2018 Colloquium

The 2018 Colloquium started with an introduction from our director, Dr Barry Milne who outlined the following presentation topics for the day.

The health consequences of child poverty

Presented by: Nichola Shackleton

The aims of this project were to investigate the impact of poverty on six health outcomes, investigate which aspects of poverty dynamics had the greatest impact on health outcomes, and identify which factors most strongly mediated the association between poverty and health. It did this by using data from a child cohort study within IDI Survey of Families, Income and Employment (SoFIE).

A small segment of population with a high concentration of service use

Presented by: Stephanie D'Souza

Concentration indices (e.g. Gini coefficient) measure the extent to which quantities are concentrated in a small proportion of the population. Using IDI data to describe the extent of concentration of service use across four sectors (hospital, benefits, crime, ACC). The project found marked concentration across all, with highest concentration for crime. Most concentrations increased with age, and it was common for the same people to have high service use across different sectors, particularly crime and benefits.

This presentation is not posted at this time due to journal publishing conflicts.

Whole population analysis for the Better Start National Science Challenge

Presented by: Dr Barry Milne

This project seeks to understand and address issues facing children and young people in New Zealand, with a particular focus on three themes: healthy weight, resilient teens, and successful literacy and learning. In the presentation, Dr Milne reported on findings from analysis of whole population (IDI) data to understand the epidemiology and risk factors associated with outcomes in the three theme areas.  

Decomposing ethnic differences in body mass index and obesity rates among preschoolers

Presented by: Dr Nichola Shackleton

This project used linked data from the B4 School Check, birth records, and census to investigate how much ethnic differences in BMI and obesity can be explained by other sociodemographic characteristics, taking account of individual, family, and neighbourhood level characteristics. This was also part of the Better Start National Science Challenge, forming a collaboration between the Big Data and Healthy Weight themes.

The International Social Survey Programme (ISSP)

Presented by: Dr Barry Milne

The ISSP runs annual surveys in 40–50 countries, with different topics each year and rotated on a ~10 year cycle. This allows both comparisons between countries and assessments of change over time in attitudes towards and experiences of issues related to gender, work, identity, citizenship, government, social networks, religion, inequality, the environment, and health.  

New Zealand as a social laboratory

Presented by: Martin von Randow

This project extends our repertoire of microsimulation projects to look at the whole population, through the New Zealand Longitudinal Census. Constructing paired data sets and making everything compatible across time, we use actual transitions between censuses as the basis for a dynamic microsimulation considering the whole age range, with demographic modelling to describe births, deaths, and in and out migration.

Risk factors for loneliness in a longitudinal cohort of older Māori and non-Māori

Presented by: Roy Lay-Yee

This project seeks to identify risk factors for loneliness in ‘LiLACS NZ’, a bicultural cohort of older people followed from 2010 to 2015. All Māori aged 80–90 years and non-Māori aged 85 years, living in Bay of Plenty and Lakes DHB areas were invited to participate. It describes how loneliness is patterned for Māori and non-Māori, and uses multiple regression to identify risk factors. The research contributes to an understanding of the complexities of loneliness, and aids the design of effective interventions.