Solidarity across generations in New Zealand: Factors influencing parental support for children within a three-generational context

Interest in ascertaining the nature and extent of intergenerational exchanges between those in mid-life, and members of their kinship network has arisen because demographic, social and policy changes have brought into question the ability of individuals in this stage of the family and individual life course to respond to what may be the conflicting support needs of older and younger generations. Trends of delayed childbearing for example, suggest that at mid-life, individuals are increasingly likely to be involved in parenting roles. At the same time, as they contemplate their own pre-retirement needs, they may also be more involved with the caring needs of ageing parents who are living longer. It has thus been argued that the mid-life period carries the potential for complex, and perhaps competing intergenerational requirements for support and care, compromising the ability of those in this life stage to show their solidarity towards both younger and older kin. Research on intergenerational relations has focused mainly on the adult child and elderly parent dyad in the context of population ageing and much less work has been done to understand the nature of intergenerational exchanges in the context of more complex structures extending beyond dyads to include triads of three co-surviving generations. This paper addresses this lacuna by establishing whether, in the context of a kinship structure of three co-surviving generations, the likelihood of a child receiving assistance from their mid-life parent is influenced by the characteristics of an ascending generation, the mid-life respondent’s own ageing parent. Empirical investigation draws on the theoretical framework of micro-level, inter-generational solidarity developed by Bengtson and others, in which exchanges of assistance are conceptualised as bonds of functional solidarity. Underlying the analysis is therefore an investigation of the premise that mid-life individuals are at the centre of competing inter-generational requirements. Data are from the 1997 New Zealand survey ‘Transactions in the Mid-Life Family’, a sample of 750 males and females aged between 40 and 54. Analysis is based on a sub-population of 310 respondents with at least one surviving ageing parent or in-law and one child aged over 15, none of whom live together. Multivariate logistic regression techniques are used and the dependant variable of functional solidarity is represented as a three-category variable of emotional, in-kind and financial support. Findings indicate that when an ageing parent’s bond with the mid-life respondent is characterised by emotional support, this also enhances the child’s chances of benefiting from all dimensions of parental support. Likewise, children are more likely to benefit from in-kind help if their own grandparents also receive it. Results do not clearly suggest that a greater number of elderly members in a kin network necessarily represent a drain on the mid-life respondent’s resources, at least not those of an emotional nature. Life-course specific support requirements of younger and older generations may mean that mid-life individuals in fact respond to complementary rather than competing needs

Mapping social cohesion: the 2007 Scanlon Foundation surveys

This report provides insights into community attitudes to immigration, multiculturalism and social cohesion, based on findings from specially-commissioned national and local surveys. Topics include: our sense of belonging, how happy we are, how satisfied we are financially, and how much we trust in politicians, public institutions and other people. The report also examines complex attitudes to immigration and multicultural society, including assistance to ethnic groups, and levels of discrimination, and the degree of disaffection in our community

The New Zealand population: A synopsis of trends and projections 1991 - 2016

Although there are many excellent documents and online resources available on New Zealand population trends, it is useful to highlight some key trends in one short document. This paper provides a synopsis of trends with respect to population size and age structure, sub-national population size and change, international migration, ethnicity, families and generations, fertility and mortality, and education and work

High performance workplaces and skill development: Updating the map of the territory

The impact of High Performance Workplace Systems (HPWS) on workers and unions is a contentious area for debate in the fields of industrial relations and social science in general. Proponents of HPWS claim that one of the benefits for workers is that they enable workers to develop and raise their skill levels. This paper offers a preliminary evaluation of that claim by sketching an updated map of the territory. It concludes that the HPWS literature contains significant weaknesses concerning the definition of skill in explaining what skill development means for workers, individually and collectively

Intimate partner violence and contraceptive use in India: the moderating influence of conflicting fertility preferences and contraceptive intentions

Several studies report that women exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) are less likely to use contraception, but the evidence that violence consistently constrains contraceptive use is inconclusive. One plausible explanation for this ambiguity is that the effects of violence on contraceptive use depend on whether couples are likely to have conflicting attitudes to it. In particular, although some men may engage in violence to prevent their partners from using contraception, they are only likely to do so if they have reason to oppose its use. Using a longitudinal follow-up to the Indian National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2), conducted among a sample of rural, married women of childbearing age, this study investigated whether the relationship between IPV and contraceptive use is contingent on whether women’s contraceptive intentions contradict men’s fertility preferences. Results indicate that women experiencing IPV are less likely to undergo sterilization, but only if they intended to use contraception and their partners wanted more children (Average Marginal Effect (AME)=−0.06; CI=−0.10, −0.01). Violence had no effect on sterilization among women who did not plan to use contraception (AME=−0.02; CI=−0.06, 0.03) or whose spouses did not want more children (AME=−0.01; CI=−0.9, 0.06). These results imply that violence enables some men to resolve disagreements over the use of contraception by imposing their fertility preferences on their partners. They also indicate that unmet need for contraception could be an intended consequence of violence

Attitudes and Perceptions of Young Men towards Gender Equality and Violence in Timor-Leste

