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By the year 2030, 19–21 per cent of the population of New Zealand (NZ) is projected to be aged 65 and over. Like many countries, life expectancy in NZ differs by gender but also ethnicity: in 2019, life expectancy for Māori (indigenous) women was 77.1 years compared with 84.4 years for non-Māori women. If Māori and NZ European women are to flourish in later life, examining the factors associated with their wellbeing is paramount. The current study draws on the Life Course Perspective to explore how wellbeing is associated with age-related life events among mid- to later-life NZ women. The women in this study (N = 19,624) are participants in the 2018 wave of the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study, a national probabilistic 20-year longitudinal study (mean age = 55.62; Māori = 10.8%, NZ European = 89.2%). We found that stressful life events were negatively associated with life satisfaction but positively associated with meaning in life. Māori women exhibited lower levels of life satisfaction but there were no ethnic differences for meaning in life; however, Māori and NZ European women showed different patterns of significant correlates associated with meaning in life. Findings highlight the necessity of an intersectional approach to the study of mid- to later-life wellbeing and the utility of measuring wellbeing in more than one way within NZ's unique cultural-historical context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Longitudinal studies into the relationship between affect (positive or negative feelings) towards one's own ethnic group and wellbeing are rare, particularly for Indigenous peoples. In this paper, we test the longitudinal effects of in-group warmth (a measure of ethnic identity affect) and ethnic identity centrality on three wellbeing measures for New Zealand Māori: life satisfaction (LS), self-esteem (SE), and personal wellbeing (PW). Longitudinal panel data collected from Māori (N = 3803) aged 18 or over throughout seven annual assessments (2009–2015) in the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study were analyzed using latent trajectory models with structured residuals to examine cross-lagged within-person effects. Higher in-group warmth towards Māori predicted increases in all three wellbeing measures, even more strongly than ethnic identity centrality. Bi-directionally, PW and SE predicted increased in-group warmth, and SE predicted ethnic identification. Further, in sample-level (between-person) trends, LS and PW rose, but ethnic identity centrality interestingly declined over time. This is the first large-scale longitudinal study showing a strong relationship between positive affect towards one's Indigenous ethnic group and wellbeing. Efforts at cultural recovery and restoration have been a deliberate protective response to colonization, but among Māori, enculturation and access to traditional cultural knowledge varies widely. The data reported here underline the role of ethnic identity affect as an important dimension of wellbeing and call for continued research into the role of this dimension of ethnic identity for Indigenous peoples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between body mass index (BMI), self-esteem and self-reported confidence and capability in expressing oneself culturally as Māori (cultural efficacy) for 5,470 Māori who participated in Te Rangahau o Te Tuakiri Māori me Ngā Waiaro ā-Pūtea | The Māori Identity and Financial Attitudes Study (MIFAS) in 2017. Adjusting for demographics, self-reported health, education and socio-economic status, we found that a higher BMI was associated with lower body satisfaction and self-esteem. However, higher scores on cultural efficacy were associated with higher levels of body satisfaction and self-esteem for respondents. Furthermore, the negative association between BMI and both body satisfaction and self-esteem was weaker for those with higher cultural efficacy. This held for BMI scores of 25, 30, and 35+. While our data suggest higher cultural efficacy may directly or interactively shield Māori from developing lowered self-esteem typically associated with higher BMI in Western populations, further research, using more comprehensive measures of body satisfaction should explore the extent to which Māori may find the Western "thin ideal" personally desirable for their own bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparisons to the New Zealand Health Survey indicate that the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS) is a valid measure of drinking behavior among predominately middleaged/older New Zealanders. Data from the 2014-16 NZAVS is used to identify key demographic and novel personality correlates of New Zealanders' drinking status, frequency and intensity. Men and Extraverted individuals were consistently found more likely to be a drinker, drink frequently and intensely. Those high on Honesty-Humility were less likely to be a drinker and drink intensely. Māori, Pacific and young people, and those living in highly deprived areas were infrequent but high intensity drinkers. Extraversion consistently showed strong associations with drinking behaviour suggesting that social factors are key drinking motives among middle-aged/older New Zealanders. Further research is warranted on the utility of personality-targeted interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on Te Rangahau o Te Tuakiri Māori me Ngā Waiaro ā-Pūtea | The Māori Identity and Financial