Young

http://you.sagepub.com/

Young parenthood in the Netherlands

Manuela Du Bois-Reymond
Young 2009 17: 265
DOI: 10.1177/110330880901700303
The online version of this article can be found at:
http://you.sagepub.com/content/17/3/265

Published by:
http://www.sagepublications.com

Additional services and information for Young can be found at:

Email Alerts: http://you.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts
Subscriptions: http://you.sagepub.com/subscriptions
Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav
Permissions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav
Citations: http://you.sagepub.com/content/17/3/265.refs.html

>> Version of Record - Jul 15, 2009

What is This?

Downloaded from you.sagepub.com at University of Bucharest on November 10, 2014

ARTICLE

Young
Nordic Journal of Youth Research

Copyright 2009
SAGE Publications
(Los Angeles, London, New Delhi,
Singapore and Washington DC)
www.sagepublications.com
Vol 17(3): 265283
10.1177/110330880901700303

Young parenthood in the Netherlands

MANUELA DU BOIS-REYMOND
University of Leiden, Netherlands

Abstract
The article takes the perspective of parenthood as a complex transition process
that young adults have to pass through and have to manage. Becoming and being
a parent today is not a self-evident stage in the life course as it was for former
generations, but involves the necessity and ability to develop and use networks
and learn to find a balance between options and constraints. Starting from youth
sociological theories about destandardized life courses in late modernity, the
Dutch case is taken to illustrate new learning demands and desires of young
parents, Dutch as well as non-Dutch. The combination problem of work and
care is different for Dutch and non-Dutch young parents. Political initiatives
and new institutional facilities at the local level have developed, which are intended to activate the self-responsibility of young adults and parents. It is shown
that the social welfare state of the Netherlands still provides fair living chances
for the majority of young people and parents but that the tension between Dutch
and non-Dutch groups is growing.
Keywords
Young parenthood, intergenerational learning, gender learning, agency, Dutch
policies

Downloaded from you.sagepub.com at University of Bucharest on November 10, 2014

266

Young 17:3 (2009): 265283

ot so long ago, getting children and building a family was something natural
to happen in the course of life and needed no deeper reflection. Between
then and now the life courses of men and women have changed dramatically
and are affected in many ways by a multitude of social developments, which are
conveniently subsumed by sociologists under the all embracing terms of modernization, post-modernity or other such global concepts. One effect of these
developments is a historically unheard of rise in learning needs and opportunities
to do so. The notions knowledge society/knowledge economy and lifelong
learning (LLL), however they may vary in scope and emphasis depending on
context of usage, adhere to those developments.
The transition period of young people has undergone big changes. Not only
is the youth phase prolonged because of prolonged educational trajectories, it
also becomes more complex than it was earlier. In a life-course perspective,
what used to be a chronological sequence of steps to become an adult has
become a yoyo biography for young people who switch between life stages
and phases: a young mother who goes back to study; a young man following
requalification courses after having become unemployed and living again at his
parents home; a married couple, both of whom go back to a youthcultural
lifestyle after separation (Walther et al., 2006). That means that the transition
to parenthood has become a phase in the youthful life-course, which demands
new and special capacities and capabilities of the parents-in-spe, not only the
young woman who is going to becoming a mother, but also the young man
who is going to becoming a father.
In this article I want to explore some of the issues involved in that transition
and how young Dutch people manage it. It will be shown that entering young
parenthood puts different coping tasks on the table for different groups in
society, not only men and women, but also Dutch and non-Dutch born young
adults. I start with a brief section on methodological issues before going
on with an outline of the Dutch welfare state and social context and what
changes have been taking place in the life-courses of young Dutch adults. I proceed by developing a theoretical framework within which to place the transition to parenthood; notions of learning, agency and the relation between
social networks and social capital will be put into the perspective of young
parenthood. I then discuss the crucial issue of how to combine parental roles
and obligations with work and career ambitions, the combination problem and
continue by presenting some of the Dutch welfare state measures and projects
to help young parents cope with their new obligations and perspectives. I close
with a look into future developments concerning the social fabric of Dutch
society with respect to measures and strategies affecting the lives of young
parents.

Downloaded from you.sagepub.com at University of Bucharest on November 10, 2014

Bois-Reymond Young parenthood in the Netherlands

METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS
This article is partly based on the Dutch report of a recently finished project
about young parenthood (Bois-Reymond and Kret, 2007).1 The secondary analyses draw on extant material: national statistics, publications by scholars in
the fields of family and youth studies, concerning young people with migration
backgrounds. Extensive as much of this data is, there is a lack of studies, which
pay specific attention to the transition into parenthood under the present social,
economic and cultural conditions, and that is what I attempt here for the
Netherlands.
Following the course of arguments and presentation of evidence, the reader
will find that there is much more material available about native Dutch young
people than about various migrant groups, although it must be said that the
Netherlands belong to those European countries, which collect much more data
than most others. A word must be said about the terminology, which is used
to discern between Dutch and migrant people and groups. There is a telling
unease and uncertainty in that terminology, not only in the Netherlands but
in European societies in general. In the Netherlands, it was for a long time the
usage to make the distinction between allochthon and autochthon people.
With growing heterogeneity of groups from various other countries and continents and a corresponding sense of the inadequacy of such notions, other
terms were tried, such as Dutch-born vs. non Dutch-born, nationals vs. nonnationals, immigrants, ethnic minority groups or migrants and/or people
with migrant backgrounds. The latter is presently dominant in most European
discourses. But none of these and still other terms recently the Dutch experimented with new Netherlanders is apt to cover the complex reality of
the various and changing groups of people contemporary European societies
are composed of and the reader will find that I too labour with the problem.2
When I use terms referring to ethnic minority groups, I refer to the four main
groups in the Netherlands: young people with Turkish, Moroccan, Surinam and
Antillean backgrounds.

