Search

Many Western governments frame lower Asian voter turnout as a concern that impacts the quality of democracy and representation. However, there is limited evidence on how turnout varies across different ethnic groups under the 'Asian' classification, and what the correlates of turnout among Asian subgroups are. This study provides a comprehensive account of the demographic, socioeconomic, social, political, and psychological factors driving Asian voter turnout in an underexplored, Western English-speaking democracy (New Zealand). It uses the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (N = 47,951), a national probability survey, to explore these differences in turnout for Asians (n = 2,445) in the 2017 national election. The analysis shows that Asian New Zealanders have a relatively low voter turnout and that their voting probabilities are significantly influenced by immigration status, social network, and political psychological factors. Furthermore, the results for different Asian ethnic groups can have different relationships between these factors and turnout compared to the Asian group at large. These findings highlight the importance of considering the needs of different Asian communities when developing policies and campaigns to boost their turnout in Western democracies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the March 15th Christchurch terrorist attack, members of our research team have been repeatedly asked to comment or provide summary statistics from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS) on prejudice toward Muslims. As the curators of the NZAVS, we think that these findings should be in the public domain and accessible to as wide an audience as possible. In this article, we aim to provide a comprehensive summary of what we know from the NZAVS about attitudes toward Muslims and prejudice in New Zealand more generally. From 2012 onwards, the NZAVS included a feeling thermometer rating of people's level of warmth toward Muslims. Here, we summarize what we know from the NZAVS about levels of warmth toward Muslims in the New Zealand population. We describe the distribution of thermometer ratings of warmth toward Muslims annually from 2012 onward, and compare these with thermometer ratings of a range of other groups that we also track. We present a regression model documenting the extent to which a broad range of demographics and aspects of personality are associated with low levels of warmth toward Muslims, and present a parallel model assessing warmth ratings toward immigrants as a comparison. Finally, we present a series of growth curve models outlining the relative level and rate of change over time in warmth toward Muslims and other groups from 2012-2018. Results from these analyses indicate that over the 2012-2018 period, levels of warmth toward Muslims in New Zealand were comparatively low relative to warmth ratings of other groups. However, warmth toward Muslims has also been steadily but gradually increasing over time in New Zealand. Keywords: Prejudice, Muslim, Christchurch Terrorist Attack, Feeling Thermometer, Introduction The shock and horror of the March 15th 2019 terrorist attack in Christchurch will shape our nation for many years to come. With 51 Muslim men, women, and children [...]

Does the day of the week an email is sent inviting existing participants to complete a follow-up questionnaire for an annual online survey impact response rate? We answer this question using a preregistered experiment conducted as part of an ongoing national probability panel study in New Zealand. Across 14 consecutive days, existing participants in a panel study were randomly allocated a day of the week to receive an email inviting them to complete the next wave of the questionnaire online (N  =   26,126). Valid responses included questionnaires completed within 31 days of receiving the initial invitation. Results revealed that the day the invitation was sent did not affect the likelihood of responding. These results are reassuring for researchers conducting ongoing panel studies and suggest that, once participants have joined a panel, the day of the week they are contacted does not impact their likelihood of responding to subsequent waves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper models the demographic and psychological correlates of voter preference in two independent datasets collected in 2014: a random digit-dial survey conducted by research firm Colmar Brunton for Television New Zealand (N=7,830), and a national probability postal survey: the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS; N=10,581). Together, these data allow us to uncover not only the consistent demographic factors, but also the psychological variables that predict voter sentiment. A standard set of demographic variables were statistically significant predictors: ethnicity, age, gender, and income. However, the NZAVS data showed that education, local area deprivation, being on the Maori electoral roll, and sexual orientation should also be taken into account. Additionally, all of the Big-Six personality traits, Nationalism, and Patriotism predicted voter sentiment. This paper provides reliable statistical data by utilizing two independent, large-scale, national probability samples to document important demographic and psychological differences in voter preference in New Zealand. Keywords: Voting, Personality, Demographics, Political psychology, 2014 General Election, Across established democracies and across decades, sociological models of voter choice have shown that people with certain social or demographic characteristics are more likely to vote for different political parties. [...]

The growing use of social networking sites raises important questions about the value of social media-based interaction. We test a novel Facebook Feedback Hypothesis of personality and social belonging in a national probability sample (N = 6,428), and show that Facebook usage is not equally beneficial to everyone. Our findings indicate that introverted people with a Facebook profile had lower levels of social capital (felt belongingness) than those without a profile. Extraverted people, in contrast, were higher in social capital regardless of whether or not they used Facebook. Other dimensions of Big-Five personality interacted with Facebook usage. This research raises concerns that new mediums of online social connection may be detrimental to those who are not highly oriented toward sociability. Keywords: Big-Five personality, Facebook, social capital, belonging, extraversion, social networks., Social networking sites such as Facebook are used daily by over 70% of the American online population (Duggan & Smith, 2013), and 65% of New Zealands online population (Bascand, 2013). [...]

