4.3  Personal and family backgrounds

One advantage of the CHDS is the availability of detailed information on the personal and family background characteristics of youth. Descriptive statistics are provided in Tables 6 and 7 for the same ethnic breakdowns used in the previous two tables.

Table 6 compares Maori with non-Maori. Both the mothers and fathers of Maori youth are significantly less likely to have post-school and university qualifications compared to non-Maori.

Maori youth, on average, spent more than twice as much time between the ages of 1 and 16 in a single-adult family (25.4%) compared to non-Maori (10.3%). Maori youth spent more than twice as much time between the ages of 1 and 14 in families receiving a social welfare benefit (26.5%) compared to non-Maori (11.8%). These ethnic differences in the likelihood of the family containing a single adult and receiving social welfare benefits are statistically significant at better than a 1% level.

** 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 ‘Maori’ in this table if they identify Maori as at least one of their ethnicities at age 21, and had at least one parental figure claiming Maori ancestry by age 14. All other youth are considered to be ‘non-Maori’.

Maori between the ages of 1 and 14 lived in families with a mean real income of $34,934.[16] Over the same ages, non-Maori lived in families with a mean real income of $43,758. Maori youth grew up in families with incomes that were, on average, 20.2% lower than that of non-Maori. This difference is statistically significant at better than a 1% level. Note that the mean values for the number of children in these families were not significantly different between the ethnic groups. As a result, the gap in family income by ethnicity cannot be explained by the differences in ‘family need’ related to the number of children in the household.

The CHDS also contains information on ‘Conduct Problem Scores’ for children at the ages of 7, 9, 11 and 13. These measures are based on a combination of parental and teacher reports on ‘conduct disorders’ displayed by the child around the time of these assessments.[17] Higher values for this variable indicate more disruptive, destructive and aggressive behaviour. The mean Conduct Problem Scores over the four years are 52.215 for Maori and 48.941 for non-Maori. This difference is statistically significant at better than a 1% level.

We also know the number of years in which the child was frequently truant, suspended or expelled from school between the ages of 12 and 16. This information is taken from past interviews with both parents and children. The difference between the ethnic groups is statistically significant at better than a 10% level. The truant, suspension or expulsion rate was 4.9% for Maori and 1.6% for non-Maori.

At age 21, youth in the CHDS were asked about their criminal history and the use of alcohol and drugs since age 18. The first variable is the proportion of individuals who were convicted in court of at least one criminal offence between their 18^th and 21^st birthdays. These conviction rates were 22.2% for Maori and 10.1% for non-Maori, and are statistically significant at better than a 1% level. These overall conviction rates for New Zealand youth may seem fairly high at first glance. However, this variable was constructed from detailed information on the offending history of these youth, and includes court convictions for things like disorderly conduct and various driving offences. Data taken from the Ministry of Justice (2000) indicate that most criminal convictions for individuals in this age group are for ‘property’ or ‘traffic’ offences.

Combining data from the Household Labour Force Survey and the Ministry of Justice (Tables A2.1 to A2.4, 2000), we estimate that convictions per capita in 1999 were 0.295 for Maori and 0.058 for non-Maori between the ages of 17 and 24. Note that these figures are not directly comparable to those in Table 6. The CHDS variable refers to the proportion of youth with at least one criminal conviction over the ages of 18 to 20. The Ministry of Justice variable refers to the conviction rates of youth based on criminal convictions over the ages of 17 to 24. Published data on the proportion of youth with at least one conviction are unavailable. Yet, both the level and ethnic differences in the conviction data for youth in the CHDS are broadly consistent with these published, national statistics.

The second variable is the proportion of individuals who met certain criteria for alcohol or illicit drug abuse or dependence. These rates of Alcohol/Drug Abuse or Dependence were 47.5% for Maori and 32.7% for non-Maori. These ethnic differences are statistically significant at better than a 1% level.

Finally, one of the more startling outcomes from this sample is the difference by ethnicity in the number of children born to the respondent. This information is taken from several questions on the outcomes of any pregnancies experienced by females and any children fathered by males by age 21. The average number of children born to the respondent is 0.343 for Maori and 0.076 for non-Maori. This difference is statistically significant at better than a 1% level. This says that Maori, on average, are responsible for giving birth to four and one-half times the number of children as non-Maori by age 21.

Table 7 repeats this same analysis for the three-way breakdown of youth ethnicity. As with the data on education and work histories, the mean personal and family background characteristics of mixed Maori are largely a weighted average of the means of sole Maori and non-Maori. Yet, by most indicators, mixed Maori appear to be more similar to sole Maori than to non-Maori. Both Maori groups have parents with lower levels of educational attainment than non-Maori. Sole and mixed Maori are relatively more likely to have been raised in single-parented families and in families receiving a social welfare benefit. These ethnic differences relative to non-Maori are significant at better than a 1% level in three of the four situations.

** Maori mean (sole or mixed ethnicity) significantly different from non-Maori mean at 1% level.

* Maori mean (sole or mixed ethnicity) 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, and had at least one parental figure claiming Maori ancestry by age 14. All other youth are considered to be ‘non-Maori’.

Sole and mixed Maori were raised in families with mean real incomes of $32,667 and $37,067, respectively. This says that sole and mixed Maori lived in families with incomes that were, on average, 25.3% and 15.3% lower than that of non-Maori, respectively. These differences are statistically significant at better than a 1% level.

Mean Conduct Problem Scores are significantly higher for both sole and mixed Maori relative to non-Maori. The same is true of the proportion of years that these children were frequently truant, suspended or expelled from school between ages 12 and 16, and the proportion with criminal convictions between ages 18 and 21. Alcohol or drug abuse rates were also significantly higher for sole and mixed Maori relative to non-Maori. Finally, the average number of children born to the respondent is 0.458 for sole Maori, 0.235 for mixed Maori and 0.076 for non-Maori. These differences relative to non-Maori are statistically significant at better than a 1% and 10% level, respectively. This says that sole Maori, on average, gave birth to more than six times the number of children as non-Maori by age 21.