THE NETHERLANDS A GOOD PLACE TO BE FOR YOUNG PARENTS?

The Netherlands belong amongst the most advanced European countries in
terms of individualism, pluralization of life courses and family constellations
and welfare for broad layers of the population (Bois-Reymond and Kret, 2007;
Manting and Liefbroer, 2000). Although the last two decades saw severe cuts in
public expenditure, the state still provides a social security net, which makes
most people look with confidence into the future.3 The labour market is booming and had until recently one of the lowest unemployment rates in the EU.

Young 17:3 (2009): 265283

Downloaded from you.sagepub.com at University of Bucharest on November 10, 2014

267

268

Young 17:3 (2009): 265283

De-standardization of the life-course alongside individualization processes

giving persons more optionspace are features of Dutch society. Most young
people in the Netherlands have good opportunities in their present life and a
positive view of the future. Educational levels have risen sharply over the last
three decades and have led to the insertion of women in the labour market ever
more permanently.
Like many other European countries, the Netherlands is an aging society.
Birth rates have dropped from 2.6 in 1970 to 1.73 per woman at present, and
the birth of the first child is an event in the female life-course, which takes place
only in her late twenties (average: 29.4). But despite the late birth age, postponed marriage and an increase in divorce rates over the last few decades, the
wish and expectation to beget children and live a happy family life is present
in the large majority of all young people (Boekhoorn and De Jong, 2008), and
childlessness is more often than not involuntary.
The great majority of children grow up in families with their own biological
parents (Boekhoorn and De Jong, 2008; Distelbrink et al., 2005). At the same
time, a wide range of alternative family forms is present and accepted, ranging
from same sex partnerships with and without children, to reconstituted families
with children from different partners from former marriages, while the number
of single parents is expanding. In 2006, 18 per cent of all families were single
parent families (Boekhoorn and De Jong, 2008: 55).
Extension of option space and de-standardization of life courses should not
lead to the conclusion that the transitions to adulthood and young parenthood
are devoid of normal biographical expectations. Most young people still follow a
normal path in that they finish school and further education, take on their first
job generally on a temporary basis before moving to a more permanent
occupation, engage eventually in a more stable partnership and begin to think
about building a family. Education and social milieu are still forceful indicators
for forecasting the development of life-courses. The higher the education, the
longer the travel to independent adulthood and family formation, and vice
versa: lower educated young people tend to settle earlier and become parents
at a younger age.
The share of women who continue their career after motherhood has increased over the last decade: of the working women, only 10 per cent stops
after having become a mother (Boekhoorn and De Jong, 2008: 89), but still
30 per cent of women with minors do not participate in the labour market
(Boekhoorn and De Jong, 2008: 84) Most women work part-time4 and therefore
the one-and-a-half model with the father working full-time is dominant. Almost
half of all families with minors employ that model with the female adding to the
family income with her part-time job. Interestingly, not only do mothers with
small children prefer part-time work, but also two-thirds of women without
minors work part-time. In only 6 per cent of families with minors do both parents work full-time. The Netherlands is also the EU country with the highest
part-time percentage not only for women (70 per cent) but also for men (15 per
cent), allowing young fathers to share the care (E-Quality 2008). Public opinion

Downloaded from you.sagepub.com at University of Bucharest on November 10, 2014

Bois-Reymond Young parenthood in the Netherlands

pleads for (even) more part time work for men and many (young) fathers themselves would like to work one day less (Portegijs and Keuzekamp, 2008).
The generally rosy picture of the Dutch welfare state does not mean that all
young people and prospective parents do equally well. The Netherlands have
changed from a predominantly white into an ethnically diverse society over
the last 30 years, accommodating people with various migration backgrounds,
mainly immigrants from Morocco and Turkey besides the immigrants from the
former colonies of Suriname and the Dutch Antilles.5 In 2006, 13 per cent of
all such families with minors were composed of one or both parents of nonwestern origin (Boekhoorn and De Jong, 2008: 17). The average educational
level of many immigrants is below that of the Dutch, although younger cohorts
are catching up. On the whole, though, the life and work chances of nonDutch young people young parents are less favourable than those of their
Dutch contemporaries. Labour participation of women from ethnic minority
groups differs widely: females from the former Dutch colonies of Suriname
and Antilles work almost the same as Dutch-born women while Turkish and
Moroccan women work less; their traditional habits and opinions about gender
relations and work participation of mothers are stronger, but the second
generation women tend to catch up with the dominant culture (Boekhoorn and
De Jong, 2008).
Young people with ethnic minority backgrounds realize different life-courses
in many respects. Gender and family relations are more hierarchical than with
the average Dutch, and the paths to adulthood and parenthood are usually
shorter. Among Turkish and Moroccan young men and women, marriage is not
preceded by a period of cohabitation and is not postponed after the birth of the
first child, as is the case for many Dutch couples (Distelbrink and Hooghiemstra,
2005). The parents of young adults are still rather influential when it comes to
partner selection for their children (Hooghiemstra, 2003; Sterckx and Bouw,
2005). Marriages usually take place at an earlier age than among Dutch young
adults and are less often dissolved. Many young Turkish and Moroccans find
their partner in their parents homeland.6 Unemployment rates double for
young people with ethnic minority status.7
In recent years the climate of the formerly generous Dutch welfare state has
hardened; traditional Christian and social democrat ideology is interspersed with
neo-liberal theories and ideas about the relationship between citizens and the
State. Contrary to a 1970s western style (nave) multicultureoptimism about
a more or less linear adaptation of western life styles and values by the foreigners, it shows, certainly the last years, that new lines are being drawn from
both sides to re-negotiate taken for granted solutions and realities. Although
there are indications that education matters, it is not unequivocally so that the
higher the level, the more westernized the young adult or the young family
becomes. There is a trend among young Muslim women and men, partly in reaction to hostile reactions in Dutch society, to develop new religious identities
in which they re-traditionalize Islam, which may include a high value placed on
the traditional roles of women and motherhood (Demant, 2005).
Young 17:3 (2009): 265283

