Rich, poor, educated, newly arrived, separated ... in 1990, researchers started following the lives of 167 babies — this is how it worked out

Is life what you make it? Or does the start you get make you?

A study that followed 167 babies, from birth until the age of 34, has some answers.

Isabel has travelled the world, gained academic degrees and learned multiple languages.

But she hasn't ticked off many of the life milestones she had expected: like owning a house, holding a secure job or starting a family.

In recent years Isabel has worked in cafes and relied on her family for housing.

"I always thought, especially in my 20s, I would have a kid by 30. And then at 30, I thought I would have a kid by 34. And now I'm like, 'Oh, we'll see.' And I always thought I would sort of be like this 'office person' wearing fancy suits to work," she said.

"I didn't have an idea of what the job would be. But I definitely didn't think I'd be living in my Mum's spare room.

"So it hasn't turned out how I thought it would," Isabel said.

"But I don't regret how it's turned out so far."

Safety net

The study began in 1990 and followed 167 babies born in the inner suburbs of Melbourne.

The families were a diverse mix of incomes, education levels and ethnicities. Some lived in public housing, others were home owners. Some lived in multi-generational families. Some, like Isabel's parents — were separated.

Dina Bowman, principal research fellow with anti-poverty organisation the Brotherhood of St. Laurence, said your start doesn't determine where you end up.

"We've learned that the family that you're born into, the circumstances you're born into isn't necessarily destiny. Social policies and programs can make a difference and do make a difference."

But Australia's social safety net, things like access to affordable public housing and welfare payments for people who are unemployed or carers, has degraded massively over the period of the study.

"There's been a disinvestment in some of the policies that are really important in evening up the odds," she said.

While public policy is a huge factor, the study keeps coming back to two key elements: family and support.

And that doesn't always mean money.

Family strength

As costs linked to education have increased, the disparity between the ability of wealthy and poorer families in the study to help their children increased.

Having money also helped buffer people through periods of high unemployment.

Better-off children more likely to work in family businesses, be referred into jobs through friendship networks or invest in higher education.

"Family wealth or resources can act as a safety net, and a springboard."

It doesn't mean, Dr Bowman notes, that people with wealth don't experience problems.

"Better off families still experienced tragedy and hard times," she said.

"Disability, ill health, family separation, etc. But those resources act as a buffer and can provide that support when people fall on hard times."

And families with strong connections and connection to their culture can overcome some of the disadvantages of having less money.

"Money is important, resources are important," Dr Bowman said.

"But strong family bonds, and particularly cultural identity can really provide sources of support for children as they grow."

Hard drive

Alan wasn't born when his parents left Hong Kong and arrived in Australia in 1986.

Speaking little English and without formal qualifications, his dad started work as a waiter and restaurant manager. He's still at it.

His mother worked as a cleaner, at a laundromat and raising children.

"So not highly skilled roles, but very hardworking people," he said.

"My parents ingrained in me from a very young age that higher education was the road to success. Now it's deeply ingrained in my belief system."

Alan explains how "education equals success" was a consistent narrative in the life of his family.

"Every so often, during a car ride, home or at dinner, Dad was like, 'Do you want to be like me, working a really hard job, 8am to 8pm?' And so going to school, having an education, going to university was almost a default."

But it's not just education.

His family were also focused on owning property, and ingrained this in their children.

When Alan entered the workforce over a decade ago, his parents used their savings to fund a deposit on a small apartment.

After Alan's marriage, he and his wife bought their own place, but they're currently living with his parents as they save for a larger house to accommodate an imminent second child.

"It's not new (to me) this concept of moving in and saving money. That was ideal for us," he said.

"There are sacrifices, but we're having quality family time, my little boy is spending time with his grandparents on a daily basis."

Alan agrees that people with strong family support can negotiate the bumps of life more easily.

"Every milestone that me or my family have hit is not a result of no help from external things," he said.

"Money's obviously a huge factor, but the support and social structures I've had have enabled me to be ... I wouldn't say 'successful', but like a relatively smooth and seamless transition from different life stages."

Change is change

The report's long view takes in broad changes in society over decades.

Because of that, its key findings aren't a shock, but they illustrate important shifts that have affected society in massive ways, for example:

• Education remains highly valued but does not guarantee a good job:

The rise of rolling short-term contracts and "gig" work in white-collar professions like teaching and academia mean even people with a high level of tertiary education, and the substantial debt that comes with it, can't get jobs that give them security in either employment or housing.

"So it's that really extended transition," Dr Bowman said.

"It's not just gaining a higher education — that qualification doesn't necessarily lead to a secure role that will enable you to save for a house deposit, have children. It's that delay and extension, extension."

• Economic and industrial-relations changes have affected employment and family relationships:

Those changes in the labour market, and an economic slowdown after the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) has also had the impact of keeping wage growth low.

