BEVOLKING EN GEZIN, 2000, Vol. 29, No. 2
Families in flux? An introduction [Gezinnen in beweging? Een introductie].
This article sketches the household and family demographic context in which changes in family formation and dissolution occur. First, the main factors that have played a role in the increased diversity in family forms and the broad societal changes behind them in Western societies during the past four decades are discussed. Attention is paid to issues such as individualisation, pluriformisation, structural factors, cultural factors, and technological factors. After that, we try to assess, on the basis of empirical data, the position that the Netherlands holds within Europe with respect to household and family structures. Attention is paid to proportions of one-person households, proportions of people living alone, distributions of private households by type, household forms in which 20-39 years old women live, and family forms of 25-29 years old women. The position of the Netherlands can be summarised as: a solid/middle-of-the-road position, but not the guide country that the Dutch always so much seem to appreciate of themselves.
(NETHERLANDS, FAMILY, FAMILY FORMATION, FAMILY COMPOSITION, HOUSEHOLD, CULTURAL CHANGE, SOCIAL CHANGE, TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE).
Dutch - pp. 1-24.
A. Kuijsten?, AME, Faculteit der Maatschappij- en Gedragswetenschappen/Afdeling Ruimtelijke Wetenschappen, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Nieuwe Prinsengracht 130, NL-1018 VZ Amsterdam, Netherlands.
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Families of the future [Het gezin van de toekomst].
Societal changes, like individualisation, women's liberation, dejuvenation and migration, have had important consequences for the family types in which children are raised. Moreover, family changes are not over yet, but will continue into the future. This article gives an overview of the families of the future, making use of data sources available at Statistics Netherlands. The most important conclusions are that in the future (1) there will be fewer children, (2) there will be more only children, (3) there will be more children with old parents, (4) there will be more children of first-generation migrants, (5) children will more often have nonmarried parents, (6) there will be more children who have experienced a parental divorce, (7) there will be more children who have parents with a large age-discrepancy, and (8) there will be children living with either two mothers or two fathers.
(NETHERLANDS, FAMILY COMPOSITION, FAMILY SIZE, SOCIAL CHANGE, MARITAL STATUS, WOMEN?S STATUS, AGEING, IMMIGRANTS, HETEROGAMY).
Dutch - pp. 25-42.
J. Latten, Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, Sector Bevolking, Postbus 4000, NL-2270 AM Voorburg, Netherlands.
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Dutch mothers: A little bit of everything [Moeders in Nederland: van alles een beetje].
Employment rates of mothers of young children are in the Netherlands much lower than in other western countries. Many mothers are not employed and others have part-time jobs. In this chapter it is suggested that this is due to social and, cultural norms concerning motherhood. A content analysis of Dutch women's magazines shows that the meaning of motherhood for the development of children increased in the 1970s. In the 1980s and 1990s care for children and employment are still presented as competing Instead of as complementary activities. A time budget study shows that higher educated as well as housewives indeed spend lots of time with their children. In addition, the part-time employed mothers also spend more time with their children than mothers did in the 1950s. The general conclusion is that not only housewives but also employed mothers are less busy in 1995 than mothers in the 1950s were.
(NETHERLANDS, MOTHER, MOTHERHOOD, EMPLOYMENT, FEMALE EMPLOYMENT, CHILD CARE, CHILD REARING, WOMEN?S ROLE, WOMEN?STATUS).
Dutch - pp. 43-58.
T. Knijn, Faculteit Sociale Wetenschappen, Universiteit van Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 2, NL-3584 CS Utrecht, Netherlands.
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KALMIJN, Matthijs; DE GRAAF, Paul M.
Divorced fathers and their children: An empirical analysis of custody and visitation patterns [Gescheiden vaders en hun kinderen: een empirische analyse van voogdij en bezoekfrequentie].
Large scale representative survey data for the Netherlands show that 11% of fathers get physical custody of their children after divorce. Another 4% of the fathers share custody with the mother. Older children more often go to the father than younger children, but their are no clear sex differences. Comparisons of divorces in different periods show that there has been no increase in paternal custody, although joint custody has increased somewhat. When mothers get custody of their children, about 14% of the fathers never receive visits from their children and another 26% see their children less than once a week. About 60% see their children at least once a week. While paternal custody has not become more common, visitation frequency has increased across divorce cohorts. A significant minority of both fathers and mothers report dissatisfaction with the number of visits to the father. Satisfaction is positively related to visitation frequency, but more strongly for fathers than for mothers. This is due to a considerable number of mothers who are satisfied when there are few or no visits to the father. Using multiple regression, we also examine which factors affect the odds that a father gets custody and the number of monthly visits. The analyses show that cultural factors play the most important role. Fathers who were more involved in child-rearing during marriage, more often get custody and receive more visits after divorce. Fathers are also more involved with their children after divorce when mothers have more progressive attitudes towards sex roles.
(NETHERLANDS, DIVORCE, FAMILY, PARENTS, CHILD CUSTODY, CULTURE, SEX ROLES, REGRESSION ANALYSIS).
Dutch - pp. 59-84.