Downloaded from you.sagepub.com at University of Bucharest on November 10, 2014

269

270

Young 17:3 (2009): 265283

LEARNING, AGENCY AND SOCIAL NETWORKS

The notion that there is no specific period in life reserved for learning which
ends with school or further education, but instead goes on life long, is deeply
rooted in contemporary societies. Therefore it is perhaps less strange than
it seems at first sight that learning also pertains to young parenthood. It has
become quite normal for young adults to prepare for parenthood by using all
kinds of information about what they will expect and will have to know. Advice
books, Internet forums, chat rooms and conversations with peers in a similar
condition are used by young parents to anticipate their new life stage.
Learning is based, if nothing else, on the capacity of persons to communicate
with others; their partner, parents, other family members, their employer, institutions of public childcare, possibly even local politicians. Negotiating their
own and others interests, finding a balance between their own needs and
those of their partner or child, that competence is vital for (young) people to
navigate through ever more complex waters in the (post-) modern world (BoisReymond, 2009 forthcoming; Liefbroer, 2005). The capacity to communicate
and negotiate enables individuals to find their way between given social structures and constrains on the one hand and available resources on the other, thus
broadening action space and choices.
Of all forms of learning formal, non-formal and informal8 the latter
is the most important and influential for all young parents. Informal learning
mostly takes place in social networks and face-to-face communication. Social
networks lie at the heart of social capital. Although the concept of social capital is in danger of becoming a container to put almost everything in, which
thematizes the relationship between social structure and individual groups or
actors (Bassini, 2007; Holland et al., 2007), it seems to have a great attraction
for scholars. As Tarja Tolonen (2008: 31) states: Social capital may be a loose
concept theoretically, but nevertheless it works as a strong metaphor for reading young peoples lives.
One of the points of critique of the concept of social capital in Pierre
Bourdieus reading is that it leaves out agency or at least underestimates this
capacity of (young) people. If we take that critique seriously, we would have
to stress the precise potential dynamic that is enclosed in social capital to be
disclosed by the active engagement of young people/young parents. That is
why scholars we too enlarge the basic concept with that of network and
networking. To build up powerful social networks is not only a personal ability
but depends to a large degree on the social and also the economic background
of a (group of) persons. In that sense it connects well with the relation between
structure and agency, which figures so dominantly in youth research (Furlong
and Cartmel, 2007). But as James Cot rightly states: The content of networks
(in our case, for example, exchanging experiences about first birth among a
group of young mothers) must be distinguished from the structure of networks,
like the qualities of bonding or bridging (Cot, 2008: 62).

Downloaded from you.sagepub.com at University of Bucharest on November 10, 2014

Bois-Reymond Young parenthood in the Netherlands

The last point seems of particular relevance for our topic as both bonding
and bridging capital are necessary to make social capital networks (a term Cot
deliberately introduces in the discussion) work. Bonding capital is involved
in the communication of homogeneous groups, for example, communities of
Arubans in the Netherlands where there live many single mothers with their
own culture of single female parenthood (Pels et al., 2006; see also Reynolds,
2007) while bridging capital transgresses borders and connects people of different social, cultural or other backgrounds.
Young people, young parents, feel autonomous to manage their lives according to their own preferences, they feel that they are in charge of their
lives and that they have agentic power. But they are also realists and know
that their agency, their action space, is dependent on many factors and forces,
which lie outside their influence, like unresponsive labour markets for parttime work or missing childcare facilities or, in the case of minority groups with
migration background, parental demands about the marriage partner and precarious working careers. It is all the more important for them to learn to use
their personal and social resources, negotiate their own interests and build up
viable networks, be those based on bonding or binding properties; favourably
on both. Learning young parenthood or doing young parenthood has become
a project that involves many actors partners, peers, own parents, employers
and state agents. For young adults living in a post-modern society like the
Netherlands, that project is not an easy one to accomplish.
Research shows that Dutch and non-Dutch parents (including both people
who were not born in the Netherlands and (young) people with at least one
parent born outside the Netherlands) use information quite differently: generally
white parents9 make more use of educational literature, TV programmes about
educational problems in the upbringing of children and use the Internet more
often and actively than do ethnic minority parents (Boekhoorn and De Jong,
2008: 49). But as far as we know nothing is known about the impact of nonDutch TV broadcasting on young parents of non-Dutch origin. Put differently,
the information strategies of (young) parents are dependent on the social and
cultural capital that is available and can be activated. Although there are many
efforts by officials to lower language barriers, it remains that information and
support systems of various kinds are embedded in a white learning context.

