012-13, the dollar ranges covered by deciles in all income items can be found in Appendix 6: Income deciles. Socio-economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFAs) From information collected in the Census of Population and Housing, the ABS has developed indexes to allow ranking of regions/areas, providing a method of determining the level of social and economic well-being in that region. There are four indexes:
AATSIHS is output using the 2011 versions of SEIFA. It is emphasised, however, that these indexes relate to the area in which the survey respondent lived, and are not necessarily indicative of an individual respondent's socio-economic status. The 2011 index scores have been mapped to the SA1 and SA2 levels on both a National and State basis. The previous 2006 index scores were mapped to the CD and SLA levels on both a National and State basis. As the methodology for defining SEIFA has not changed between 2006 and 2011, comparisons between estimates based on both SEIFAs are both possible and reasonable. For further information about the 2011 indexes, see Census of Population and Housing: Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA), Australia, 2011 (cat. no. 2033.0.55.001). For further information about the 2006 indexes, see Information Paper: Census of Population and Housing - Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA), 2006 (cat. no. 2039.0). The Index of Relative Socio-economic Disadvantage is the SEIFA index most frequently used for analysis of health characteristics. SEIFA deciles/quintiles SEIFAs are commonly used to group populations into deciles or quintiles of a particular index. In the AATSIHS, this enables comparisons to be made between the health characteristics, for example, of people living in less advantaged areas with those in more advantaged areas. SEIFA deciles/quintiles can be derived in two ways - area-based and population-based.
For the AATSIHS, SEIFA decile items have been derived for Area-based groupings. Because all SA1s/SA2s are not equal in size and because the AATSIHS samples are not selected to ensure an equal sample distribution at these lower level geographies, this method does not result in an equal number of people (either records or weighted estimates) in each decile/quintile. Confusion can arise about the ordering of the deciles/quintiles created from SEIFA indexes. ABS constructs all four indexes so that relatively disadvantaged areas (e.g. areas with many low income recipients) have low index values, and relatively advantaged areas (e.g. areas with many high income recipients) have high index values. Correspondingly, in ABS publications and other outputs, SEIFA deciles are numbered from decile 1 or lowest decile (most disadvantaged), to decile 10 or highest decile (least disadvantaged). Quintiles are labelled similarly. For consistency, this ordering applies to all indexes, irrespective of whether they are named as indexes of advantage and/or disadvantage. Care needs to be taken in comparing SEIFA analyses undertaken by different agencies, as quintiles or deciles may be labelled in reverse order to the standard ABS order. SEIFAs were not available for a small number of records obtained in the AATSIHS, because some SA1s/SA2s do not have a SEIFA score calculated for them due to their very small population at the time of the Census. These records had SEIFA quintiles and deciles imputed based on SA1s/SA2s of similar geographical and socio-economic characteristics. Family characteristics The composition of specific families within households is available on the All Persons level. This can provide a more detailed understanding of the family unit to which a person belongs than provided at the Household level. 'Family composition' is defined as the differentiation of families based on the presence or absence of couple relationships, parent-child relationships, child dependency relationships or other familial relationships, in that order of precedence. The 'family composition' of a particular family is created through the relationships that exist between a single 'responsible adult' and each other member of that family living in the household. Family composition is then allocated on the basis of whether the types of relationships given below are present or not in the family in the following order of precedence:
Family composition is categorised as follows:
The definition of family used for the AATSIHS is a more restrictive definition than the ordinary notion of the term 'family' which generally includes relatives whether they live together or not. This is a reflection of the fact that for survey-based research it is necessary to place some physical bound on the extent of family, for the purposes of being able to collect family data. Relationship in household Relationship in household was derived from information supplied by the responsible adult (ARA) who answered the initial survey questions for each household, about all usual residents of the household. It describes the relationship of each person in a household to the ARA (i.e. wife, son, not related). Output categories are:
Note: visitors are out on scope for the AATSIHS, so there will be no household members allocated to this category. Data items The data items and related output categories for this topic are available in Excel spreadsheet format from the Downloads page of this product. Comparability with 2004-05 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS) Data for common items are considered directly comparable between the 2004-05 and 2012-13 surveys, except for SEIFA items. The 2004-05 NATSIHS was released on the 2001 version of SEIFA, while the 2012-13 NATSIHS was release on the 2011 version of SEIFA. As the methodology for defining SEIFA has changed between 2001 and 2011, comparisons between estimates based on both SEIFAs are not possible or reasonable. Comparability with 2008 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS) Data for common items are considered directly comparable between the 2008 NATSISS and 2012-13 NATSIHS. It should be noted that the 2008 NATSISS was released on the 2006 version of SEIFA, while the 2012-13 NATSIHS was released on the 2011 version of SEIFA. As the methodology for defining SEIFA has not changed between 2006 and 2011, comparisons between estimates based on both SEIFAs are both possible and reasonable. Comparability with 2011-12 Australian Health Survey (AHS) Data for common items are considered directly comparable between the 2011-12 AHS and 2012-13 AATSIHS. It should be noted that the 2011-12 AHS was initially released on the 2006 version of SEIFA, and later released on the 2011 version of SEIFA. Attention should be paid for which SEIFA is used or presented. The 2012-13 AATSIHS data has only been released on the 2011 version. As the methodology for defining SEIFA has not changed between 2006 and 2011, comparisons between estimates based on both SEIFAs are both possible and reasonable, however where possible, comparisons utilising the same version of SEIFA are recommended.
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