Abstract:
Infant and child mortality has usually been looked at in socio-economic terms, while recent European studies have looked at the loss of a parent and illegitimacy as independent risk factors for early death. But did New Zealand’s new migrant population share these risk factors considering the extremely low child mortality rates and high life expectancy seen in New Zealand compared to Europe at the end of the 19th century? Reconstitution of families who had resided in either Tolaga Bay or Little Akaloa settlements of New Zealand from early colonial times through to the 20th century was undertaken and followed through subsequent generations creating a data base of 2379 individuals. As in Europe the loss of a parent as a child did increase the risks of premature death. The younger an individual became an orphan, the greater the risk of child mortality. However the risk after loss of a mother was far greater than the loss of a father. This risk is reduced significantly with remarriage of the remaining parent whilst the child is less than 10 yrs of age. Increased risks of premature death continued past childhood for those who lost parents in the first 2 yrs of life with a much lower median age at death. Although relatively uncommon in the data set used, illegitimacy increased the risk of premature death with twice the risk of death in childhood and the lowest median survival of 51 years. Double orphans and illegitimate children showed differing patterns of cause of death than single orphans and non-orphans. Cause of death also varied depending on the age at orphaning, the gender of the orphan and with which parent was lost.