TRANSITIONS TO YOUNG PARENTHOOD:

THE COMBINATION PROBLEM
One of the peculiarities of the Netherlands and Dutch culture lies in a traditionally
strong motherhood ideology besides a strong emancipation movement and
female work participation and accompanied by a strong new fatherhood with
young men actively taking on their new roles as fathers (Nederland et al., 2006).
The apparent contradiction is explained by pointing to the roaring seventies
of the last century, which set free emancipation processes for women and later
Young 17:3 (2009): 265283

Downloaded from you.sagepub.com at University of Bucharest on November 10, 2014

271

272

Young 17:3 (2009): 265283

also men, who began to negotiate new life courses, more gender equality and
initiate gender mainstream politics. This cultural and sexual revolution was
eventually smoothly absorbed and integrated into the social fabric, which testifies to the well-known and envied ability of Dutch society to negotiate conflicts
and find solutions that take minority positions into account.
The relation between tradition and modernity in the Netherlands and how
it affects gender relations, is noted by several researchers. Trudy Knijn (2004)
suggests speaking of moderate individualization while Chiara Saraceno (2004)
puts the Netherlands in the category of inclusive individualization as concerns
basic individual rights in benefits and taxation. Manuela Du Bois-Reymond and
Yolanda Te Poel (2006), pointing to the discrepancy between a highly individualized (post-) modern society yet with a continuity of traditional family
values and family forms, introduced the term modernization paradox (see also
Georgas et al., 2006). That paradox one has to take into account when dealing
with young parenthood and how young women and men manage to find a
balance between work, family and their own personal needs.
The work-family-life balance refers primarily to the harmonization of
work and family and primarily to the lives of women although the scope is
increasingly broadened to also include men. As Keller et al. (2007: 67) state:
Work-family conflict can be seen as the negligence of family responsibilities
in favor of working life. Family-work conflict is therefore the opposite, when
work obligations are neglected because of family pressures. Because of demographic reasons, Europe being an aging continent, that problem is now in
most European societies increasingly perceived as a task for three parties to be
solved: the family, the state and the labour market (Blossfeld and Hofmeister,
2006; Bradshaw and Hatland, 2006; European Observatory, 2003; Knijn and
Komter, 2004; Lutz et al., 2006; Pfau-Effinger and Geissler, 2005).
In the Netherlands there has, in the course of two decades, taken place a
shift in public and private discussions about the combination problem. And as
concerns childcare facilities a prerequisite to arrive at a livable work-familylife balance much has changed in recent years. While such facilities were
and are available for the 34 year olds, they were and are used only for a couple
of hours in the week (kindergarten), while for the 02 year olds there has been
a scarcity for a long time, withholding (young) mothers from working. Since
the 1990s the supply of pre-school full-day childcare has increased substantially
and is used by over 40 per cent of working mothers.10 Most parents do not
want their young children to go to full-day childcare more than two or three
days a week and Dutch people hold the opinion that women with small children should work part time (Portegijs et al., 2006a; 2006b). That is again an
indication of the motherhood and family oriented climate in the Netherlands,
and the availability of part-time jobs make mixed models for children being
cared for in and outside the family possible.11 In 2007, one in four children
(013 years) went to a childcare centre (Huynen and Meuwissen, 2008). While
this growth does indicate an increase in female work, it does not mean that

Downloaded from you.sagepub.com at University of Bucharest on November 10, 2014

Bois-Reymond Young parenthood in the Netherlands

(young) mothers who do not work (or work very few hours) would not send
their children also for a couple of days per week to a childcare centre.
Meanwhile the Dutch government began to worry about the preference for
the one-and-a half family model: it stabilized traditional gender roles and withheld
men from reducing working hours in order to allow women to increase their
working time. Pressure was exerted on enterprises to enlarge (male) part time
work. Had the grandmothers or even mothers of contemporary young parents
heard of such government worries, they would not have believed their ears!
Yet childcare and family tasks are still largely the domain of the female, and
time studies show that contrary to what people say about equal task division,
women work many more hours per week in the house and care than men
(Portegijs et al., 2006a). In a recent survey among Dutch parents, 75 per cent
of both men and women responded negatively to the statement that a woman
must contribute to the family income (Georgas et al., 2006). A big majority of
the Dutch do not object to mothers who make use of a crche, but an even
bigger majority rejects the idea that a child is put in day care for more than
three days a week (Portegijs et al., 2006a). Such figures and percentages tell us
about the deeply rooted ideas and behaviours concerning gendered division
of labour and thereby point to social and cultural restrictions of the gendered
learning processes when it comes to family forming and keeping.
As mentioned, in ethnic minority groups, the full-time mother is more common than in Dutch families, especially among Turkish and Moroccan families
(Boekhoorn and De Jong, 2008; Pels et al., 2006). Traditional sex and gender
relations determine the behaviour of young parents and their relation with
the older generation to a higher extent. However, many non-Dutch females of
the second generation are better educated than their mothers and in-laws, they
are older than the first generation women when becoming mothers and they bear
fewer children. Also and not independent of this demographic assimilation
(Hill and Johnson, 2004, quoted in Boekhoorn and De Jong, 2008: 77) they
begin to question the cultural customs and male dominance, which demand
them to stop working (and studying) when getting married and having children
(Distelbrink and Hooghiemstra, 2005; Gruijter and Pels, 2006). Turkish and
Moroccan young people, when asked about their opinions concerning gender
equality and workfamily tasks, do have generally more traditional opinions in
comparison with their Dutch-born peers, and males do hold more traditional
views than females of these migration backgrounds, but the majority of both
genders adhere to western values (Vennix and Vanwesenbeeck, 2005).
Ethnic minority parents make less use of public or private day care, not
only because of financial reasons but also because they more gladly rely on informal networks, preferably their own kin. Yet, it is also among them that the
participation in formal childcare grows (CBS, 2008). Saskia Keuzekamp and
Ans Merens (2006) demonstrate that there are big differences among the ethnic
cultures about the use of formal childcare. Turkish and Moroccan parents use
formal childcare least and prefer grandparents as child minders, while parents