Using a national probability sample of over 6,000 New Zealanders, this study examines socio-structural and psychological variables underpinning core climate change beliefs--'climate change is real' and 'climate change is caused by humans'. Analyses focused on four belief profiles: those who believe in the reality of climate change and its human cause (53%), those undecided (30%), the complete skeptics (10%) and those who believe the climate is changing but is not caused by human activity (7%). Results support and extend a 'conservative white male' effect in doubts concerning the science of human-caused climate change. Uniformly high beliefs in climate change reality and human cause was observed among respondents who were younger, female, educated, politically liberal, belonged to minority groups and who perceived that they were able to influence environmental outcomes. Belief in climate change was also stronger for those who endorse altruistic and openness values and who were high in personality trait levels of Agreeableness and Openness to Experience. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed. Keywords: climate change; beliefs; demographics; values; personality; latent profile analysis, Introduction More than 100 Nobel laureates have singled out global warming as a danger to world peace in the coming years due to its consequences to the world's dispossessed (Nobel [...]

Policies increasingly reinforce the self-determination of Indigenous peoples, but issues remain around group definitions. Colonization has led to (de)identification with Māori (New Zealand's Indigenous peoples) identity markers. We explore differences between Māori on combinations of descent, ethnicity and Iwi (extended kinship group) knowledge in the 2013 Census, and self-reported discrimination. There were six groups within the Māori descent population: two did not know their Iwi – some identified solely as Māori ethnicity (2.8 per cent) – or Māori plus another ethnicity(-ies; 6.8 per cent); two did not identify as Māori ethnicity: more named their Iwi (7.2 per cent), than not (6.9 per cent); the largest groups knew their Iwi and identified as Māori ethnicity, either solely (30.8 per cent), or alongside another ethnicity(-ies; 34.3 per cent). We found a pattern of differences across demographics and discrimination, highlighting the complexity of Māori identity and the need to account for differences within Indigenous groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feeling like one belongs and is accepted in meaningful social groups has been reliably linked to wellbeing and health-related outcomes in numerous studies. Given the importance of belongingness as a form of social capital, we developed and evaluated a broad-scale Multilevel Random Coefficient Model predicting residents' sense of community (belongingness in the community) in a large nationally representative telephone sample of New Zealanders (N = 6631). Our model integrated both neighbourhood-level characteristics (e.g., regional deprivation and the proportion of smokers) and person-level characteristics (e.g., income, perceptions of local community problems, age and engagement in sports) within a single unified framework. We organized these variables into two conceptual categories that are either (a) costly (or entirely unfeasible) to change or (b) feasible to change. By contrasting these various features within a single unified model with a multilevel structure, we provide base-rate information which can aid in informing policy decisions regarding the most readily applicable (and possibly cost- effective) methods for improving residents' sense of community. Our model identified the following feasible methods of increasing social capital within New Zealand communities: (a) reducing noise pollution, (b) increasing and promoting participation in local sports teams, and (c) increasing the diversity and appreciation of the local arts scene., Research in community psychology has identified Sense of Community (SoC) as an important predictor of well-being (McNeill, Kreuter, & Subramanian, 2006). SoC is a core component of social capital, and [...]

The relationship of household income with multiple aspects of subjective well-being was examined in a New Zealand telephone probability sample conducted in 2008 (N = 5197). Consistent with previous research, household income had positive logarithmic associations with subjective quality of life and happiness. The logarithmic function was steeper for quality of life than for happiness, indicating that income is linked more strongly to people's evaluations of their life than to their happiness. Analyses also indicated that the income well-being association was strongest for people earning below the median (NZ$ 65,000) and tended to plateau for people in the upper quartile (NZ$ 125,000). Contrary to previous research, income was negatively correlated with self-reported daily stress, after adjusting for relevant demographics (e.g., age and household crowding). This association was also logarithmic, and income was more predictive of reductions in stress for those earning below the median. Finally, we tested a log-mediation model in which the relationship between income and multiple components of well-being were mediated by the perceived ability to meet everyday life necessities. This mediator explained 55-60% of the association of income with both happiness and life quality, and fully mediated the effect of income on reduced stress. These are some of the first results to document the relationship between household income and subjective well-being in New Zealand. They also come at a time when concerns about the ability to meet everyday needs are particularly relevant to many New Zealanders in the wake of the global financial crisis., One of the shortcomings of modern civilization--ancient civilization too, for that matter--is that the average man never gets all he wants of the most desirable products, never makes his life [...]