Technical notes

About the HILDA Survey

The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey is a household-based panel study that collects valuable information about economic and personal wellbeing, labour market dynamics and family life. It aims to tell the stories of the same group of Australians over the course of their lives. The HILDA Survey provides policy makers with unique insights about Australia, enabling them to make informed decisions across a range of policy areas, including health, education and social services (Melbourne Institute n.d).

The HILDA Survey is the only study of its kind in Australia, following the lives of more than 17,000 Australians each year. By the nature of its design as a longitudinal study, it can be extended to continue indefinitely, following not only the individuals in the initial sample throughout their lives but also the lives of their descendants (DSS 2022). Data are predominately collected through face-to-face interviews, however telephone and computer-assisted interviews may be conducted to increase response rates if needed (Summerfield et al. 2022).

HILDA data are collected from respondents in annual “Waves”. Data have been collected since 2001 (Wave 1), and the most recent published data (Wave 21) were collected between July 2021 and March 2022 (Watson et al 2022). Although designed as a longitudinal study, single-Wave cross-sectional analysis is also possible using the HILDA data. This report conducted cross-sectional analysis of Wave 21 data.

The HILDA Survey is funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Social Services (DSS). The Melbourne Institute is responsible for the design and management of the Survey and has appointed Roy Morgan (research company) to collect data for Waves 9 to 23.

Inclusion of new Australian Defence Force (ADF) service questions in HILDA

Based on the success of the new ADF service questions in 2021 Census field testing, a similar set of questions were introduced to the HILDA Survey in Wave 21. These new HILDA questions inform the population groups analysed throughout this report, with 650 respondents identified as either current or ex-serving veterans in Wave 21.

HILDA respondents were asked the following questions in Wave 21:

Question

Available responses

K78. Have you ever served in the Australian Defence Force? This includes service in the Reserves.

Yes; No; Don’t know; Refused

K79. Was that in the Regular Service or in the Reserves Service?

Regular; Reserves; Both; Don’t know; 

Refused

K80. And are you currently serving in the Australian Defence Force, or was that service in the past?

Current; Past; Don’t know; Refused 

A check for age was applied to question K80, where veterans aged 65 years and older were not asked whether they were current or ex-serving. This survey design aimed to improve the user experience for older veterans completing the survey, as they are unlikely to be current serving due to being older than the standard ADF retirement age of 60 for permanent members, and 65 for Reservists. As such, any person aged 65 years and older who reported that they had ever served in the ADF were automatically recoded as ex-serving in the analysis throughout this report.

Survey analysis methodologies

Weighting methods

Weighting is the process of adjusting results from a sample survey to infer results for the total in-scope population, whether that be persons or households (ABS 2022e). As only a sample of the Australian population was surveyed as part of Wave 21 of HILDA, results in this report were weighted to enable estimates to be made about the social connectedness of the entire population that is in-scope for the HILDA survey.

When conducting analysis of HILDA survey data, the types of weights that should be used will depend on both the type of analysis being conducted, and the source of the survey question that the data have been derived from. This report relied only on cross-sectional (as opposed to longitudinal) analysis, and almost all variables were derived from the Wave 21 HILDA Self-Complete Questionnaire (SCQ). As such, all results in this report have been weighted using the SCQ responding person weights (Summerfield et al. 2022).

The weighted estimates presented in this report are not intended to represent the entire veteran population, and therefore may over-or under-represent certain types of veterans.

For more information on weights within Wave 21 of HILDA, see the HILDA User Manual – Release 21.

How we tested for significant differences between proportions

It is possible that a difference between two sample-based results is due to chance rather than being a true difference. The HILDA survey data presented in this report have been tested for significance at the 5% level using confidence intervals for the difference between two proportions. If the confidence interval of the difference between two proportions contains zero, the difference is statistically significant, but if the confidence interval does not contain zero, it is likely that the difference is not statistically significant (AIHW 2018). Statistically significant differences throughout this report have been indicated using language such as ‘lower’ and ‘higher’ where comparisons between groups have been made.

In instances where a significant difference was observed between two subgroups within the veteran cohort, statistical comparisons were conducted against the same subgroup comparison among people who had never served in the ADF, to determine whether the magnitude of the difference was larger or smaller in the veteran cohort. This was achieved by comparing the respective cohort rate ratios, and calculating a z-score. If the z-score was larger than 1.96, the rate ratio for the subgroup comparison in the veteran cohort was deemed significantly different to the rate ratio for the same subgroup comparison among people who had never served in the ADF.

Where comparisons are found to be not statistically significant, there may still be a real difference of practical importance that the statistical test did not detect due to issues such as the small size of the veteran cohort in Wave 21 of HILDA.

General considerations and limitations of findings in this report

More information on risk and protective factors explored in this report

Overall, 15 different subgroups of veterans were investigated within the analysis for this report, to identify potential risk and protective factors against issues with social connectedness in this population. Details about each subgroup are provided below, including why each was selected for analysis.

Acronyms

ABS 

Australian Bureau of Statistics
ADFAustralian Defence Force
AIHWAustralian Institute of Health and Welfare
CVC DVA Coordinated Veterans’ Care
DVADepartment of Veterans’ Affairs
DSSDepartment of Social Services
GSSGeneral Social Survey
HILDAHousehold Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia
ISSIndex of Social Isolation
K10Kessler Psychological Distress Scale
NHSNational Health Survey
SF-3636-Item Short Form Health Survey

Glossary

age-standardisation: A way to remove the influence of age when comparing populations with different age structures. This is usually necessary because the rates of many events (for example, deaths or service use) vary with age. The age structures of the different populations are converted to the same 'standard' structure, and then the disease rates that would have occurred with that structure are calculated and compared.

confidence interval: A range determined by variability in data, within which there is a specified (usually 95%) chance that the true value of a calculated parameter lies.

