poverty reduction, charles waldegrave

© The Family Centre Social Policy Research Unitwww.familycentre.org.nz

Poverty Reduction and Psychology

Charles Waldegrave

The Family Centre Social Policy Research Unit,

Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealandwww.familycentre.org.nz

Presentation to New Zealand Psychological Society Annual

Conference 2010Rydges Hotel, RotoruaTuesday 20 July 2010



• A global focus in Psychology Journals • Express the desire of the psychology community

worldwide to give greater focus to the importance of the contribution psychology can and does make to poverty reduction

• A Special Feature Issue in each participating Journal• The idea internationally was to accelerate input from an

entire field by psychology journals throughout the world coordinating in a temporal sense around mid 2010 by either producing a special section of papers, or an entire issue of the journal, on the poverty reduction theme.


Peer-reviewed Journals Participating in the Initiative

• Psychology and Developing Societies• The Journal of Psychology in Africa• The Interamerican Journal of Psychology• Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology• International Journal of Psychology• Applied Psychology: An International Review• American Psychologist• Journal of Managerial Psychology• Journal of Health Psychology• New Zealand Journal of Psychology• The Australian Psychologist


Studies on Health Status and Inequalities

• They show a distinct relationship between inequalities in society and physical and mental illhealth.

• Poorer people die earlier, consistently have the poorest health and the highest hospitalisation rates.

• Furthermore, when there is an overall improvement in a country’s population health status, the health inequalities do not usually decrease.

• The evidence is overwhelming.


INEQUALITIES AND HEALTH

• Brenner’s research on the effects of economic recession in the USA indicated that a 1% rise in unemployment in a given year is followed by:

• 6% more admissions into psychiatric hospitals,

• a 4% rise in suicides,

• a 4% rise in state prison admissions

• and 6% more homicides.


INEQUALITIES AND HEALTH Ctd

• Benzeval, M., Judge, K., & Whitehead, M. (Eds.). (1995). Tackling inequalities in health: An agenda for action, London: King’s Fund.

• Acheson, Sir, D. (1998). Independent inquiry into inequalities in health. Norwich: Stationary Office. Available from: http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/doh/ih/contents.htm

• National Health Committee (1998) The Social, Cultural and Economic Determinants of Health in New Zealand: Action to improve health, Wellington: Ministry of Health

• Kawachi, I. and Kennedy, B. (2002). The Health of Nations. New York: The New Press.

• Kawachi, I., and Berkman, L.F. (2003). Neighbourhoods and Health. New York: Oxford University Press.

http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/doh/ih/contents.htm

http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/doh/ih/contents.htm


INEQUALITIES AND HEALTH Ctd

• Mackenbach, J. (2006). Health inequalities: Europe in profile, An independent, expert report commissioned by the UK Presidency of the EU (February 2006)

• Ministry of Social Development (2009). The Social Report 2009. Wellington: Ministry of Social Development. Available from: http://www.socialreport.msd.govt.nz/

• Wilkinson, R. and Pickett, K. (2009). The Spirit Level: Why more equal societies almost always do better. London: Allen Lane.

• Marmot, Sir M. (Chair of the Independent Review Commission) (2010). Fair Society, Healthy Lives: The Marmot Review. Strategic review of health inequalities in England post-2010. London: The Marmot Review, Department of Health. Available from http://www.ucl.ac.uk/gheg/marmotreview/FairSocietyHealthyLives

http://www.socialreport.msd.govt.nz/



http://www.ucl.ac.uk/gheg/marmotreview/FairSocietyHealthyLives




Special Issue Chapter Titles

• Preventing child poverty: Barriers and solutions• The impact of poverty on wellbeing during midlife• Ageing in a material world• Economic hardship among older people in New Zealand:

The effects of low living standards on social support, loneliness, and mental health.