Young 17:3 (2009): 265283

Downloaded from you.sagepub.com at University of Bucharest on November 10, 2014

273

274

Young 17:3 (2009): 265283

with a Suriname or Antillean origin make much more use of formal childcare.
They also found that Surinamese parents use formal childcare as much as Dutchborn parents and Antilleans even more than the Dutch. Both are descendents
of former Dutch colonies, they speak Dutch and therefore stand closer to the
Dutch culture than Turks and Moroccans.
There are no reliable data about how highly educated ethnic minority mothers
manage young parenthood, but there are indications that a rising albeit still
small group of females of the second migrant generation have accumulated
so much education that they, too, experience the tension between career and
child-raising. Research shows indeed that the second generation Turkish and
Moroccan women are developing westernstyle attitudes towards the combination of work and motherhood rapidly, more so than young men. The
women would still look for a partner from their home country, but then for
someone who shares their attained attitudes about gender equality and equal
careshare or at least tolerates it (Distelbrink and Hooghiemstra, 2005).
In practice, like in Dutch families, processes of change may need time, while
division of tasks changes less quickly than might be wanted and expected.
Qualitative research shows that non-Dutch women may project their attained
attitudes on their daughters (mostly concerning education) without changing
gender roles as such (Pels and De Haan, 2007; Pels et al., 2006). That would
result in a double burden, even more than with Dutch young women: nonDutch women would have to (and want to!) realize modernized educational
and professional careers but (have to) reconcile their careers with traditional
gender roles, which their parents (not all but many) and their spouses (not all
but many) ask them to do (see also Gruijter and Pels, 2006).
Qualitative research among ethnic minority fathers shows that many of them,
especially younger and higher educated men are developing attitudes towards
gender roles, which stand closer to those of their Dutch contemporaries. As
among Dutch fathers, being a breadwinner remains important, but is now
combined with new, more supportive parental roles (Distelbrink et al., 2006).
How far the phenomenon of the new father is similar in ethnic minority families is not researched; it might be that under the public image of harsh gender
divisions in those families also, new ethnic fathers are hidden.
With this information and partly the lack of it in our heads, I would
like to stress the following points concerning the learning strategies and social
networks of young parents:
1. In as much as the life-course of young adults becomes more open and
allows for more action space, individuals have learnt to negotiate their
needs and desires with their partners and other social actors. And in
as much as young women and their male partners have to manage a
work-life-family balance, they also learn to take the others perspective
into account and talk conflicts over. Those negotiations form the
heart of informal and gender learning. The more equal the gender

Downloaded from you.sagepub.com at University of Bucharest on November 10, 2014

Bois-Reymond Young parenthood in the Netherlands

balance the better the prospects will be to come to solutions, which

do not frustrate one part on account of the other; new fatherhood
(Duindam and Spruit, 1997) plays an important role in the search for
such solutions. If gender relations are more fixed within traditional
contexts, it is more difficult to work out a satisfying balance for both
partners. On the whole, research shows that after the birth of the first
child, a retraditionalization of the gender relations tends to take place
(Vassilev and Wallace, 2007). That process can also be observed in the
Netherlands and is part of the modernization paradox. It is plausible
that this paradox applies more to Dutch couples and young families
than to the non-Dutch who may not have started from a philosophy of
gender equality in the first place. But we still know too little about the
negotiation processes in such families.
2. The day-to-day experience of young mothers (and fathers) dropping and
picking up their children in daycare centres leads to many contacts with
other parents and staff and stimulates networking. Young parents would
exchange experiences and problems of child care within and outside
the centre and its staff; they would help each other with daily problems
and routines and communicate the expertise of professionals (doctors,
internet specialists, private care minders, etc.) among each other. In
that sense daycare centres and later pre-schools are places of multiple
learning opportunities and can produce bridging as well as bonding
networks.
3. The structure of social and cultural capital influences learning and
networking of young people/parents in many ways. If young families
live in poor quarters and in ethnically homogeneous surroundings, as is
the case in the big cities of the Netherlands with high percentages of
migrant inhabitants, networks and network learning are restricted to
their own community (bonding networks) and may inhibit personal
agency to make use of available facilities outside their immediate living
quarters.
This last point leads us into the following section: how restricted opportunities
of disadvantaged groups of young parents can be enlarged through official
initiatives and programmes and what new problems arise.

