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Measuring Changes in Family Wellbeing in New Zealand 1981–2001

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Abstract

Since the mid-1980s, New Zealand has experienced extensive economic, social and political reforms. The economic impact of these changes has been closely monitored and much commented upon. However, the social impacts of the reforms on different family types are less well understood. This paper outlines a project designed to monitor how the reforms impacted upon specific family types via the use of indicators of family wellbeing constructed from census data. These indicators show that for a range of family types, the reforms of the 1980s and 1990s varied in their impact, with single-parent families faring worst.

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Notes

  1. Statistics New Zealand is the government agency responsible for collecting statistics.

  2. See www.socialreport.msd.govt.nz

  3. See http://www.bigcities.govt.nz

  4. The FWWP is part of a 5-year research programme supported by the Social Science funding pool of the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (FRST). One of the goals of this programme was to develop ways to use census data to examine and monitor the social and economic determinants of family and whanau wellbeing and how these have changed over the period 1981–2001.

  5. Thus, in many instances a strong link exists between the more objective measures of wellbeing and the subjective measures of wellbeing. Therefore, although the census provides little direct information on the subjective intangible aspects of wellbeing, it can nonetheless provide some indirect insights into these.

  6. Equivalised income is gross income adjusted for family composition using the Revised Jensen Scale Jensen, J. (1988). Income equivalence and the estimation of family expenditures on children. Wellington, Department of Social Welfare and expressed in 1999 dollars using the Consumers Price Index (base 1999) for the relevant year Statistics New Zealand. (2005). “Tenure security dimension”. Retrieved 22 February 2005, from http://www.stats.govt.nz/analytical-reports/six-dimensions-hsing-adequacy/Tenure+Security+Dimension.htm.)

  7. Explain what secondary school is.

  8. Unemployment in the Census is defined as all people in the working-age population (people aged 15 years and over) who, during the week ended 5 March 2006, were without a paid job, were available for work and: Had actively sought work in the past 4 weeks (ended 5 March 2006); or had a new job to start within the next 4 weeks.

  9. In these two cases, because of the indicator definition, either a parent or one of the children in the house could have been unemployed.

  10. The number of bedrooms required by a household is calculated using the concept of the adult equivalent. The required number of bedrooms is calculated as: 1/2 × the number of children under 10 years + the number of couples + the number of remaining householders aged 10 years and over Morrison, P. (1994). Housing occupancy and the changing size of households and dwellings in New Zealand 1951–1991. New Zealand Population Review, 20(1 and 2), 69–100, Statistics New Zealand. (2004). Equivalised crowding index. Housing indicators Retrieved April, 2007, from http://www.stats.govt.nz/analytical-reports/housing/housing-indicators/indicator-2a-equivalised-crowding-index.htm.)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Gerard Cotterell & Mark Wheldon

  2. Presbyterian Support, Upper South Island, Christchurch, New Zealand

    Sue Milligan

Authors
  1. Gerard Cotterell
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  2. Mark Wheldon
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  3. Sue Milligan
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Correspondence to Gerard Cotterell.

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Cotterell, G., Wheldon, M. & Milligan, S. Measuring Changes in Family Wellbeing in New Zealand 1981–2001. Soc Indic Res 86, 453–467 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-007-9179-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-007-9179-2

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