3 items · Time frame: These days / in general
An evaluation of how well one's family is doing, 0–10, with a follow-up on which groups of people the person counted as family. Developed for Te Kupenga, Statistics New Zealand's survey of Māori well-being (where it asked about whānau), and used in the New Zealand General Social Survey. Highly correlated with life satisfaction but distinct in its drivers. One of the OECD's experimental measures: the OECD asks data producers to field and publish tests of them.
Adapted wording
The rating question is the OECD's (Box 3.1, item 1). Changes: the OECD offers "I have no family" as an answer, which a 0–10 rating item cannot carry, so the rating is optional and that answer is offered in the follow-up question instead; the follow-up wording is new, built on the groups listed by the OECD from the New Zealand General Social Survey (2025, p. 74).
Source
OECD (2025), Box 3.1 (cross-cutting module of experimental measures), p. 50, item 1, and p. 74. Originally Statistics New Zealand, Te Kupenga (2014) and the New Zealand General Social Survey.
Usage
Report the mean, the distribution and the share scoring 4 or less. Respondents decide who counts as family; consider all areas of life. Exclude from the mean those who answer "I have no family" in the follow-up.
Citation
OECD (2025). OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being (2025 Update). OECD Publishing, Paris.
doi:10.1787/9203632a-enLicense: Item wording from OECD (2025), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0). Attribution: OECD (2025), OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being (2025 Update), OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9203632a-en. Do not use the OECD logo or suggest that the OECD endorses a study. This is an adaptation of an original work by the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed in this adaptation should not be reported as representing the official views of the OECD or of its Member countries. Original question: Stats NZ, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
First of all, I'd like you to think in general about how your family is doing.
On a scale of 0 to 10, where zero means "extremely badly" and ten means "extremely well", how would you rate how your family is doing these days?
Who did you think of as your family when answering? Select all that apply.
Parents, spouse or partner, siblings, children, brothers- or sisters-in-law and/or parents-in-law · Grandparents, grandchildren · Aunts or uncles, cousins, nephews or nieces, other in-laws · Close friends, others · I have no family
Use this module in your own ESM/EMA study — drop it into a survey within SMAAT.