SUPPORT SYSTEMS FOR YOUNG PARENTS

Citizens, as is the ideology and policy of neo-liberalism, must develop agency,
must become active, must not wait and look for help passively but must learn
to earn the right to be helped if need be. That is the reason why most efforts
of official programmes to help young parents are concerned with learning
and education one way or the other, and it is also the reason why so many

Young 17:3 (2009): 265283

Downloaded from you.sagepub.com at University of Bucharest on November 10, 2014

275

276

Young 17:3 (2009): 265283

programmes and initiatives target young adults and parents from minority
groups.12 Often they are less well informed about welfare measures they are entitled to, especially the childcare facilities and parental leave policies.
The Dutch government and municipalities try to close the gap between the
lacking social and cultural capital of young (ethnic) parents on one hand and
learning obligations and opportunities on the other by channeling financial
means to the municipalities to initiate appropriate programmes. The philosophy
behind these initiatives is always to strengthen the self-help capacities of the
targeted groups and individuals.
In the past decade, various structural and ad hoc programmes have been
launched to support loweducated parents and their children, and among them,
ethnic minority families in particular. They must teach young parents how
to educate and support their children so that they can enter pre-school and
continue primary school without falling back (Pels et al., 2006). Most programmes are directed at mothers who are supposed to be the primary caregivers;
fathers are hardly ever included. That is all the more problematic in that it
reinforces existing traditional gender role divisions and convictions. Yet it is at
the same time realistic to concentrate on mothers because they are more easily
accessible than men for questions of family and education. Programmes are
especially effective and successful when mothers, also from minority groups,
are trained to act as paraprofessionals in the neighbourhood. They are hired as
intermediaries between home and school, informing parents about pre-school
programmes and other resources, thus stimulating them to participate and get
involved in school activities; intermediaries are one of the most influential forms
of mediated self-help. Males from minority groups are also asked to engage
in the neighbourhood to keep an eye on youngsters and enhance feelings of
belonging to the community (Gruijter and Pels, 2005).
Over the past few years, community schools have been developed and connected with childcare centres as well as with community centres for parents
and children, integrating formal and non-formal education and informal learning for children and parents alike (Handboek Brede School, 2007). Community schools were developed in the 1990s and are since then spreading mainly
in the pre-school and primary school sector. Besides pedagogic tenets
providing early education it was an explicit aim of the government, right
from the beginning, to increase with these new school and childcare facilities
the rate of working women. In that sense the integration of work and family as
discussed is not only a matter of personal choice but structures the strategies of
the individual parents and households responding to labour market needs and
changing configurations of social resources.
It is the ambition of community schools to actively involve parents in school
life, certainly in disadvantaged urban areas. They may be offered language
courses or get support and advice in the upbringing of their children by professionals of the attached community centres. But informal chatting meetings are
also welcome, uniting (ethnic) parents under school time or in the evening
in self-chosen projects, thus developing feelings of belonging and stimulating
participation in neighbourhood life.

Downloaded from you.sagepub.com at University of Bucharest on November 10, 2014

Bois-Reymond Young parenthood in the Netherlands

Community schools and the attached childcare centres contribute to realizing a more flexible work-life-family balance: they stay open longer for parents
(mothers) to bring and fetch their children. A recently established government
commission recommends opening from 7.0019.00 hours. In some municipalities, flexible time policies have been introduced, aimed at extending the
opening hours of (among others) childrelated institutions and at establishing
contracts with local enterprises in offering parent-friendly work schedules,
thus contributing to the reconciliation of work and family life. The government
is strongly promoting tri-partite agreements between employers, unions and
municipalities to establish family-friendly arrangements.13
Recently there has been a growing inclination of forced intervention into
families, which are judged by professionals not to comply with (white) educational and upbringing standards. Amsterdam and Rotterdam for instance,
known for high concentrations of migrants and run-down inner city quarters,
have experimented with establishing such standards and making them obligatory
for parents. Professionals would visit problem families, offer support but keep
the pressure on the family if the parents do not accept help offers; officials
would then put in further actors, like school teachers, sport club coaches and
other municipal civil servants. Behavioural norms for parent and child might go
far: there would be control to find out whether or not the child is sent to school
without having had breakfast; there would be standards for sexual education
given on time to prevent sexual misbehavior; there would be fixed time in the
evenings for the child to be and stay home, etc. (Hoogstad, 2008).
Although the Rotterdam education norm is still in discussion, it shows the
tension between the political tenet of the autonomous, active and self-responsible
(young) citizens/parents on the one hand, and the need felt by professionals
and politicians to do something about growing educational problems and
neglected children in families on the other. The relation between structural
conditions the labour market; political and educational interventions and
the subjective needs and desires of young adults/parents is precarious and must
be constantly readjusted from both sides. Young parents must be well prepared
to do that from their side.

LOOKING FORWARD
The general starting point in this article was that parenting today has in many
ways become problematic. Self-evidently that has to do with the rapid changes
and complexities of late modern societies, which make up for much uncertainty
about how to behave, act and plan, not only in relation to, but certainly also
with respect to parenthood. If there is so much that is unforeseeable in society,
should I, having a girlfriend who wants a child, really begin building a family?
Will I, being a young Moroccan mother with ambitions, be able to reconcile
divergent norms and values between the two cultures I and my family of origin
live in? If, in other words, contingency has to be faced and lived with, then the
Young 17:3 (2009): 265283

