Person—marital status, social code NN

Identifying and definitional attributes

• Health, Qualified 03/06/2022

Value domain attributes

Representational attributes

Collection and usage attributes

CODE 10     Married (not further defined)

A person who lives with another person in a couple relationship. Whether this relationship is a registered marriage or a de facto marriage is not further defined.

CODE 11     Married in a registered marriage

A person who lives with another person in a couple relationship and this relationship is a registered marriage.

CODE 12     Married in a de facto marriage

A person who lives with another person in a couple relationship and this relationship is not a registered marriage.

CODE 21     Not married

A person who does not live with another person in a couple relationship. This includes persons who live alone, or with other family members, and those in shared accommodation. It also includes persons who are in a registered marriage or in a de facto marriage, but whose partners are not usually resident in the household.

CODE 99     Not stated/inadequately described

This code is not for use on primary collection forms. It is primarily for use in administrative collections when transferring data from data sets where the item has not been collected.

This Value Domain is based on the Australian Bureau of Statistics' definition of 'Social marital status', defined as "a person's relationship status in terms of whether he or she forms a couple relationship with another person who is usually resident in the household" (ABS 2019.)

The Australian Bureau of Statistics identify two concepts of marital status:

• Registered marital status - defined as whether a person has, or has had, a registered marriage;
• Social marital status - based on a person's living arrangement (including de facto marriages), as reported by the person (ABS 2019).

NB. The Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017 (Cth) removed references to sex or gender in the Marriage Act 1961 (Cth) and redefined marriage as 'the union of two people to the exclusion of all others'. The sex/gender of either party in a couple is thus irrelevant to their marital status.

Source and reference attributes

ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) 2019. Family, Household and Income Unit Variables, 2014. Canberra: ABS, viewed 8 March 2021 https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/allprimarymainfeatures/
CF63EA0D2C0016C2CA2572AE00227E7E?opendocument

Data element attributes

Collection and usage attributes

This element collects information on the 'Social marital status' of a person, defined as: "a person's relationship status in terms of whether he or she forms a couple relationship with another person who is usually resident in the household."

"A couple relationship is based on a consensual union and is defined as two people usually residing in the same household who share a social, economic and emotional bond and who consider their relationship to be a marriage or marriage-like union. This relationship is either a registered marriage or de facto marriage."

"According to this concept, a marriage exists when two people live together as a couple, regardless of whether the union is formalised through registration. Individuals are therefore regarded as 'married' if they are in a de facto relationship with a partner, or if they are living with their registered marriage partner" (ABS 2019.)

Note, that as this element relates to a person's living arrangements, persons who are in a registered marriage or in a de facto marriage, but whose partners are not usually resident in the household, are recorded as 'not married.'

The scope of the 'Social marital status' variable does not include people under the age of 15 years.

While marital status is an important factor in assessing the type and extent of support needs, such as for the elderly living in the home environment, marital status does not adequately address the need for information about social support and living arrangement and other data elements need to be formulated to capture this information.

Source and reference attributes

ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) 2019. Family, Household and Income Unit Variables, 2014. Canberra: ABS, viewed 4 April 2022 https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/allprimarymainfeatures/
CF63EA0D2C0016C2CA2572AE00227E7E?opendocument

Relational attributes