The Youth in Focus Survey
The Youth in Focus Survey is a new and exciting survey about the experiences of young people in Australia. It asks questions about family background, living arrangements, education, work, relationships, income, health, spare time, and aspirations and attitudes.
Two waves of the survey have been conducted. The first took place in 2006 and the second in 2008. Young people aged 18 and one of their parents or carers were interviewed. The parents and carers were interviewed once (in 2006), and the young people have been interviewed twice (in 2006 and 2008). In the first wave, we interviewed about 4000 young people and 3900 parents or carers. (Due to lack of funding, no further data collection is scheduled.)
The people who were invited to participate in the survey were randomly selected from Centrelink's records. Most young people have a Centrelink record because their parents received Family Assistance while they were growing up. Other young people, who receive Youth Allowance or some other form of social security payment, have a Centrelink record in their own right. It is estimated that about 85% of all young people in Australia have a Centrelink record.
Information for participants:
Each wave of the survey is carried out over several months. Each selected person have received or will receive a letter from the Australian Government inviting them to participate in the survey, and interviews are carried out a few weeks later by Roy Morgan Research.
Copies of the letters and the information brochure for all waves can be obtained by clicking on the links below. You need Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer to view or print these documents; Adobe Acrobat Reader is free and can be downloaded from the Adobe website.
Wave 1 letters and information brochure (sent out in July-August 2006):
Wave 2 letters (sent out in July-August 2008):
Note that the wording of some letters were slightly different, as Centrelink did not have a telephone number for everyone selected.
If you are a participant and have questions about the survey, you can contact Roy Morgan Research on the Youth in Focus hotline 1800 647 466 or e-mail yif@roymorgan.com
Survey instruments
The surveys in 2006 and 2008 involved telephone interviews and (paper or web-based) self-complete questionnaires. The survey instruments have been transferred to paper-form:
Additional files:
Please see the User Guide on the publications page for further explanation.