Attitudes Study (MIFAS). The MIFAS is a nationwide study that examines the relationship between Māori identity and economic attitudes and values. The MIFAS embeds the Multidimensional Model of Māori Identity and Cultural Engagement (MMM-ICE), which assesses Māori identity in relation to eight domains. We report data regarding three aspects of economic activity: risking iwi (tribal) assets for profit; individualism at work; and preferences for workplaces that promote Māori culture and identity. We find Māori who are more strongly oriented towards a traditional Māori belief system are less likely to be individualistic at work, more likely to prefer workplaces that respect Māori development and less likely to support commercialising iwi assets. We also find marked heterogeneity and suggest 'Māori success as Māori' may not solely reflect 'traditional' Māori values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Zealand is a peaceful nation, but ongoing political tensions and inequities between Māori (the indigenous peoples of New Zealand) and Pākehā (the majority group of Europeans) persist as a result of its colonial history. Identifying ways to redress the enduring legacy of colonialism are therefore of critical importance. Accordingly, this paper examines data from 7017 Māori, as well as 37,233 Pākehā, to examine the impact of regional-level Pākehā warmth towards Māori on Māori support for progressive collective action. Results reveal that Pākehā warmth towards Māori varies markedly across 257 regional wards (regional units created for New Zealand electoral purposes). Moreover, multilevel modelling demonstrates that Pākehā warmth towards Māori at the region-level correlates positively with Māori identity and political efficacy at the individual level which, in turn, both correlate positively with collective action support. Collectively, these results demonstrate the impact of the broader social climate on social change, while identifying a previously-unknown facilitator of collective action support (namely, a broader context of warmth towards structurally disadvantaged groups). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of Dr. Martin Luther King's most memorable quotes came from his famous “I have a dream” speech, which arguably called for a racially colorblind society. Today, colorblindness represents a complex ideology used in education, businesses, and governments, with both positive and negative implications for intergroup relations. On the one hand, colorblindness is used to promote fairness and equality between groups by asking people to ignore group membership and treat everyone the same. On the other hand, colorblindness serves a system‐justifying function by holding minority groups responsible for their current disadvantages. The present research utilizes a nationally representative sample of majority group New Zealanders (N = 8,728) to examine the implications of colorblindness on support for policies that redress inequalities between the indigenous (Māori) and majority (European) population through resource redistribution and symbolic incorporation into the nation's identity. Additionally, we examine the indirect effect of system‐justifying beliefs on the relationship between colorblindness and policy support. Data revealed that colorblindness predicted opposition toward both resource‐based approaches to redress inequalities and symbolic policies that incorporate indigenous culture into the national identity. Importantly, there was a significant indirect effect of system‐justifying beliefs on both outcomes. Taken together, these findings suggest that colorblindness can be used to undermine support for policies that redress inequalities between majority and minority groups in a post‐colonial society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social dominance orientation ( SDO) is conceived as an individual's level of support for group-based hierarchy in general that causes support for more specific group hierarchies. According to social dominance theory, group differences in SDO underpin ideological and behavioural group differences related to specific group hierarchies. Using representative 5-year longitudinal panel data from New Zealand ( N = 3,384), we test whether SDO mediates effects of sex and ethnicity on legitimizing myths ( LMs) relating to gender and ethnic hierarchy over time. The SDO mediation hypothesis is supported in the case of hostile sexism. However, it is unsupported in the case of benevolent sexism and LMs relating to ethnic hierarchy, where there was no cross-lagged effect of SDO. Moreover, being in the dominant ethnic group is associated with more legitimization of ethnic hierarchy but less legitimization of gender hierarchy, which is inconsistent with the notion of a general orientation underpinning group differences in legitimation. There was mixed evidence for a reverse path whereby specific LMs mediate group differences in SDO across time. We argue for the need to find alternative ways to theorize ideological consensus and difference between groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research suggests that national attachment is associated with greater wellbeing among members of majority and minority ethnic groups, while ethnic attachment usually predicts better wellbeing among ethnic minorities. This finding may emerge because ethnicity is more salient or protective for ethnic minority group members, but also potentially because ethnic minorities in some nations are seen as peripheral to national group