With rising living costs people who make their living from income (workers) haven't fared as well as those whose income comes from assets like real estate and shares.

This has also extended the transition from schooling and higher education into work.

• Rising house prices have benefited home owners as investment in public housing has fallen:

When the study began in 1990 around one quarter of the families lived in public housing.

But the amount state and federal governments spend on the sector had fallen spectacularly, until a recent turn-around.

The rising cost of rent has made it difficult to get together the deposit needed for a loan.

Many parents, even poorer ones, were making large financial gifts towards a house deposit for their children, or guaranteeing the loans with their own property as collateral.

• Pride in Australia and in their origins:

Almost one-third of the families in the study didn't speak English at home when quizzed in 1990.

Many flourished but others struggled and were faced with discrimination and racism.

By the time they were 21, over half the young people identified themselves simply as 'Australian' with a further quarter identified as Australian followed by another ethnicity (for example “Australian Chinese” or “Australian with a little bit of Italian dropped in as well”).

Later studies have shown a growing sense of the benefits of cultural identity, Dr Bowman said.

"There were young people who were trying to deny their cultural identity when they were a bit younger. But as they've grown older and become parents themselves, they're embracing their cultural identities — and acknowledging a different form of wealth that it brings."

• Links between gender and inequality remain stubborn:

Significant shifts in policies and what's considered 'normal' about gender roles have occurred since 1990, with increased access to education meaning women and girls are in a wider and better-paying range of occupations.

But "gendered cultural expectations" still hit aspirations.

Then and now, it was usually mothers who withdrew from the work force when they had children. With that, patterns of work and care persisted along gender lines, even though there was a strong desire for more equal sharing of the load.

In addition, housing costs influenced decisions and reinforced the gendered division of labour, because men tend to and continue to earn more it makes financial sense for them to work more, with women working part-time while also carrying the bulk of the care load.

Debt direction

Many of those broad factors have had a direct impact on Isabel's life and direction.

She currently owes the government more than $100,000 for her degrees.

"I think if education had been free, I probably would have also studied law," she said.

"My brother went to a fancy private school. He's now a lawyer, and his partner is a lawyer, and he's bought a house. It's just a different way of looking at life and running through life, but those are choices that your parents make, too."

Being able to rely on the 'backstop' of family has enabled Isabel to travel and chase her interests.

"I am very lucky in that sense. And I haven't sort of thought about it until recently," she said.

"Having family, supportive family that lets you do what you want to do without judging you too much is really, really special."

But the broken link between getting degrees and building a secure future is one that Isabel feels keenly.

She's been working casually in a cafe in the country.

"So no one's ever going to give me a credit card, let alone a bank loan at the moment."

Isabel doesn't think she'll ever own a house — "a pipe dream" — but has had recent good fortune.

She's soon starting a three-month contract in the curatorial field she's qualified in, conserving a historic homestead.

"You can gain more experience and then potentially get longer work."

"So it's hard. But it's nice to think that, yeah, you can eventually get working. Its great. It's beautiful."

Run the same race?

But the stories we tell ourselves aren't always how things work more broadly.

"There's a narrative," academic Elise Klein said.

"That if you work hard enough you'll get where you want to go: you get an education, you do all the right things you will be okay.

"But this research and other research also circulating shows that that's not the always the case."

The associate professor of public policy at the Australian National University has written and consumed reams of studies about how the social safety net impacts society: those it catches and those it fails.

"A cohort of babies are all born at the same time. But policies and government decisions, get behind some of those babies and put obstacles in the way of others."

As a participant in the study put it, they all ran the same race "but some of them got mountains put in their way, and others got a helping hand".

As Associate Professor Klein sees it, the report is a reminder to focus on decisions of state and federal governments.

"People talk about 'The Canberra Bubble', (but policy decisions) have real implications for people's lives," she said.

"You can just see it in this cohort of babies. Now they're adults, policies have actively picked winners and picked babies that have had to struggle."

Next steps

With the study ending, its participants have reflected on the annual nature of assessing their own lives.

Early in the study the researchers would talk to their parents but as they grew, it changed to be annual interviews or an online survey.

"The interviewers will come out to the house and then we would do a tape recorder session and my mum would be interviewed," Alan recalls.

"This study has been part of every year. You slow down and have time to reflect on what has happened in the past year.

"That self reflection enabled me to say, 'Yep, I've achieved something' or 'I need to, pull up my socks in this area of my life'."

"But I always say to people it's almost a jackpot. Coming and being able to grow up in Australia. It's a huge privilege"

That resonates with Isabel, despite the different path she's taken to Alan.

"People have different goals and different things they want to achieve in life. And mine happen to not be the ones that a lot of people have."

She smiles.

"I've got other ones as well."