The New Zealand Family from 1840
Trends in reproduction, their determinants and their consequences, plus changes in family demography overall are conventional components of all demographic research programmes. Not surprisingly, NIDEA’s predecessor - the Population Studies Centre - has focused on this research, historically and currently in New Zealand, and in a cross-comparative context, producing numerous papers in refereed journals here and overseas, monographs and theses. This culminated in 2007 with the publication of a major book: Ian Pool, Arunachalam Dharmalingam and Janet Sceats, The New Zealand Family from 1840: A Demographic History (plus two web appendices) (Auckland University Press), which synthesized all these themes plus family policy.
This book drew on an exhaustive range of studies, plus the Centre’s own research, notably two national surveys (1995 and 2001), New Zealand’s only such studies, on fertility and family formation. The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (which includes two very appropriate comparators – Canada, United States) gave the Centre Associate membership in their Family and Fertility Survey undertaking covering 25+ countries in their region, archived the survey and published results in their standard country reports (Johnstone, K et al 2001). Two other monographs (on contraception, Ian Pool et al 1999, and family formation, A. Dharmalingam et al 2004), numerous papers, including several in leading refereed international journals, and theses were among the outputs.
