Regular contact with family/friends

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Regular contact with family/friends

Definition

The proportion of the population who had family or friends over for a meal at least once a month, as measured by the New Zealand Living Standards Surveys.

Relevance

The extent to which people are in regular contact with family and friends is an important reflection of social connectedness.

Current level and trends

Seventy per cent of adults aged 18 years and over had friends or family over for a meal at least once a month in 2004. This was about the same level as in 2000 when 69 per cent had family or friends over for a meal.

Table SC2.1 Proportion (%) of the population having family/friends over for a meal, by population characteristics, 2000 and 2004

	Have family/friends over for a meal
	2000	2004
Population estimates
Total population aged 18 and over	68.6	70.0
Age groupings
Adults aged 18–64 years	70.0	71.1
Adults 65 years and over	60.2	63.7
Economic family ethnicity
Māori economic family	70.2	73.3
Pacific economic family	79.5	69.9
European economic family	65.8	65.8
Other economic family	68.2	78.0
Families with dependent children
One-parent with dependent children	64.8	64.8
Two-parent with dependent children	70.8	73.4
All families with dependent children	69.1	70.8
Family employment/income status
18–64 year olds, main income earner in full-time employment	69.4	72.4
18–64 year olds, main income earner not in full-time employment	67.7	62.9
65 year olds and over, with employment or other income (above New Zealand Superannuation)	75.3	79.7
65 year olds and over, with little or no other income (above New Zealand Superannuation)	56.5	61.8

Sources: Ministry of Social Development (2003a); Ministry of Social Development (2006)

Age and socio-economic differences

People aged 65 years and over who had employment income or other income in addition to New Zealand Superannuation were the group most likely to have friends or family over for a meal (80 per cent). In contrast, those in the same age group with little income above New Zealand Superannuation were the least likely to have people over for a meal (62 per cent). Similarly, among adults aged under 65 years, families where the main earner in the family was not in full-time employment were less likely than those with the main earner in full-time employment to have people over for dinner (63 per cent compared with 72 per cent).

Ethnic differences

According to the 2004 New Zealand Living Standards Survey, people living in Other ethnic group economic families were the most likely to have friends or family over for a meal at least once a month (78 per cent). Māori were also slightly more likely than average to do this (73 per cent). Those living in European families had below-average levels of having people over for a meal (66 per cent), while Pacific families had average levels (70 per cent). Between 2000 and 2004, the biggest increase in the proportion of families having friends or family over for a meal was among Other ethnic group families (up 10 percentage points) and the biggest decrease was among Pacific families (down 10 percentage points).

Differences by family type

Sole-parent families were less likely than two-parent families to have friends or family over for a meal (65 per cent compared to 73 per cent). Two-parent families were slightly more likely to have friends or family over for a meal in 2004 than in 2000, but there was no change for sole-parent families.

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