Māori participants show higher resilience in New Zealand mental health survey

A mixed-methods study published in BMC Public Health has examined mental health, resilience and wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand, combining standardised questionnaires with participants’ own written accounts of what sustains them. The research, led by Stefan Heinz and colleagues, surveyed 436 people online, pairing quantitative measures — the WHO-5 Wellbeing Index and the Brief Resilience Scale — with open-ended questions analysed through reflexive thematic analysis.

The quantitative results showed clear demographic differences. Males reported significantly higher wellbeing and resilience than females, while Māori, the Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand, scored significantly higher on resilience than non-Māori participants. The authors suggest these findings challenge deficit-focused narratives about Māori mental health and support culturally grounded approaches to resilience and wellbeing.

The qualitative arm of the study captured what standardised scales often miss: participants’ authentic voices. Thematic analysis of the free-text responses revealed three interconnected domains that people identified as supporting their mental health — individual resources and practices, social connections and support networks, and environmental and structural enablers. Rather than viewing resilience as a fixed personal trait, participants described it as an adaptive process, a collective resource, a capacity for meaning-making, and a set of learnable skills.

The study set out to answer four questions: which sociodemographic factors are associated with measured wellbeing and resilience, which strength-based factors individuals identify as supporting their mental health, how people conceptualise resilience, and how strength-based narratives vary across demographic groups. The authors note that while validated scales are widely used in mental health research, the lived experience of resilience factors — and how they might be enhanced — has remained less well understood than the lived experience of mental distress.

Participants, the researchers conclude, understand mental health through ecological frameworks that emphasise interconnections between personal, social and environmental factors.

Subject of Research: Mental health, resilience and wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand using mixed quantitative and qualitative survey methods

Article Title: Strength amid struggle: a mixed methods exploration of mental health, resilience, and wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand

Article References: Heinz, S., O’Brien, A., Walker, C., O’Sullivan, M., Rouse, P., Parsons, M., Whitehead, J., & Cunningham, R. (2026). Strength amid struggle: a mixed methods exploration of mental health, resilience, and wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand. BMC Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-026-29365-y

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12889-026-29365-y

Keywords: mental health, resilience, wellbeing, Aotearoa New Zealand, Māori, mixed methods, WHO-5 Wellbeing Index, Brief Resilience Scale, thematic analysis, BMC Public Health, survey research, social connections