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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 Maori: life satisfaction (LS), self-esteem (SE), and personal wellbeing (PW). Longitudinal panel data collected from Maori (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 Maori 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 Maori, 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., Author(s): Carla Houkamau [sup.1] , Petar Milojev [sup.2] , Lara Greaves [sup.3] , Kiri Dell [sup.1] , Chris G Sibley [sup.2] , Jean Phinney [sup.4] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.9654.e, 0000 [...]

According to the subordinate male target hypothesis (SMTH), racism is based on an ethnicity‐by‐gender interaction, with a stronger link between experiencing racist discrimination and subordinate or dominant ethnic group status for men compared to women. This study reevaluates the SMTH, originally focused on objective discrimination, by applying it to self‐reported active harm as a theoretically derived measure of racist discrimination and by exploring interindividual differences in female ethnic minority members' discriminatory experiences. We proposed that social dominance orientation (SDO) among female ethnic minorities would influence SMTH predictions. We tested this using multiple linear regression analyses among a sample of New Zealand Europeans as the majority in New Zealand and non‐Europeans as the minority. As hypothesized, male non‐Europeans reported disproportionally more active harm than female non‐Europeans. Unexpectedly, not only female but also male, non‐Europeans high in SDO reported more active harm than non‐Europeans low in SDO. Therefore, applied to self‐reported racist experiences, oppression of ethnic minorities is driven by interindividual differences rather than by gender. Together, these findings provide evidence that the SMTH cannot be unreservedly extended to reports of racist discrimination and that other processes may underlie these subjective experiences of discrimination that need to be considered in more detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Previous research suggests that for Maori (the Indigenous peoples of New Zealand), Cultural Efficacy is associated with increased life satisfaction and may act as a buffer against stressful events and factors that can cause psychological distress. Here, we test a mediation model derived from this general culture- ascure kaupapa (theme) using data from Maori who participated in the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (N = 676). Our model indicates that Cultural Efficacy, or one's confidence to competently engage in te ao Maori (the Maori world), was significantly linked with Self-Esteem and that this positive association was partially mediated by the negative association between Cultural Efficacy and rumination. Our model suggests that this protective or buffering effect occurs--at least in part--because Maori with a higher Cultural Efficacy tend to experience lower levels of rumination, and a lower level rumination is, in turn, linked with increased Self-Esteem. These findings support a general culture-as-cure kaupapa for Maori, and add to the emerging literature linking Cultural Efficacy and active identity engagement with positive psychological and health outcomes for Maori. Keywords: Maori, Cultural Efficacy, Culture as Cure, Rumination, Self-Esteem, Mediation., 'Toi tu te kupu, toi tu te mana, toi tu te whenua' --Tinirau of Whanganui In the above whakatauki (proverb), Tinirau of Whanganui implored Maori, the Indigenous peoples of New [...]

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 Multidimensional Model of Maori Identity and Cultural Engagement (or MMM-ICE2) is a self-report questionnaire that measures seven distinct dimensions of one's subjective identity as Maori. Prior research indicates that the scale performs well psychometrically and predicts a wide range of outcomes for Maori peoples. However, the measurement equivalence of the MMM-ICE2 is yet to be assessed. That is, the extent to which the scale provides comparable measurement of the same aspects of identity for all Maori, for instance, across different age groups, for Maori men and women, and for Maori living in different urban or rural regions. Here, we address this gap in the validation of the MMM-ICE2 using Multigroup Confirmatory Factor Analysis to assess the configural, metric, and scalar equivalence of the scale across different demographic groups. We test our models using data from Maori participants who completed the MMM-ICE2 as part of the broader New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (N = 696). Results indicate that the scale has reasonable measurement equivalence over metric, configural, and scalar assessments across most demographic comparisons. In sum, the results indicate that the MMM-ICE2 provides a valid assessment tool for Maori across a range of contexts, but nevertheless points to ways in which the scale could be improved in future. Keywords: Maori; Identity; Indigenous; Measurement Equivalence, The field of quantitative identity research has undergone somewhat of an emic (by the people of the culture, for the people; Berry, 1989) revolution in recent years. The addition of [...]

We compared the self-reported subjective wellbeing of Maori 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, Maori (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, Maori, 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. Maori, 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.

Maori, the indigenous peoples of New Zealand, experience a range of negative outcomes. Psychological models and interventions aiming to improve outcomes for Maori 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 Maori. 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 Maori, remains limited. We present cross-sectional data modeling the links, and possible causal direction, between Maori 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 Maori). Our data support an opposing outcomes model in which Maori cultural efficacy predicts satisfaction with personal aspects of life, but may simultaneously decrease satisfaction with the nation and methods of governance for Maori peoples. Possible mechanisms governing these opposing effects are discussed.

The Kessler-6 (K6) is a six-item self-report measure of non-specific psychological distress designed for use in population health screening surveys. This study documents item response parameters and ethnic group differences in the K6 among a sample of New Zealand adults (N = 4401). We also compare results based on item response-weighting and classical summative scoring procedures. Analyses based on Item Response Theory indicated that the K6 had good measurement precision in the New Zealand population. In terms of ethnic group differences, Pacific and Asian peoples exhibited the highest levels of psychological distress across both scoring methods (12.3% of Pacific peoples and 9.9% of Asian peoples scored in the K6 range indicative of serious psychological distress), whereas Maori and Pakeha/European peoples showed (relatively) lower levels of psychological distress (7.2% of Maori and 4.7% of Pakeha/Europeans). Older people, parents, and those who were in a committed relationship, employed, and more affluent people had lower levels of psychological distress compared to their respective counterparts. Nevertheless, the high level of psychological distress experienced by Asian peoples held when adjusting for these (and other) demographic characteristics. The need for further research and policy-wide interventions addressing the disparity in psychological health outcomes experienced by different ethnic groups in New Zealand is discussed. Keywords: Item Response Theory, national probability sample, New Zealand, psychological distress, ethnicity, depression, anxiety., From the early 1980s, the standard practice for measuring psychopathology in a population was through fully structured diagnostic interviews conducted in epidemiological surveys (Kessler et al., 2002). With the use [...]

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 [...]

The Stereotype Content Model states that stereotypes express generalised evaluative beliefs that vary according to the degree of warmth and competence ascribed to group members. The present study applied this model to examine the societal stereotypes (or meta-stereotypes) of Pakeha, Maori, Pacific Nations, and Asian New Zealanders using a national random postal sample (N = 246). Pakeha (or New Zealanders of European descent) were viewed as highly warm and highly competent relative to other ethnic groups. Stereotypes of Asian and Pacific Nations New Zealanders were mixed, however. Asian New Zealanders were seen as highly competent (comparable to Pakeha), but low in warmth relative to other ethnic groups. Pacific Nations peoples, in contrast, were seen as highly warm (comparable to Pakeha), but low in competence relative to other ethnic groups. Stereotypes of Maori exhibited a strikingly different pattern, and indicated that Maori as a social group were seen as low-to-moderate in both warmth and competence, relative to other ethnic groups. These different mixed stereotype combinations have important implications for understanding how socio-structural characteristics of ethnic group relations (competition and status) foster fundamentally different forms of legitimizing ideology, prejudice and discriminatory behaviour toward different ethnic groups in the New Zealand context., New Zealand (NZ) is a fairly small nation by international standards, with a total population currently approaching 4. 3 million. The NZ population is diverse and, like many nations, is [...]