membership. Using data from a nationally representative sample of New Zealanders, we compared the effects of ethnic and national attachment on personal wellbeing. The results showed that national attachment was indeed positively associated with wellbeing for all ethnicities. By contrast, ethnic attachment was positively associated with wellbeing for all minorities except for Māori who are considered equally defining of New Zealand national identity as majority European New Zealanders. Overall, these findings expand past research by showing that ethnic attachment is not uniformly associated with greater wellbeing for all ethnic minorities, but may depend on whether minorities are ideologically integrated into the national identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Presents a social identity theory analysis of Māori diversity. [•] Examined the ethnic classification of Māori based on identification and ancestry. [•] Examined differences in outcomes for Māori depending upon ethnic classification. [•] Showed that Māori classification alters conclusions based on numerous social indicators. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We apply latent class analysis (LCA) to build typologies of response profiles underlying variation in attitudes. LCA is directly suited for identifying categories of people who have distinct representational profiles, that is, discretely measureable patterns of attitudes that are bound together by a common system of interpretation used by the group to make sense of and communicate about a social object within a social context. This novel application extends social representations theory and provides a way to simultaneously examine the relevant content of important representations and their prevalence across a priori social categories and demographics within a given society. We identify four distinct representational profiles underlying bicultural policy attitudes in a nationally representative New Zealand sample (N = 6150). We map the prevalence of these four profiles across the population, show how they vary demographically across indicators of social class, immigration status, and ethnicity, and predict distinct patterns of voting behavior, political party support, social identification, and in-group and out-group attitudes. Guidelines for the use of LCA in the study of social representations are discussed, including a three-step model of the following: (i) profile prediction and derivation; (ii) profile validation; and (iii) prevalence mapping of profile distributions across strata within the population. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both majority and minority group members fear race-based rejection, and respond by disparaging the groups that they expect will reject them. It is not clear, however, how this process differs in minority and majority groups. Using large representative samples of White ( N= 4,618) and Māori ( N= 1,163) New Zealanders, we found that perceptions of race-based rejection predicted outgroup negativity in both groups, but in different ways and for different reasons. For White (but not Māori) New Zealanders, increased intergroup anxiety partially mediated the relationship between cognitions of rejection and outgroup negativity. Māori who expected to be rejected on the basis of their race reported increased ethnic identification and, in part through this, increased support for political action benefiting their own group. This finding supports collective-action models of social change in historically disadvantaged minority groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Zealand society is unique in that New Zealanders of European descent (the majority group) are regularly labeled in institutional and popular discourse using an ethnic group label created by Māori (the indigenous minority group). This label is 'Pākehā.' Endorsement of this label is by no means consensual, and opposition to its use is often claimed on the grounds that the term is pejorative. We tested the validity of this concern in a national sample (N = 6,507) by assessing differences in the ingroup and outgroup evaluations of Māori and New Zealanders of European descent based on their label preferences. We found no support for the claim that the term 'Pākehā' is associated with a negative evaluation of the majority group. Rather, Māori expressed positive attitudes toward New Zealanders of European descent regardless of the label they preferred to describe them. For Māori, use of the term 'Pākehā' was instead indicative of ingroup cultural engagement, including the use of Māori language, and had little to do with outgroup attitudes. New Zealanders of European descent who preferred the term 'Pākehā,' in contrast, expressed more positive attitudes toward Māori than those who preferred the terms 'New Zealand European,''New Zealander,' or 'Kiwi.