4.1 Defining who is Maori (continued)
| Proportions with: | Sole Maori | Mixed Maori | Non- Maori |
|---|---|---|---|
| European Ethnicity | 0.000** | 0.984 | 0.975 |
| Pacific Island Ethnicity | 0.000 | 0.016 | 0.023 |
| Other Ethnicity | 0.000 | 0.049 | 0.019 |
| At Birth of CHDS Youth: | |||
| Some Maori Ethnicity – Mother | 0.542** | 0.279** | 0.005 |
| Some Maori Ethnicity – Father | 0.667** | 0.443** | 0.015 |
| Some Maori Ethnicity – Either Parent | 0.938** | 0.705** | 0.017 |
| Pacific Island Ethnicity – Mother | 0.000** | 0.000** | 0.019 |
| Pacific Island Ethnicity – Father | 0.000** | 0.033 | 0.022 |
| Pacific Island Ethnicity – Either Parent | 0.000** | 0.033 | 0.028 |
| By Age 14 of CHDS Youth: | |||
| Some Maori Ethnicity – Maternal Figure | 0.583** | 0.393** | 0.006 |
| Some Maori Ethnicity – Paternal Figure | 0.729** | 0.475** | 0.029 |
| Some Maori Ethnicity – Either Parental Figure | 1.000** | 0.836** | 0.032 |
| Pacific Island Ethnicity – Maternal Figure | 0.000** | 0.016 | 0.019 |
| Pacific Island Ethnicity – Paternal Figure | 0.000** | 0.033 | 0.027 |
| Pacific Island Ethnicity – Either Parental Figure | 0.000** | 0.033 | 0.030 |
| Number of Observations | 48 | 61 | 864 |
** Maori mean significantly different from non-Maori mean at 1% level. * Maori mean significantly different from non-Maori mean at 10% level. Notes: These data are taken from the 973 respondents in the CHDS who provided valid information for the purposes of this study. Youth are defined as ‘Sole Maori’ in this table if they identify Maori as their only ethnicity at age 21. Youth are defined as ‘Mixed Maori’ if they report both Maori and any other ethnicity at the time of the survey. All other youth are considered to be ‘non-Maori’. Ethnicity information is available for the birth parents, and the maternal and paternal figures at ages 7 and 14 of the child. Paternal figures may differ from birth parents. Youth can choose multiple ethnicities, but ethnic categories for adults are mutually exclusive (ie, Maori/Part Maori, Pacific Island and Other).
There is little doubt that all of the youth who claim sole Maori status should be included in any final definition of this ethnic group. They all have at least one parental figure with Maori ancestry, and are much more likely than the mixed Maori youth to have both parents or parental figures claiming Maori ethnicity. Youth claiming mixed Maori status are another story. Within this subgroup, 29.5% have no parents identifying themselves as Maori at birth, and 16.4% have no parental figures identifying themselves as Maori by age 14.
| Parents or Parental Figures Claim: | Youth at Age 21 Claim: | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SoleMaori | MixedMaori | Non-Maori | RowTotals | |
| Neither Parent Maori: Birth of Child | >3 | 18 | 849 | 870 |
| One Parent Maori: Birth of Child | 32 | 42 | 13 | 87 |
| Both Parents Maori: Birth of Child | 13 | 1 | 2 | 16 |
| Neither Parental Figure Maori: Child Age 14 | 0 | 10 | 836 | 846 |
| One Parental Figure Maori: Child Age 14 | 33 | 49 | 26 | 108 |
| Both Parental Figures Maori: Child Age 14 | 15 | 2 | 2 | 19 |
| Column Totals | 48 | 61 | 864 | 973 |
Notes: This ethnicity information is taken from the 973 respondents in the CHDS who provided valid information for the purposes of this study. Youth are defined as ‘Sole Maori’ in this table if they identify Maori as their only ethnicity at age 21. Youth are defined as ‘Mixed Maori’ if they report both Maori and any other ethnicity at the time of the survey. All other youth are considered to be ‘non-Maori’. Ethnicity information is available for the birth parents, and the maternal and paternal figures at ages 7 and 14 of the child. Paternal figures may differ from birth parents. Youth can choose multiple ethnicities, but ethnic categories for adults are mutually exclusive (ie, Maori/Part Maori, Pacific Island and Other).
From this point on in this study we define the Maori status of youth in the following way:
- Sole Maori are youth who report ‘Maori’ as their only ethnicity at age 21. Note that all of these individuals have at least some intergenerational link to Maori ethnicity through birth parents or other parental figures (n=48).
- Mixed Maori are youth who report ‘Maori’ as one of their ethnicities at age 21, and have at least some intergenerational link to Maori ancestry through their birth parents or other parental figures (n=51).
- Maori are youth previously identified as either sole or mixed Maori. They all claim some Maori identity at age 21 and have some link to Maori ancestry through their birth parents of parental figures at a later stage in their development (n=99).
In this way, we use the longitudinal nature of the data to ‘clean’ the data, or remove possible measurement error in defining Maori ethnicity.[11]
Notes
- [11]The initial report in this study based mixed Maori status strictly on the self-reported ethnicities of youth at age 21. In the following sections, we discuss what effects this restriction on the mixed Maori group have on our empirical results