• Human costs of poverty in Aotearoa• Global poverty, aid advertisements and cognition• Can poverty drive you mad? A literature review with

clinical and primary prevention implications


ICAP Conference Melbourne

• Stuart Carr – State of the art address

• Launch of the global issues initiative

• Symposium

• All branches of psychology can contribute – Chris Burt, Ishbel McWha


Proportion (%) of the population in low-income households (60 per cent threshold), by age and sex,

selected years, 1986–2008 Children

Year 0-17 18-24 25-44 45-64 65+

1986 11 5 8 5 4

1990 16 8 12 6 6

1994 35 20 23 15 8

1998 28 16 18 12 9

2001 29 21 18 14 7

2004 23 22 17 13 7

2007 16 17 13 11 8

2008 20 12 13 12 9Source: MSD (2009) ‘Social Report 2009’: p.63


Proportion (%) of the population in low-income households (60 per cent threshold), by age and sex,

selected years, 1986–2008 cont.

Males Females

Year 15+ 15+ Total

1986 5 7 8

1990 8 9 11

1994 17 20 23

1998 13 16 18

2001 14 17 19

2004 15 15 17

2007 11 13 13

2008 11 13 14Source: MSD (2009) ‘Social Report 2009’: p.63


Proportion of households with housing cost outgoings-to-income ratio greater than 30 per cent,

1988–2008

Per

cent

age

of a

ll ho

useh

olds

March years 1988-1998: June years from 2001

Source: MSD (2009) ‘Social Report 2009’: p.64

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

30

25

20

15

10

5

0


Distribution of ELSI-3 scores by ELSI level – whole population (2008)

67

10

18

23

26

9

0

10

20

30

ELSI levels (1-7)

Po

pu

lati

on

per

cen

tag

e

ELSI Levels (1 – 7)Source: Perry (2009) ‘Non-income measures of material wellbeing and hardship’: p.48


Distribution of ELSI-3 scores for age groups (2008)

10

2

6 6

2

109

86

2

14

9

11

8

3

22 2220

15

10

22

27

25

23 23

17

26

23

31

46

76

8

1214

0

10

20

30

40

50

0-17 years 18-24 years 25-44 years 45-64 years 65+ years

Po

pu

lati

on

per

cen

tag

e

0-17 years 18-24 years 25-44 years 45-64 years 65+ years

Source: Perry (2009) ‘Non-income measures of material wellbeing and hardship’: p.50


Distribution of ELSI-3 scores for family type, under 65 (2008)

6

3

22

4

8

4

15

7

9

7

19

11

20

13

2122

2425

13

2625

34

8

23

8

14

3

8

0

10

20

30

40

One person Couple only Sole parent Two parent

Po

pu

lati

on

per

cen

tag

e

One person Couple only Sole parent Two parentSource: Perry (2009) ‘Non-income measures of material wellbeing and hardship’: p.50

40

30

20

10

0


Distribution of ELSI-3 scores by ethnicity, 2008 LSS


Pop

ulat

ion

perc

enta

ge

4

13

20

6

13 13

8

15

1917

23

21

24

19

15

30

14

1112

32

0

10

20

30

40

European Maori Pacific Asian Other

40

30

20

10

0European Maori Pacific


Distribution of ELSI-3 scores by ethnicity, 2008 LSS


0

10

20

30

40


5

10

6

8

13

10

21

18

2728

24

20

4

7

0

10

20

30

40


40

30

20

10

0

Pop

ulat

ion

perc

enta

ge

OtherAsian


Child poverty rates (%) in selected European countries, Canada, the US, Mexico and Australia c

2006: 60% of median threshold (BHC)