M. Kalmijn, Vakgroep Sociologie, Universiteit Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 1, NL-3584 CS Utrecht, Netherlands; P. M. De Graaf,Vakgroep Sociologie, Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen, Postbus 9104, NL-6500 HE Nijmegen, Netherlands
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SPRUIJT, Ed; DE GOEDE, Martijn; VAN DER VALK, Inge.
Changing families and well-being of youngsters [Veranderende gezinsvormen en het welbevinden van jongeren].
What are the effects of growing up in different family structures on the psychological, physical and relational well-being of youngsters? Is there any influence on the frequency of risky behaviour such as smoking cigarettes, using soft drugs and drinking alcohol? We examine the medium-term and long-term effects of complicated family life on youngsters from five different family structures: well-functioning intact families, heavy conflict intact families, single-parent families after divorce, stepfamilies after divorce, and single-parent families after widowhood.
Data were used from the Dutch national panel study USAD (Utrecht Study of Adolescent Development), a study of developments as they occur in the life course of young people during the 1990s. Results from the third wave are presented from 1.672 respondents between 12 and 30 years of age, measured in 1997. Different family structures after marital problems, divorce, remarriage, and widowhood do appear to have small, but significant medium-term and long-term effects on a number of adolescent well-being variables. Young people from heavy conflict families show the lowest score on the different indicators of well-being, followed by the youngsters from divorced single-parent families.
(NETHERLANDS, FAMILY, FAMILY COMPOSITION, CHILDREN, ADVERSE EFFECTS, INDIVIDUAL WELFARE, SOCIAL PROBLEMS, POPULATION AT RISK, MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, REMARRIAGE, WIDOWHOOD).
Dutch - pp. 85-108.
E. Spruijt, M. De Goede and I. Van Der Valk, Universiteit Utrecht, Faculteit Sociale Wetenschappen, Heidelberglaan 2, NL-3584 CS Utrecht, Netherlands.
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Diversity in family structure and children's chances later in life [Diversiteit in gezinsvormen en levenskansen van kinderen op langere termijn].
First, five explanations for family structure differences in children's life chances are described. The explanations assume differences in human capital investments, child rearing practices, parental conflict, selection and institutionalisation, respectively. Next, an overview is given of recent Dutch studies in this area. The long-term consequences apply to financial-economic status, the family career or well-being. Insofar family structure differences are found, they pertain to the less advantageous circumstances of children of divorce compared to children from intact families. Early parental loss and the entry into a stepfamily do not appear to have negative consequences in the long run. The differences are primarily apparent in the children's own family careers; children of divorce are more likely to experience the disruption of a partner relationship themselves and appear to be more reluctant to enter into marriage. The differences, though significant, are relatively small. Social class background is a stronger predictor of later life outcomes than is family structure. Recent Dutch research on family structure differences in children's life chances has hardly been guided by the search for explanations. The assessment of family structure differences seems to have been the primary objective. The paucity of longitudinal studies is another characteristic feature of recent Dutch research in this area.
(NETHERLANDS, FAMILY, FAMILY COMPOSITION, CHILDREN, ADVERSE EFFECTS, INDIVIDUAL WELFARE, POPULATION AT RISK, MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, WIDOWHOOD).
Dutch - pp. 109-140.
P. A. Dykstra, Nederlands Interdisciplinair Demografisch Instituut (NIDI), Postbus 11650, NL-2502 AR Den Haag, Netherlands.
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The interest of an explicit family policy [Het belang van een expliciet gezinsbeleid].
In this article a description and explanation is given of family policy in the Netherlands. This policy is implicit and not institutionalized. In the 90s the nuclear family had a renewed attention of policymakers (family debate in the house of parliament). The attention was not followed by the creation a "new" family policy. The author argues that societal developments and developments within families and other primary life forms, like the growing diversity, the position of women, the mobility and the ageing of society, ask for an explicit family policy in the near future. This policy must have a holistic character.
(NETHERLANDS, FAMILY, GOVERNMENT POLICY, FAMILY COMPOSITION, WOMEN?S STATUS, AGEING).
Dutch - pp. 141-156.
K. De Hoog, Universiteit Wageningen, Huishoudstudies, Postbus 8060, NL-6700 DA, Wageningen, Netherlands.
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Politics and demagogy [Politiek en demogogiek].
This article criticises the assumption that there is a growing diversity in family life. An analysis of the trends in family issues shows that the diversity increases much more slowly than is commonly assumed. Moreover, it is questionable whether diversity has important adverse effects on children. A discussion of the policy effects of trends in family issues should, therefore, start from a completely different perspective, e.g. from the long-term trend in family life. This long-term trend is linear rather than towards diversity: emancipation and democratisation of internal relations within the family have become generally accepted. However, in particular with regard to the sexual division of labour this trend conflicts with reality. Policies -- for a multitude of reasons -- do not facilitate the desires towards emancipation and democratisation that exist within the family. New family roles have to be established within an unsuitable context and thus policies are restraining diversity rather than diversity posing problems to policies.
(NETHERLANDS, FAMILY, FAMILY LIFE, CHILDREN, ADVERSE EFFECTS, WOMEN?S STATUS, SEX ROLES, SOCIAL ROLES).
Dutch - pp. 157-182.
P. Cuyvers, Nederlandse Gezinsraad, Lange Voorhout 86, NL-2514 EJ Den Haag, Netherlands.
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