COVID-19: A disease of the respiratory system, particularly in the early stages of the illness, caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

disability: The HILDA Survey defines disability as an impairment, long-term health condition or disability that restricts everyday activities and has lasted, or is likely to last, for a period of 6 months or more. In this report, people who always or sometimes need help or supervision with at least one core activity because of their disability are referred to as people with ‘severe or profound disability’. Core activities include self-care, mobility and communication. People who have disability but do not always or sometimes need help or supervision with at least one core activity are referred to as people with ‘other disability’.

DVA Client: A DVA client is defined as someone who responded “yes” in the HILDA survey when asked whether they had been issued a White, Gold or Orange card by DVA.

family type: The composition of households and the relationships between household members. In this report, the following family types are explored:

  • Couple family without children: Respondent is part of a married or de facto couple without children in the household. The household may include any number of other related or non-related individuals usually resident in the household.
  • Couple with dependent children: Respondent is part of a married or de facto couple with at least one child under 15 or dependent student in the household. The household may include any number of other related or non-related individuals usually resident in the household.
  • Couple with non-dependent children: Respondent is part of a married or de facto couple with at least one child in the household who is not dependent. They do not have any children in the household who are under 15 or dependent students. The household may include any number of other related or non-related individuals usually resident in the household.
  • Lone parent with children: A person who has no spouse or partner present in the household but who forms a parent-child relationship with at least one child, either dependent or non-dependent, usually resident in the household. The household may include any number of other related or non-related individuals usually resident in the household.
  • Lone person household: A person at least 15 years of age who lives in a dwelling on their own.
  • Other household: includes those who live in a multiple family household in which there are two or more of the family types living in the same dwelling, and group households which consists of two or more unrelated people. 

financial stress: refers to the difficulties that people have meeting basic financial commitments due to a shortage of money. In the self-completion section of the HILDA survey, respondents were asked if they experienced the following financial stress indicators during the calendar year:

  • Could not pay electricity, gas or telephone bills on time. 
  • Could not pay the mortgage or rent on time. 
  • Pawned or sold something. 
  • Went without meals. 
  • Was unable to heat home. 
  • Asked for financial help from friends or family. 
  • Asked for help from welfare/ community organisations.

For this report, respondents must have experience two or more the indicators to be classified as being in financial stress.

labour force status: refers to a person being either in the labour force (employed or unemployed) or not in the labour force. An individual’s labour force status is influenced by their choices and life circumstances as well as by broader conditions of the labour market. In this report, the following categories of labour force status were explored:

  • employed full-time: respondent had a job, business or farm leading up to the interview, and whose usual weekly hours of work in all jobs totalled 35 or more. This includes people who had either worked in the last 4 weeks, or had not worked but: had been in paid work for any part of the last 4 weeks; or had been on worker’s compensation and expected to return to work for the same employer; or had not worked because of a strike or lock-out.
  • employed part-time: respondent had a job, business or farm leading up to the interview, and whose usual weekly hours of work in all jobs totalled less than 35. This includes people who had either worked in the last 4 weeks, or had not worked but: had been in paid work for any part of the last 4 weeks; or had been on worker’s compensation and expected to return to work for the same employer; or had not worked because of a strike or lock-out.
  • unemployed: respondent had actively looked for work at any time in the 4 weeks before the interview and was available to start work in the week before the interview; or respondent was waiting to start a new job within 4 weeks from the date of the interview and could have started in the week before the interview if the job had been available.
  • not in the labour force: respondents who were non-employed and not unemployed. This may include people marginally attached to the labour force (those who wanted to work and were either available to start work but were not currently looking, or were looking for work but were not currently available) as well as other people (those who did not want to work; or wanted to work but were not actively looking for work and were not available to start work within 4 weeks). Examples of persons not in the labour force include people who are retired or voluntarily economically inactive, and people who experiencing a short- or long-term health condition or disability (ABS 2022f: Wilkins et al 2022).

psychological distress: Unpleasant feelings or emotions that affect a person’s level of functioning and interfere with the activities of daily living. This distress can result in having negative views of the environment, others and oneself, and manifest as symptoms of mental illness including anxiety and depression.

rate: One number (the numerator) divided by another number (the denominator). The numerator is commonly the number of events in a specified time. The denominator is the population “at risk” of the event. Rates (crude rates, age-specific rates and age-standardised – see age-standardisation) are generally multiplied by a number such as 100,000 to create whole numbers.

remoteness area: This report uses the Australian Statistical Geography Standard Remoteness Structure, 2001 which defines remoteness areas in 5 classes of relative remoteness:

  • Major cities
  • Inner regional
  • Outer regional
  • Remote
  • Very remote.

Due to small population sizes, data for "Outer regional”, “Remote” and “Very remote" are combined into "Outer regional and remote” for reporting.

SF-36 measures of health: The SF-36 Health Survey is a 36-item questionnaire that is intended to measure health outcomes (functioning and wellbeing) from a patient point of view. The SF-36 measures of general health and mental health were used for this report.  In this report, persons in poor general or mental health were classified as:

  • Poor general health: an SF-36 score less than or equal to 37.
  • Poor mental health: an SF-36 score less than or equal to 52.

statistical significance: A statistical measure indicating how likely the observed difference was due to chance alone.

weighting: Adjustment of the characteristics of one group so they are statistically similar to the characteristics of another group so that comparisons of the effect under study can be more certain.

What support is available?

For support and counselling contact: 

For more information on loneliness and social isolation, see:

Acknowledgements >