Downloaded from you.sagepub.com at University of Bucharest on November 10, 2014

277

278

Young 17:3 (2009): 265283

desire to create and preserve safe areas grows and is pondered (Leccardi and
Ruspini, 2006).
In young parenthood the relationship between agency, option space and
the desire to realize a happy life on one hand; and economic restrictions and
cultural restraints on the other are highlighted. Certainly the combinations
problem of work and childcare has never before in (Dutch) history been so extensively discussed and negotiated. How the partners succeed in finding a viable
work-life-family balance depends much on their agentic power and courage to
surpass established gender and work-related limits; ethnic-cultural background
may help or hinder that endeavour, depending on even more cultural and workrelated factors than play a role for Dutch young people.
All experts, on European as well as national and local level agree on the absolute necessity of integrated policy approaches for young families (McDonald,
2006). In view of the dramatic demographic decline, policy makers must take
a much broader look at the life situation of young adults and their motives to
found a family, delay it, or refrain from it. A fairly stable economic basis, adequate
housing in well-kept neighbourhoods, good and affordable extra-familial childcare, negotiation room on the work floor and employee-friendly work schedules, all are necessary conditions to encourage young adults to become young
parents and to support them in parenthood. It is not only the young adults
who are confronted with new learning tasks to manage parenthood; the public
and politics are as well. In a comparative European perspective young people
and young parents in the Netherlands live in happy circumstances (BoisReymond, 2008a; 2008b; Bois-Reymond, 2009 forthcoming; Ule and Kuhar,
2008). But such generalizations must be taken with caution; underneath that
blanket there is also stress and the threat of social exclusion for a substantial
amount of Dutch and non-Dutch young adults and parents.

Notes
1 Within the Sixth Framework Program of the European Commission, the project
Up2Youth was conducted by the research network EGRIS (European Group for
Integrated Social Research); one topic within that project was concerned with
the transition to parenthood in six countries: Netherlands, UK, Slovenia, Bulgaria,
Germany and Italy (Bois-Reymond and Kret, 2007)
2 An epistemological study on the matter would be worthwhile to bring to light cultural differences, political correctness/embarrassment and the usage of terms and
terminologies depending on interest and perspective of the user.
3 A recent report of Unicef (2007) compared child well being in 23 OECD countries
and found the Netherlands on top of the list.
4 Not only do women with minors work part time: 2/3 of the women with no or older
children also work part time (Portegijs and Keuzekamp, 2008).
5 Currently, more than 11 per cent of the population of 16.4 million is foreign-born.
If one includes the second generation (at least one parent born outside NL), the percentage goes up to 20 per cent. Of them, 10.5 are of non-western origin. Turks make
up 2.2 per cent, Moroccans 2.0 per cent, Surinamese 2.0 per cent, Antilleans 0.8 per
cent (Entzinger, 2006: 178).

Downloaded from you.sagepub.com at University of Bucharest on November 10, 2014

Bois-Reymond Young parenthood in the Netherlands

6 Among Caribbean young women, marriage is not considered an important precondition for parenthood. Many couples are unmarried. Furthermore, single parenthood
is a common pattern in that community. Almost half of the Dutch Caribbean families
are female-headed (Distelbrink and Hooghiemstra, 2005).
7 Second generation young migrants have advanced their education and participation
on the labour market in comparison to the parent generation, yet they still do less
well than their Dutch-born peers (CBS, 2007). Although the Netherlands belongs to
the five EU countries with the lowest poverty risk, household rates with children
under 18 years old, which live under the poverty line were 9 per cent in 2005. Poverty rates are significantly higher for single parent families (23 per cent) and ethnic
minority families (18 per cent) (SCP, 2007).
8 Formal education and learning refers to institutions, which reward the learner with
acknowledged credentials and qualifications while non-formal learning may occur in
less formalized contexts such as voluntarily chosen courses while informal learning
is the least formally framed mode of the three, referring to all kinds of daily and
situational learning, the general trend pointing in the direction of individualized
learning modes (for an overview and recent discussions see Jarvis, 2009).
9 To put white and black between quotation marks was for long time done but is
not demanded any longer in Dutch publications: newspapers as well as official documents speak bluntly of black and white schools, which indicates a shift in political
correctness.
10 Since the 1990s, the Dutch government has introduced new regulations and facilities
to support parents who want to combine work and family life. Unpaid parental leave
can be taken for a period of 13 times the weekly work hours within the first seven
years of the childs age (in discussion: 26 weeks). In 2006, a life-course policy was
introduced, offering parents a tax advantage when taking parental leave.
11 Highly educated mothers (and fathers) prefer public facilities if quality standards are
guaranteed; lower educated parents and parents from ethnic minority groups would
rather fall back on kin and other informal care givers (Portegijs et al., 2006a).
12 In most Turkish and Moroccan families, at least one of the parents is less educated and
less integrated in Dutch society as a consequence of ongoing migration (Distelbrink
and Hooghiemstra, 2005), although rates diminish in the last years (Boekhoorn and
De Jong, 2008).
13 The concern PriceWaterhouse-Coopers has chimed in with this new policy for young
parents by allowing its employees to work part-time (80 per cent of their work time)
for minimal one and maximal two years and receive 90 per cent of their salary. The
concern also experiments with more flexible working hours and teleworking.

References
Bassini, Cherrylynn (2007) Five Dimensions of Social Capital Theory as They Pertain to
Youth Studies, Journal of Youth Studies 10(1): 1734.
Blossfeld, Hans-Peter and Hofmeister, Heather (eds) (2006) Globalization, Uncertainty
and Womens Careers. Cheltenham, UK and Northhampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar.
Boekhoorn, Paul and De Jong, Tim (2008) Gezinnen van de Toekomst. Cijfers and
Trends (Families of the Future; Figures and trends). Den Haag: E-Quality.
Bois-Reymond, Manuela du (2008a) Young Parenthood in Six European Countries,
Sociological Problems IL-II: 15873 (Special Issue: Work-life Dilemmas: Changes in
Work and Family Life in the Enlarged Europe).

