Collectivism, Cultural Identity and Employee Mental Health: A Study of New Zealand Māori

Māori are a collectivistic people living within a largely individualistic country. The present study tested whether Māori who practice higher levels of workplace collectivism feel greater alignment with their overall cultural beliefs, and report better mental health results because of their lower levels of anxiety and depression. Three hundred and thirty-six Māori employees were surveyed, and a regression analysis showed significant direct effects, with collectivism accounting for a sizable 20 % of the variance in both anxiety and depression. Two moderators relating to cultural knowledge and cultural language were also tested. Significant two-way interactions were found: high collectivism and high cultural knowledge led to low depression, and high cultural knowledge and high cultural language skills led to low depression and anxiety. A three-way interaction was found between anxiety, collectivism and cultural knowledge and/or language: low anxiety was reported by respondents with high collectivism and either high cultural knowledge or cultural language. Overall, the study highlights the importance of collectivism and cultural identity for Māori employees’ mental health.     

Cultural Connection Predicts Perceptions of Financial Security for Māori

This paper examines the impact of relative income on income satisfaction with given absolute income. We conducted an experiment in China where participants earned three different levels of income according to their relative performance in a task. While the treatment group was informed about their relative income, the control group only knew their own absolute income. We found that while controlling for absolute income and other factors, information about relative income increases the satisfaction of the high-income group and reduces the satisfaction of the low-income group. Relative income may interact with individual characteristics, such as gender, to affect income satisfaction. We also found that relative income treatment significantly increases income satisfaction inequality, primarily by causing social comparisons among different income groups, which has some welfare implications.     

The Gap in the Subjective Wellbeing of M��ori and New Zealand Europeans Widened Between 2005 and 2009

We compared the self-reported subjective wellbeing of M??ori and New Zealand (NZ) Europeans in two NZ national postal samples. The first sample was collected in 2005 before the global financial crisis of 2007/2010. The second was collected in 2009 while the crisis was ongoing. Both samples contained large and arguably representative samples of the indigenous peoples of NZ, M??ori (Ns = 289 and 964) as well as the now-majority group, NZ Europeans (Ns = 2,769 and 4,073). NZ Europeans?? scores on the Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI) were near-identical across the 2005 and 2009 samples. However, M??ori, who were already lower than NZ Europeans on the PWI in 2005, showed a further decrease in 2009. We argue that this gap in wellbeing widened because material advantages experienced by NZ Europeans as a social group provides a systemic buffer which protects their personal wellbeing from the impact of economic privation. M??ori, who had already experienced systemic disadvantage, were not privileged with this buffer, and thus, the effects of the 2007/2010 global financial crisis impacted their personal wellbeing to a greater extent.     

Understanding changes in Māori incomes and income inequality 1997–2003

This paper examines recent changes in weekly income levels and dispersion for Māori, New Zealand’s indigenous ethnic group. Changes in the Māori income distribution between 1997 and 2003 reflect rapid increases in economic growth and employment rate. A reduced proportion of people had zero or benefit-level incomes and a higher proportion had high incomes. Income inequality declined for working-aged Māori and was stable for employed Māori. The average income gap between Māori and Europeans declined. The increased Māori employment rate during this period was the single most important driver of changes in the Māori income distribution.

Māori Cultural Efficacy and Subjective Wellbeing: A Psychological Model and Research Agenda

Māori, the indigenous peoples of New Zealand, experience a range of negative outcomes. Psychological models and interventions aiming to improve outcomes for Māori tend to be founded on a ‘culture-as-cure’ model. This view promotes cultural efficacy as a critical resilience factor that should improve outcomes for Māori. This is a founding premise of initiatives for Indigenous peoples in many nations. However, research modeling the outcomes of increased cultural efficacy for Indigenous peoples, such as Māori, remains limited. We present cross-sectional data modeling the links, and possible causal direction, between Māori cultural efficacy and active identity engagement and levels of (1) satisfaction with personal circumstances and life versus (2) satisfaction with government and the state of the nation more generally (N = 93 Māori). Our data support an opposing outcomes model in which Māori cultural efficacy predicts satisfaction with personal aspects of life, but may simultaneously decrease satisfaction with the nation and methods of governance for Māori peoples. Possible mechanisms governing these opposing effects are discussed.     

Measuring Changes in Family Wellbeing in New Zealand 1981–2001

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.

The Changing Shape Of Pregnancy In New Zealand Women's Magazines: 1970–2008

This article examines the representation of pregnant embodiment in thirteen New Zealand women's magazines published between January 1970 and December 2008. It offers a theoretical focus on postfeminism, media, and embodiment, and situates their conjuncture within cultural, demographic, and labour market trends. Magazine representations of pregnancy concurrently illustrate the degree to which discourses surrounding pregnancy have shifted, and the continued association of motherhood with feminine success. Monthly and weekly publications were sampled and a visual analysis undertaken of images and spreads. Over nearly four decades, substantial changes were found in the normative or extraordinary status of pregnancy, the appearance and display of the pregnant body, the frequency of representations, the association of pregnancy with celebrity, and its dissemination through celebrity culture. Changes in the status of pregnancy parallel larger social changes, in particular the increase in delayed childbearing amongst white, middle-class women. Pregnancy images were also influenced by changes in the format and substance of women's magazines, the advent of celebrity culture, and the emergence of a maternity market.     

