Child Support for Young Adult Children in Australia

Scant information is available on the extent to which separated parents continue to support their children financially once children turn eighteen years. Little is also known about separated parents' awareness of their legal obligations to support their young adult children, and their attitudes towards such obligations. This article draws on data from the Australian Divorce Transitions Project to explore these issues. The sample for this analysis comprised seventy‐two post‐divorce family units in which at least one child was under eighteen years at the time of separation but aged eighteen to twenty‐five years at the time of interview (n = 106 young adult children). Three clear findings emerged from the data: (a) financial support of young adults by non‐resident parents is not the norm in Australia; (b) parents appear to be largely unaware that their young adult children may be eligible to receive continuing financial support from a non‐resident parent; and (c) men are more likely than women and children to believe that child support should cease once children turn eighteen

Child support · Developmental psychology · Norm (philosophy · Political science · Young adult · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Family Support in Illness · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving · Medicine · Psychology

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  K Cook, Hayley Mckenzie et al.•Journal of Family Studies•2011

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