Term	Family type - 2001 Census
Synonym
Related Term
Source of Definition
Short Definition
Statistical Activity	Population Census

Definition

Variable name:	Family type
Definition:	The derived variable that classifies family nuclei according to the presence or absence of couples, parents and children.
Questionnaire:	Individual Form question 19 and Dwelling Form question 4.
Subject population:	All people in private dwellings who are in family nuclei, including absentees.
Non-response:	Not applicable as this is a derived variable.
Quality level:	Family type is a defining variable.
Comparability with previous census data:	The 2001 classification (which has only one level) is generally comparable with level one of the 1996 and 1991 classifications. The 2001 classification doesn’t have the child dependency subcategories used in 1991 and 1996. Some definitional/conceptual changes have been made over time, but these have not had a significant effect on the family type data.
Things to be aware of:	· anyone living with their parent(s) who does not have a spouse/partner or child of their own is classified as a child (eg a 60 year old woman living with her 90 year old mother is classified in the "one parent with children" category) · this derivation uses family coding to "pull out" each nucleus from a household, and then classifies it as being of a particular family type even if there were people in the household who could not be coded because there wasn't enough information provided. This means that a group of people may be classified as a particular family type even though this is not certain. · there are inconsistencies between family type and social marital status for various reasons including commuter marriages / partnerships, the spouse or partner being wrongly coded as a visitor NB Commuter marriage / partnership - a situation in which one partner regularly spends time living in a different city or region to their partner, generally for work purposes. This may apply for part of every week, or be a less frequent but still regular occurrence. · people under 15 not living with their parents are put into family nuclei and coded as children (in 1996 this was done for people under 18 in this situation) · "One parent with children" will include many families in which the children are in joint custody and alternate between living with one parent and living with the other parent.
	If help is required with using this variable, email us on info@stats.govt.nz or phone 0508 525 525

Example