A study has found iwi whose land was confiscated in the New Zealand Wars have the highest Māori smoking rates.
File photo. Photo: 123rf.com
They were estimated to have a smoking rate 2.6 percentage points higher than iwi for whom confiscation did not occur.
The Te Herenga Waka researchers Professor Arthur Grimes and Rowan Ropata Macgregor Thom (Ngāti Rakaipaaka, Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāi Tūhoe) also found iwi least affected by raupatu were more likely to speak te reo and visit their marae.
In 1840, Māori owned all land in Aotearoa but by 2017 it was just 5 percent.
Grimes said the trauma hadn't gone away with time.
"These effects don't just effect that generation, they can linger on for many many generations in the future."
The statistical study backed up oral histories, and Grimes said the links between raupatu and hauora were almost undeniable.
"The results were so strong that it's very hard to refute that there's any connection there."
He said the findings back up the Te Whare Tapa Whā hauora model developed by Sir Mason Durie, and should help shape government funding and policy decisions.
"It's vital that we look at the aspects of Māori life, Māori culture that are integral to wellbeing and not just to material wellbeing but to spiritual and other forms of wellbeing."
The study used iwi affiliation data derived from the 2013 New Zealand Census and Statistics New Zealand's Te Kupenga surveys.
The prestigious Social Science and Medicine journal will publish the research next month.