This article examines attitudes and perceptions of young men toward gender relations and gender-based violence in post-conflict Timor-Leste. A high level of domestic violence is reported and a law against domestic violence has been passed in recent years. In 2013, a research team surveyed almost 500 young men using the Gender-Equitable Men (GEM) Scale in both rural and urban contexts. It was found that young men become less gender equitable as they get older, and the environment they grow up in influences their gender attitudes. Existing contradictions and tensions between national government policy and local customary practices are well-known, and these are reflected in young men’s acceptance of general principles of gender equality, which is unmatched by their willingness to accept more equitable gender relations in their own lives. Of concern was the level of young men’s acceptance of sexual harassment and forced sex. Mechanisms are required to influence young men’s attitudes to gender equality and intimate partner relations in school programs and other arenas as a priority

The Determinants of Low Fertility in India

Using a conceptual framework focusing on factors that enhance or reduce fertility relative to desired family size (see Bongaarts 2001), we study fertility variation across time (1992–2006) and space (states) in India. Our empirical analyses use data from three waves of the Indian National Family Health Surveys. We find that this framework can account for a substantial portion of the variation in the TFR across the states and over time. Our estimates focus attention on the critical components of contemporary Indian fertility, especially desired family size, unwanted fertility, son preference, and fertility postponement

Restructuring and hospital care: Sub-national trends, differentials, and their impacts; New Zealand from 1981

An analysis of the "nation's health" is the central concern of this study. Its genesis was a detailed, technical, time-series research on regional and ethnic differentials in health in New Zealand. But as this work progressed it became increasingly evident that the results of this more narrow analysis could make a wider contribution to the development of a knowledge-base on health trends and on the impacts of policy on these. In a sense, the analysis provides a demographic audit of health trends over the last two decades. The focus here is different from that in most other studies on restructuring of the New Zealand health system as their concern was either to review in detail the rewriting of policy per se, and attendant structural and institutional changes (Fougere 2001), or to identify how these changes relate to changes in mortality (Blakely et al. 2008). The research question reported here was, instead, to analyse the most crucial of health outcomes, „how long we live and how often we end up in hospital‟, identified in the earlier quotation, to report patterns and trends in hospital use nationally and sub-nationally over the period under review, and to determine the degrees to which various sub-populations benefited, or did not benefit, from these changes. The analysis focuses on the hospital sector in the system, but it will also show relations between this and other sectors, formal (e.g. primary health) and less formal (notably the healthcare afforded sickness and invalid beneficiaries). Thus two questions are addressed: 1. whether or not the nation‟s population health improved over the period and; 2. whether or not there was a convergence in patterns of health gain across its constituent sub-populations defined geographically and ethnically. This monograph deals with sub-national differences in health in New Zealand over a period of substantial socio-economic restructuring and associated radical changes in health policy, health systems and their related information systems (see also, Text Appendix A). It complements the recently published analysis of national ethnic trends in mortality (Blakely et al. 2004), but differs in several critical respects. That study reviewed health status by emphasising aetiologies and causes of death. In contrast, the present analysis focuses on actuarial dimensions of both mortality and morbidity and on health as measured by functional capacity rather than the disease orientated „burden of disease‟. It goes beyond health status issues to look at the system itself, to assess whether health policy outcomes were generated more through efficiency-gain (economic or service delivery, such as those resulting in a convergence sub-nationally of supply and demand effects), or through health gains, or ideally, by both. To do this, and as a by-product to analyse changes in health status and the system in an era of restructuring, innovative methodologies and composite time-series indices combining the two dimensions of a „nation‟s health‟, needing hospital care and longevity, have had to be custom-designed. To achieve this objective, the ensuing analysis is often technical, and may introduce concepts that are unfamiliar to some readers. In order to look at possible inequalities of outcome, comparisons were made between regions and ethnic groups, as well as age-groups and genders, and as a result, in places the analysis becomes rather complex

Cohorts and community: A case study of community engagement in the establishment of a health and demographic surveillance site in Malaysia

Background: Community engagement is an increasingly important requirement of public health research and plays an important role in the informed consent and recruitment process. However, there is very little guidance about how it should be done, the indicators for assessing effectiveness of the community engagement process and the impact it has on recruitment, retention, and ultimately on the quality of the data collected as part of longitudinal cohort studies. Methods: An instrumental case study approach, with data from field notes, policy documents, unstructured interviews, and focus group discussions with key community stakeholders and informants, was used to explore systematically the implementation and outcomes of the community engagement strategy for recruitment of an entire community into a demographic and health surveillance site in Malaysia. Results: For a dynamic cohort, community engagement needs to be an ongoing process. The community engagement process has likely helped to facilitate the current response rate of 85% in the research communities. The case study highlights the importance of systematic documentation of the community engagement process to ensure an understanding of the effects of the research on recruitment and the community. Conclusions: A critical lesson from the case study data is the importance of relationships in the recruitment process for large population-based studies, and the need for ongoing documentation and analysis of the impact of cumulative interactions between research and community engagement. © 2014 Pascale Allotey et al