Partnership Status in Current Relationship

Glossary

Couple

Two people who are partnered only with each other. See partnered. There are three types of couples: opposite-sex, male and female.

De facto relationship

Two people who usually reside together as a couple in a relationship in the nature of marriage or civil union and who are not married to, or in a civil union with, each other. Note that couples in de facto relationships where one partner is temporarily living elsewhere at the time of the data collection (due to, for example, work or medical reasons) and the intention is to resume residing together, are still considered to be in a de facto relationship.

Dissolved (civil union)

People for whom a decree, order or any legislative enactment for dissolution or nullity of their civil union exists, or where a dissolution of a voidable civil union has taken place. People whose civil union has been dissolved are:

• legally able to enter another civil union or get married (if they are an opposite-sex couple)
• not currently in a civil union, married, or separated
• not currently widowed or the surviving partner of a civil union.

Dissolved (marriage) (also known as divorced)

People for whom a decree, order or any legislative enactment for divorce or dissolution or nullity of marriage exists, or where a dissolution of a voidable marriage has taken place. People whose marriage has been dissolved are:

• legally able to marry again or enter a civil union
• not currently married, in a civil union, or separated
• not currently widowed or the surviving partner of a civil union.

Legally registered relationships

• Marriage
  A marriage is a legally registered relationship, which is entered into by two people of the opposite-sex who must have been married according to the laws and customs of the country in which they got married. A marriage also includes couples that have changed their relationship from a civil union to a marriage in New Zealand.
• Civil union
  A civil union is a legally registered relationship, which is entered into by two people of the same or opposite-sex who must have entered into the civil union according to the laws and customs of the country in which they entered into the civil union. A civil union also includes opposite-sex couples that have changed their relationship from a marriage to a civil union in New Zealand.

Never married and never in a civil union

A person who has never been in a legally registered relationship (marriage/civil union).

Never partnered (vital statistics use only)

A person who has never been married and never in a civil union and never in a de facto relationship.

Partner deceased (vital statistics use only)

Partnership status for a person whose spouse or partner (either civil union or de facto) has died.

Partnered

A person with whom another person is:

• married to or in a civil union with, or
• in a de facto relationship with.

Civil unions and de facto relationships include both same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples.

Permanently ended de facto (vital statistics use only)

A de facto relationship that has permanently ended and the de facto couple no longer usually reside together.

Separated (marriage or civil union)

To be separated, a person must be permanently living apart from his or her spouse or civil union partner, with or without a legal separation order or agreement. To be permanently living apart, a person must not usually reside with their spouse or civil union partner.

Spouse

A spouse is the husband or wife in a legally registered marriage. For the purposes of these definitions ‘spouse’ does not apply to civil unions and de facto relationships.

Surviving civil union partner

The status of a person who has not entered into a new civil union or marriage, following the death of his or her civil union partner.

Usual residence

Usual residence is the address of the dwelling where a person considers himself or herself to usually reside, except in the specific cases listed in the guidelines.

It is recommended that these guidelines be followed in the cases where usual residence is not self-defined.

1. Dependent children who board at another residence to attend primary or secondary school, and return to their parent’s(s’) or guardian’s(s’) home for the holidays, usually reside at the address of their parent(s) or guardian(s). Tertiary students usually reside at the address where they live while studying. If they give up their usual residence in the holidays (eg terminate the lease on a flat or give up their hostel room) and return to their parent/caregivers' home during the holidays their usual residence over that period would be their parent/caregivers' home.
2. Children in shared care usually reside at the place where they spend more nights, or if they spend equal amounts of time at each residence, they usually reside at the place where they are at the time of the survey.
3. People who are in rest homes, hospitals, prisons or other institutions, usually reside where they consider themselves to live, and this may include the institution.
4. A person whose home is on any ship, boat or vessel permanently located in any harbour shall be deemed to usually reside at the wharf or landing place (or main wharf or landing place) of the harbour.
5. A person from another country who has lived in New Zealand the past twelve months, or has the intention of living in New Zealand for twelve months or more, usually resides at his or her address in New Zealand (as in external migration).
6. People of no fixed abode have no usual residence. However, for enumeration purposes, a meshblock of usual residence is assigned to people of no fixed abode based on their location on the date of data collection. They are still recorded as having 'no fixed abode'.
7. People who spend equal amounts of time residing at different addresses, and can not decide which address is their usual residence, usually reside at the address they were surveyed at, assuming that they are not a visitor.
8. If none of the above guidelines apply, the person usually resides at the address he or she was surveyed at.

Usual residence operational issues

The definition of usual residence is based on the assumption that each respondent has only one usual residence. The majority of people do not have difficulty in providing one address. Instructions should be provided on which address to give for individuals who have more than one usual residence. For example, see bullet points. If you are an overseas resident and will be staying in New Zealand for less than 12 months, give your address in your home country. Otherwise, give your New Zealand address.

