Our Lives, Social Futures and Life Pathways of Young People in Queensland: A Longitudinal Project, 2006-2019 (Waves 1-7)

The Our Lives Project is a longitudinal study currently administered by the Australian Catholic University. The project seeks to follow up respondents every two years and explores the attitudes and aspirations of young people in Queensland. The project was previously managed by the University of Queensland in Waves 1-3 (from 2006 to 2011) and Monash University in Waves 4-6 (2013-2017). Since Wave 7 (2019) it has been managed by the Australian Catholic University. The project aims to understand how work, study, housing, and relationship pathways emerge and develop from adolescence and into adulthood. It also examines the formation of young people’s changing social, civic and political attitudes and values across this period. Beginning in 2006, the first phase of Our Lives surveyed 7,031 students who were beginning secondary school (age 12/13 years) in 202 schools across all schooling sectors and geographic regions in Queensland. The first follow-up survey (Wave Two) was conducted in 2008, and resulted in a response from 3,649 original sample members (age 14/15 years). Wave Three was conducted in 2010 (age 16/17, n=3,209); Wave Four was conducted in 2013 (age 19/20; n=2,208); Wave 5 took place in 2015 (age 21/22; n=2,158); and Wave 6 occurred in 2017 (age 23/24, n=2,030). The most recent survey (Wave 7) was conducted thirteen years after the study began, in 2019, when respondents were aged 25/26. A total of 2,042 surveys were completed, consisting of 1,928 original sample members and 114 top-up respondents. This is a complete data file for all 7 Waves.