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compared the self-reported subjective wellbeing of Māori 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, Māori ( 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, Māori, 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. Māori, 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tested whether social dominance orientation (SDO) predicted a conceptual disassociation between explicit (declarative or propositional) attitudes about equality and implicit (automatic or associative) views of how representative New Zealand Europeans and Maori are of the New Zealand nation ( N = 48 Europeans). Explicitly stated attitudes framing equality in terms of procedural justice or meritocratic treatment were positively correlated with individual differences in the implicit tendency to view New Zealand Europeans as exclusively representative of New Zealand. This tendency to explicitly frame equality as based on individual merit and to implicitly favour the dominant (European) ethnic group as representative of the nation was observed only among people high in SDO. Our analysis provides novel support for the position that meritocratic ideology is malleable and may be employed by those high in SDO to frame concepts of equality and justice in ways that suit their desire for group-based dominance. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Zealand (NZ) Europeans show a unique implicit bicultural effect, with research using the Implicit Association Test consistently showing that they associate Māori (the Indigenous peoples) and their own (dominant/advantaged majority) group as equally representative of the nation. We replicated and extended this NZ = bicultural effect in a small online national sample of Māori and NZ Europeans. The NZ European majority showed a consistent NZ = bicultural effect. Māori, in contrast, showed an automatic ingroup NZ = Māori effect. These results are contrary to predictions derived from Social Identity Theory and System Justification Theory, and instead seem more consistent with a model incorporating the pervasive effects of culture-specific symbols on automatic representations of the national category. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Zealanders' implicit projections of the national category differ dramatically from those of Americans and Australians. In these latter nations, research using the Implicit Association Test (IAT) indicates that the majority (White/European) group is privileged in automatic or nonconscious concepts of nationhood relative to other ethnic groups. In New Zealand, however, Whites/Europeans and Maori (the Indigenous peoples) are equally associated with cognitive representations of the nation. This difference has been attributed to the strong and consensual integration of Maori culture and identity with national identity. The present research provided a novel test of this argument by demonstrating, in a large undergraduate sample (N = 142), that self-rated opposition versus support for symbolic but not resource-specific aspects of bicultural social policy was associated with New Zealanders' generalized pro-European versus pro-Maori implicit ethnic-national associations (estimated using two IATs). This finding provides converging evidence suggesting that the unique pattern of ethnic-national associations observed in New Zealand owes its genesis to relatively consensual support for the incorporation of symbolic aspects of Maori culture: The ways in which groups are symbolically represented within a nation affects the extent to which they are automatically projected within the inclusive or national prototype. This in turn has important implications for promoting intergroup tolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examined cross-national differences in the extent to which majority ethnic group members (White Europeans) in Australia and New Zealand automatically privileged members of their ingroup, relative to Indigenous targets, in cognitive representations of nationhood. As predicted, European Australian undergraduates implicitly associated their own ethnic group with the concept of “Australian”, relative to Aboriginal Australian targets (N = 50), but the implicit preferencing of Whiteness in representations of nationhood (relative to Maori targets) was absent in a comparable sample of New Zealand European undergraduates (N = 50). These results indicate that the extent to which representations of minority groups are interwoven with non-conscious cognitive representations of nationhood and national identity are not immutably fixed. Instead, it is argued that this cross-national difference is due to underlying systemic differences in the extent to which symbolic markers of Indigenous culture, identity, and values are consensually represented in majority group (White) national culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research examining how New Zealanders perceive their nation and its peoples remains scarce. The current study examined one specific aspect of such cognitions—that of the degree to which self-identified members of the Indigenous population (Maori) and New Zealanders of European descent (Pakeha) automatically perceive their own and each other's language and peoples as belonging to the nation. We used reaction-time measures (the Implicit Association Test) administered to university undergraduate samples. Majority group members (Pakeha) showed minimal implicit ingroup biases, and perceived their own ingroup and culture, and Maori peoples and culture, as equally representative of the nation. Minority group members (Maori), in contrast, perceived their ingroup and culture as being more closely associated with representations of the nation. The answer to the question of who 'we' are then, is contingent upon ethnic group membership. These findings differ dramatically from theory and research from the United States, which predict that minority groups—especially minority groups such as Maori that are consistently disadvantaged according to national indicators of income and general wellbeing—should display outgroup biases at the implicit level. In New Zealand, it seems that Maori culture