If you are a New Zealand resident, follow these guidelines to give the right address.

• If you are a primary or secondary school student at boarding school, give your home address.
• If you are a tertiary student, give the address where you live during the semester.
  If you live in more than one dwelling, give the address of the one you most consider to be your home. If you spend equal amounts of time at different addresses, give only one of those addresses.
• Children in shared care should give the address where they spend most nights. If children spend equal amounts of time at different addresses, give the address of where they are staying tonight.

For further information about usual residence, refer to the 'usual residence' statistical standard.

Widowed

The status of a person who has not entered into a new marriage or civil union following the death of his or her spouse.

Residual categories

Residual categories are used as operational codes only when capturing and/or coding particular types of responses. The mode of the survey will determine which residual categories are required.

Don’t know

Use of this category is discretionary. The use of a category capturing don't know responses is most applicable to household surveys where don't know may be a legitimate response to certain questions.

Refused to answer

This category is only used when it is known that the respondent has purposefully chosen not to respond to the question. Use of this residual category in processing is optional. Its use is most applicable in face-to-face or telephone interviews, but may be used in self-completed questionnaires if the respondent has clearly indicated they refuse or object to answering the question.

Response unidentifiable

This category is used when there is a response given, but:

1. the response is illegible, or
2. it is unclear what the meaning or intent of the response is – this most commonly occurs when the response being classified contains insufficient detail, is ambiguous or is vague, or
3. the response is contradictory for example, both the yes and no tick boxes have been ticked, or
4. the response is clear and seemingly within the scope of the classification, but cannot be coded because no suitable option (particularly other residual category options such as 'not elsewhere classified' or 'not further defined') exists in the classification or code file.

Response outside scope

This category is used for responses that are positively identified (ie the meaning and the intent are clear) but which clearly fall outside the scope of the classification/topic as defined in the standard.

Not stated

This category is only used where a respondent has not given any response to the question asked, that is, it is solely for non-response.

Not captured (vital statistics use only)

The variable is not collated in the reference period, or the variable is collated in a different format in reference period. (For example, the variable may have been collated using a different classification.)

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics (2006). "2901.0 Census dictionary, 2006 (Reissue) Registered Marital Status", http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/vwDictionary/6D7A94485C9BE5FACA25729E0008A888?opendocument [17 March 2008].

Department of Internal Affairs (2008). "Civil Unions", http://www.dia.govt.nz/diawebsite.nsf/wpg_URL/Services-Births-Deaths-and-Marriages-Civil-Unions?OpenDocument [9 May 2008].

Department of Internal Affairs (July 2005). "Notification of Death for Registration" form, Births, Deaths and Marriages, Lower Hutt.

LexisNexis "Interpretation Amendment Act 2005" http://www.lexisnexis.com/nz/legal/search/homesubmitForm.do., [9 May 2008].

Milan A and Peters A (2003). "Couples living apart", Canadian Social Trends, Summer 2003, Statistics Canada – Catalogue No. 11-008.

Ministry of Social Development, Work and Income (2008). "Domestic Purposes and Widows Benefit", http://www.winz.govt.nz/get-assistance/main-benefit/domestic-purposes-widows.html [9 May 2005].

New Zealand Legislation: Acts. "Property (Relationships) Act 1976 No 166 (as at 3 December 2007)", http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1976/0166/latest/DLM440945.html?search=ts_act_Property+Relationships+Act&sr=1 [9 May 2008].

Office of National Statistics (2004). "Harmonised Concepts and Questions for Social Data Sources, Primary Standards, Demographic information, household composition and relationships, http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/data/harmonisation/primary_standards.asp [9 May 2005].

Office of National Statistics (2001). "Census 2001: Definitions, Chapter 5 Glossary", http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=12951&Pos=1&ColRank=1&Rank=208 [9 May 2005].

Statistics Canada (2007). "Marital Status", http://www.statcan.ca/english/concepts/definitions/marital-sta.htm [17 March 2008].

Timpany Walton (2005). "Do you have a de facto relationship?", http://www.lawlink.co.nz/members/timpanywalton/defacto.pdf [9 May 2008].

Wikipedia (2008). "De facto", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_facto [9 May 2008].

Statistics New Zealand (1999), Marital status, http://www.stats.govt.nz/statistical-methods/classifications-and-related-statistical-standards/marital-status/default.htm [9 May 2008].

Statistics New Zealand (2007). Report of the Review of Official Family Statistics, Statistics New Zealand, Wellington.

United Nations Statistics Division, Demographic and Social Statistics (2001). "Marriage and divorce", http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sconcerns/mar/marmethods.htm [9 May 2008].

United Nations (2008). Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses Revision 2, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Statistics Division, Statistical Papers, UN, NY (Series M No. 67/Rev. 2).