Youth Allowance and the Financial Position of Young Australians
type="main" xml:lang="en"> This article uses data that follow young Australians to their mid-20s to assess how their views of their financial position change as their circumstances change. Full-time students in receipt of Youth Allowance are the least satisfied about their financial position, even among other students, and experience more financial ‘stress’-related incidents than other young people. Little of these differences from other groups seem to be a consequence of the receipt of Youth Allowance. Furthermore, the differences do not translate into recipients having lower levels of life satisfaction, unlike young people in receipt of other forms of government income support.
An exploratory study of students’ weekly stress levels and sources of stress during the semester
Studying at university can be a very stressful experience. Although the literature provides some information regarding different sources of stress among students, studies have not addressed the issue of changes over the course progression. This study aimed to obtain a deeper understanding of the sources of stress for first-year students and whether these stressors are more prevalent at different times during the semester. A mixed-method approach was used. Content analysis was undertaken on longitudinal electronic message data, and thematic analysis was used for focus group data. Results indicated an increasing trend of stress over the semester. The major stressors identified were academic, financial/work, personal, family-related, interpersonal, social support, university/life balance and starting university. A number of stressors were found to be more prevalent at different times during the semester, including some academic-related stressors plus starting university, family-related and financial/work-related stressors. This is one of the few studies to examine the influence of timing of the levels of stress. Importantly, this study suggests that the start and end of the first semester constitute the riskiest periods for negative stress-related consequences. These results could be used to assist universities in developing student support programmes.
Income Support and Related Statistics: A 10-Year Compendium, 1989-1999
A compendium of recipient numbers, characteristics and expenditure for all FaCS income support payments and a number of other supplementary payments and other services for the period June 1989 to June 1999.