helps to promote the positive distinctiveness of the nation on the world stage, and as our results suggest, Maori may therefore have considerable symbolic power to validate national identity for many majority group (Pakeha) New Zealanders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Māori are the diverse indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand. The Multidimensional Model of Māori Identity and Cultural Engagement (MMM-ICE) is a quantitative self-report survey measuring the extent that Māori view various domains of Māori culture as relevant to their selfconcept. We describe the psychometric features of the seven refined subscales and add an eighth subscale reflecting Whānau Efficacy. We assess the MMM-ICE3 measurement properties using data from the Māori Identity and Financial Attitudes Study, the largest probability self-report study of Māori identity and psychology (N = 7019). Confirmatory Factor Analysis showed the MMM-ICE3 subscales were internally reliable and the eight theorised domains of identity fit better than alternative factor structures. Whānau Efficacy showed good construct validity and predicted unique variation in time spent with whānau and perceived social support. We provide the MMM-ICE3 scale in Māori and English. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) was introduced as a unidimensional construct predicting numerous socio-political attitudes. However, recent findings suggest that SDO is composed of two sub-dimensions: dominance (SDO-D) and anti-egalitarianism (SDO-E). Despite converging evidence concerning their empirical differentiability, there is little consensus on how to best define them. Thus, we examined the correlates of SDO-D and SDO-E using a broad array of personality, political, ethnic and gender issue variables within a New Zealand national probability sample (N = 5,741) with European and Māori participants. SDO-D primarily related to the personality trait of honesty-humility, hostile and benevolent sexism. SDO-E primarily related to political conservatism and pro-Māori policies. In many cases, the predictive power differed between SDO-D and SDO-E, and across ethnic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Māori, the indigenous peoples of New Zealand, continue to experience health disparities in comparison to other ethnic groups. Previous research suggests Māori who affiliate jointly as Māori and Pākehā (New Zealand European) tend to experience different psychological outcomes than those who solely identify as Māori. Using a culturally-specific approach we propose and test an Efficacy-Distress Buffering Model, which posits that high levels of Māori Cultural Efficacy should have a buffering function, protecting Māori against Psychological Distress (N = 632). Our findings indicate that Māori with a higher level of Cultural Efficacy showed greater psychological resilience. In contrast, increased rates of psychological distress were documented amongst those who were lower in Cultural Efficacy and this effect was most pronounced among individuals who identified solely as Māori. Our results support a 'culture-as-cure' perspective and indicate that increased Māori Cultural Efficacy has a direct protective effect for those who may be at risk of negative psychological outcomes and associated risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a colonised peoples, many Māori have engaged in various forms of political resistance. Accordingly, research suggests that socio-political consciousness, which will sometimes involve at least considering protest, is an increasingly important aspect of identifying as Māori. This paper draws on a large, nationally representative sample of Māori (N = 1,977) to examine the links between expressing support for political activism ("activism" being used here synonymously with "protest") and well-being. Support for political activism includes merely contemplating protesting and voting to support Māori issues, as well as actually signing petitions. Well-being includes self-reported mental health via the Kessler-6 and subjective health. Results show that support for political activism was strongly associated with greater subjective psychological distress and lower subjective health, above and beyond the variance explained by exhaustive demographic factors. This research presents the first empirical data in New Zealand demonstrating the strength of this relationship, and provides a good starting point for further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effects of ingroup contact in a large, national sample of Maori (a disadvantaged ethnic group; N = 940) on political attitudes relevant to decreasing ethnic inequality in New Zealand, We tested the role of 2 mediating mechanisms--ethnic identification and system justification-- to explain the effects of ingroup contact on the dependent variables. Time spent with ingroup friends predicted increased support for the Maori Party and support for symbolic and resource-specific reparative policies benefiting Maori. These effects were partially mediated by increased ethnic identification. Although ingroup contact also reduced levels of system justification among Maori, its effects on policy attitudes and party preference were not mediated by system justification. This suggests that a key antecedent to system challenging political attitudes is an increased sense of identification with a disadvantaged group resulting, in part, from interactions with ingroup friends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]