9). Therefore, the modern family nucleus may or may not have children, and be either a single parent or two-parent household. For the purposes of this essay, however, those with children shall determine single parent or two parent families. Two parent families with children currently make up sixty-nine percent of all families, while the remaining thirty-one percent identified themselves as one-parent families (Statistics New Zealand, 2002).
Another family type in New Zealand is known as the extended family', and is generally considered to be a nuclear family with one or more other related people; or two or more related nuclear families, with or without other related people (Statistics New Zealand, 1995). While not exclusive, this type of family/whanau style is more common with Maori families whose traditional concept of whanau or extended family consists of three or four generations of family living and working together collectively (Papakura, 1986; Durie 2001). .
Cultural diversity and family roles.
The percentages of children who identified with New Zealand's major ethnic groups during the 2001 New Zealand Census are: European (75 %), Mãori (24 %), Pacific Peoples (11 %) and Asian (7 %) (Statistics New Zealand, 2002). Therefore, throughout New Zealand it is clear that ethnic and cultural identity play a defining role in differing family/whanau styles. Durie (2001) maintains that two distinctive styles of whanau are emerging for Maori. Whakapapa whanau refers to the traditional definition of whanau whereby kinship ties are strictly related to genetics, whereas kaupapa whanau explores the divergence of family types present in Aotearoa today, such as a kohanga community.
However, a shift away from more traditional arrangements has seen Maori families encompass single-parent and two-parent households, and some adapted traditional whanau arrangements. The recent consciousness raising of the 1990s for Maori has now given the option of rekindling whanau, hapu and iwi ties (Moeke-Pickering, 1996).