The need for the New Zealand government to promote national interests during the Depression and the Second World War created a renewed appreciation of the role of the family within society.
By the late 1940s all New Zealand children had a medical examination on entering school, and were seen by a nurse at standards two and six. These examinations helped identify those who were not 'thriving' in their home environment.
By 1940 childhood was internationally recognised as a distinct stage in human development. A child's value to the family was no longer seen as primarily economic. Instead, children were viewed in terms of 'emotional capital' as socially priceless.
As a consequence of the post-war economic boom there was increasing demand for consumer goods. The 1956 census revealed that more than half of New Zealand homes possessed washing machines, refrigerators and electric ovens.
Romantic liaisons between American servicemen and New Zealand women inevitably developed. The soldiers were starved of female company, and the Kiwi women often found the American men brought good manners and exciting new habits like taxi rides, ice-cream sodas and gifts of flowers.
In 1950s New Zealand there were a number of serious criminal cases involving young people. Such court cases received heavy media coverage and intensified public fears about delinquency.
The Mazengarb report into 'juvenile delinquency' blamed the perceived promiscuity of the nation's youth on the absence from home of working mothers, the easy availability of contraceptives, and on young women who enticed men into having sex.
Originally meaning 'fake, false, inferior, worthless', the term 'bodgie' was applied in the 1950s to a male youth distinguished by his conformity to certain fashions and behaviours.