Source: Perry (2009) ‘Household income in New Zealand 1982-2008’: p.119


Turkey 2004 34 Luxembourg 20

Mexico 2004 30 New Zealand 2007 19

United States 2004 29 EU-25 average 19

Latvia 26 Slovakia 17

Poland 26 Czech Republic 16

Italy 25 Sweden 15

Hungary 25 Belgium 15

Canada 2004 25 Austria 15

Lithuania 25 Netherlands 14

Spain 24 France 14

United Kingdom 24 Slovenia 12

Greece 23 Iceland 12

Ireland 22 Germany 12

Australia 2003 22 Finland 10

Portugal 21 Denmark 10

Estonia 20 Norway 9


Incidence and Severity of Poverty, After Housing Costs NZPMP

Incidence

People Adults 18-64 Adults 65+ Children 0-18

1998 2001 1998 2001 1998 2001 1998 2001

Market 29.7 30.2 19.5 21.2 75.3 70.6 33.5 33.9

Disposable 20.3 21.9 16.7 18.8 12.3 10.8 33.5 35.0

Efficiency 31.6% 27.5% 14.4% 11.3% 83.7% 84.7% 0.0% 3.2%

Poverty Gap $m

Market 6059 7283 1059 1654 3222 3438 1778 2191

Disposable 1211 1589 422 626 146 115 643 848

Efficiency 80.0% 78.2% 60.2% 62.2% 95.5% 96.7% 63.8% 61.3%


Incidence, Structure and Severity of Poverty, by Ethnic Status, 2000 NZPMP

60 per cent of Median Equivalent Household Disposable Income Threshold

Ethnicity

Incidence (pre-housing) Structure

Incidence (post-housing)

Adult Child Total Adult Child Total Adult Child Total

European 11.6 20.3 13.5 64.7 57.4 62.4 14.5 31.3 18.2

Maori 22.1 32.9 25.6 18.6 24.1 20.6 27.5 39.3 31.4

Pacific 26.1 34.2 29.0 8.3 10.7 9.1 36.8 54.0 43.0

Other 17.6 25.3 19.6 8.3 7.8 8.1 23.9 39.4 28.0

Total 13.8 23.9 16.3 100.0 100.0 100.0 17.6 35.0 21.9


Ethical Issues and Values for Psychologists

• Weight given to ethical approval applications in research proposals

• Focus on Codes of Ethics• Focus on appropriate relationships with clients• Time to consider other power relationships in society and

the role of psychologists regarding them• Consider the role of psychologists to contribute to the

reduction of suffering and injustice in society• Culture, gender and socio-economic assumptions to

begin with• The presumption of neutrality has on occasions made

psychologists complicit with mental health cruelty and corporate control


Subfields of Psychology

• Biological • Biopsychosocial • Clinical • Cognitive • Comparative • Developmental • Educational • Industrial-Organisational • Personality

• Social


THERAPISTS/COUSELLORS AND PAIN

• Therapists and clinicians, as a professional group, are the most informed ‘experts’ of the collective grounded levels of hurt, sadness and pain in modern countries.

• Those who live in deep pain are of course the primary ‘experts’ in the sadness and hurt they and their communities experience, but therapists and clinicians are the professional helpers who continually witness that pain with many individuals and families and across a variety of communities week after week.


• As such they carry a substantial responsibility to identify, quantify and describe the severity and causes of it.

• This is ethically essential if they are committed to honouring their client group.

• They have a responsibility to publish and publicise the causes and outcomes of people’s pain in order that they may be addressed in the public debate and impact on policy.

• Good policy in this sense can address issues of wellbeing and inclusion in informed and effective ways, eg income, housing, health, education and employment policies.


Other Examples

• Educational psychology• Industrial psychology• Organisational psychology



• The challenge has been laid by peers within our discipline

• The challenge is of course enormous• The challenge has an ethical basis and we have shown

in recent years that we are capable rising to difficult ethical challenges

• Every subfield of psychology has a contribution to make• Aotearoa New Zealand will be a much safer, diverse,

more inclusive and pleasant country if we can succeed• Can we approach this within the profession as a major

structural challenge, as we have other challenges and plan achievable goals?

poverty reduction, charles waldegrave

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