Constructing Global/Local Subjectivities – The New Zealand OE as Governance through Freedom

Abstract

The New Zealand working holiday phenomenon is commonly called the ‘Overseas Experience’ – often simply abbreviated as ‘OE’. While the OE as a working holiday is fundamentally constructed as a time of freedom, fun and cultural experiences, it is also crucially understood as a personal development and coming of age experience. Yet, the sorts of changes young New Zealanders envisage as they embark on their temporary journey abroad have been largely unexplored. Drawing on qualitative research material gathered in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2006–20007, this article explores the multiplicity of reasons young adults from NZ have for engaging in this finite travel phenomenon. By using Nikolas Rose’s theorisations about governance through freedom and the constitution of subjects in advanced liberal democracies, this paper shows that the exercise of freedom and the personal transformation into a full adult member of New Zealand society are highly visible aspirations of OE travellers. This transformation seems to require the paradoxical obligation to be free and exercise choice. Drawing on Rose, the article illustrates how as young New Zealanders insert themselves into OE discourses, they are governed through freedom.     

Socio-economic inequalities in mortality for Asian people: New Zealand Census-Mortality Study, 1996–2004

Journal of Population Research - This study examines the association of socio-economic factors with mortality for the Asian population, and compares with those of the European/Other group....     

Contemporary family sponsorship and older parent reunification immigration under New Zealand’s neoliberal immigration regime

Journal of Population Research - A neoliberal immigration regime often takes an “economic” lens to frame and reframe immigration regulation based on a rational cost–benefit...     

New Family Programme

ＮｅｗＦａｍｉｌｙＰｒｏｇｒａｍｍｅＮｅｗＦａｍｉｌｙＰｒｏｇｒａｍｍｅＳｉｎｃｅＡｐｒｉｌ１９９３，ａｎｅｗｆａｍｉｌｙｐｒｏｇｒａｍｍｅｃｈａｒａｃｔｅｒｉｚｅｄｂｙｄｅｆｅｒｒｅｄｍａｒｒｉａｇｅａｎｄｄｅｆｅｒｒｅｄｃｈｉｌｄｂｅａｒｉｎｇ，...     

New MarriagePatterns in Ghina

WithtileUllfoldillgoftilereformandopellillgupprogram,Chinahaswitnessedamyriadofdramaticchanges,oneofthemostnoticeableofwllicllislllarriagepatterns.Smallersizes.In1997,tileaveragefamilysizedroppedto3.64,comparedwith4.79in1985.Overtherecentdecades,therehasbeenasteadyincreaseinthe11umberof11uclearfamilies(l-3prsons)alldadecreaseinthatofmedium-sizedandextendedfalllilies(4andover).Deferredmarriage.Natiollwide,tileaverageageatfirstmarriagerosefi-om22.66yearsin1982to24.02in1996.Skyrocketingmarriage…     

Chongqing Becomes China''''s New Municipality

ＣｈｏｎｇｑｉｎｇＢｅｃｏｍｅｓＣｈｉｎａ’ｓＮｅｗＭｕｎｉｃｉｐａｌｉｔｙＴｈｅｅｓｔａｂｌｉｓｈｍｅｎｔｏｆＣｈｏｎｇｑｉｎｇＭｕｎｉｃｉｐａｌｉｔｙｗａｓｄｅｃｌａｒｅｄｏｎＭａｒｃｈ１４，１９９７，ｗｈｅｎｔｈｅＦｉｆｔｈＳｅｓｉｏｎｏｆｔ...     

A New Way To Distribute Contraceptives

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Shanghai＇s New Dwellers：Selected Survey Data on Floating Population in New Pudong Area

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Minister Zhang Weiqing On the New Regulations

NewMeasuresfortheFamilyPlanningManagementoftheFloatingPopulation,formulatedbytheStateFamilyPlanningCommission(SFPC)andapprovedbytheStateCouncil,willcomeintoeffectonJanuaryl,1999throughoutChina.SFPCMinisterZhangWeiqing,speakingatapressconferenceonSeptember22,explainedtojournaliststhenecessityfortherevisionofthepreviousRegulationsontheFamilyPlanningManagementoftheFloatingPopulationannouncedinDecember1991.HesaidthesitUationhadchangedandsomenewproblemshadappearedsincethesocialistmarke…     

A New Family Programme in Zhejiang Province

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Concentration:A New Trend in China''''s Agriculture

Ｃｏｎｃｅｎｔｒａｔｉｏｎ：ＡＮｅｗＴｒｅｎｄｉｎＣｈｉｎａ＇ｓＡｇｒｉｃｕｌｔｕｒｅ￥／／ＡｇｒｉｃｕｌｔｕｒｅｉｓｒｅｇａｒｄｅｄａｓａｆｕｎｄａｍｅｎｔａｌｓｅｃｔｏｒｏｆＣｈｉｎａ＇ｓｅｃｏｎｏｍｙ．Ｓｉｎｃｅ１９７８，ｔｈｅｉｎｔｒｏｄｕｃ...     

Accelerating Establishment of New Working Mechanism through Comprehensive Reform

NPFPC Minister Zhang Weiqing speaks at a Meeting on Establishing a New Working Mech- anism for Population and Family Planning Work Significance The Eleventh Five-Year Plan Period (2006-2010) and the following 15 years is a very important era for building a prosperous and harmonious society in China. It is also a vital period for stabilizing the low fertility level and comprehensively addressing population issues.