Young 17:3 (2009): 265283

Downloaded from you.sagepub.com at University of Bucharest on November 10, 2014

279

280

Young 17:3 (2009): 265283

Bois-Reymond, Manuela du (ed.) (2008b) Young Parenthood, Agency and Social
Change. Thematic Report for the Research Project Youth Actor of Social Change
(UP2YOUTH). URL (Consulted May, 2009):http://www.up2youth.org/downloads/
task,doc_download/gid,71/
Bois-Reymond, Manuela du (2009 forthcoming) Models of Navigation and Life Management, in Andy Furlong (ed.) Youth and Young Adulthood, pp. 318. London:
Routledge International Handbooks.
Bois-Reymond, Manuela du and Kret, Mariska (2007) National Report of the Netherlands.
Netherlands: Leiden University.
Bois-Reymond, Manuela du and Te Poel, Yolanda (2006) Work and Care in the LifeCourse of Young Adults in the Netherlands, in Carmen Leccardi and Elisabeth Ruspini
(eds) A New Youth? Young People, Generations and Family Life, pp. 16486.
Aldershot: Ashgate.
Bradshaw, Jonathan and Hatland, Aksel (2006) Social Policy, Employment and Family
Change in Comparative Perspective. Cheltenham, UK and Northhampton, MA, USA:
Edward Elgar.
CBS (Central Bureau of Statistics) (2007) De Nederlandse Samenleving (The Dutch
Society). Voorburg/Heerlen: Central Bureau of Statistics.
CBS (Central Bureau of Statistics) (2008) Een Analyse van de Groei van de Formele
Kinderopvang in het Recente Verleden en in de Nabije Toekomst (An Analysis
of the Increase in Formal Childcare in Recent Past and Coming Future). Voorburg/
Heerlen: Central Bureau of Statistics.
Cot, James (2008) Youth and the Provision of Resources, in Helena Helve and John
Bynner (eds) Youth and Social Captial, pp. 5970. London: Tuffnell Press.
Demant, Peter R. (2005) Islam is Inspanning. De Beleving van Islam en de
Sekseverhoudingen bij Marokkaanse Jongeren in Nederland. (Islam Means Effort.
The Perception of Islam and Gender Relations among Moroccan Youth in the
Netherlands). Utrecht: Verwey-Jonker Instituut.
Distelbrink, Marjolijn, Lucassen, Nicole and Hooghiemstra, Erna (2005) Gezin Anno Nu
(Contemporary Family). Den Haag: Nederlandse Gezinsraad.
Distelbrink, Marjolijn and Hooghiemstra, Erna (2005). Allochtone Gezinnen. Feiten
en Cijfers (Ethnic Minority Families. Facts and Figures). Den Haag: Nederlandse
Gezinsraad.
Distelbrink, Marjolijn, Geense, Paul and Pels, Trudy (2006) Divers Vaderschap in
Moederland (Diverse Fatherhood in Motherland), Migrantenstudies 22(4): 24363.
Duindam, Vincent and Spruit, Edwin (1997) Caring Fathers in the Netherlands, Sex
Roles 36(34): 14971.
Entzinger, Han (2006) The Parallel Decline of Multiculturalism and the Welfare State in
the Netherlands, in Keith Banting and Will Kymlicka (eds) Multiculturalism and the
Welfare State, pp. 177201. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
E-Quality (2008) Factsheet: Tijd voor Nieuwe Tijden Ook voor Mannen (Time for
Change, Also for Men). URL (Consulted May ,2009 ): www.e-quality.nl
European Observatory (ed.) (2003) Key Family Issues in the EU Member States. European Observatory on the Social Situation, Demography and Family.Vienna.
Furlong, Andy and Cartmel, Fred (2007) Young People and Social Change: Individualization and Risk in Late Modernity Second Edition. Buckingham: Open University
Press.
Georgas, James, Berry, John W., van de Vijver, Fons J.R., Kagicibsi, Cigdem and Poortginga,
Yype H. (eds) (2006) Families Across Cultures. A 30nation Psychological Study.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Downloaded from you.sagepub.com at University of Bucharest on November 10, 2014

Bois-Reymond Young parenthood in the Netherlands

Gruijter, Marjan de and Pels, Trudy (2005) De Toekomst van Buurtvaderschap. Professionalisering met behoud van Zeggenschap (The future of Neigborhood Fathers.
Professionalization without Losing Autonomy). Utrecht: Verwey-Jonker Instituut.
Gruijter, Marjan de and Pels, Trudy (2006) Emancipatie van de Tweede Generatie
Keuzen en Kansen in de Levensloop van Jonge Moeders van Marokkaanse en Turkse
Afkomst (Womens Emancipation among the Second Generation. Choices and
Chances in the Life Course of Young Mothers of Morocaan and Turkish Descent).
Assen: Van Gorcum.
Handboek Brede School (2007) Handboek Brede School 02 Jaar (Reader Community
School for 02 Years Olds). Utrecht: Oberon/Sardes.
Holland, Janet, Reynolds, Tracy and Weller, Susie (2007) Transitions, Networks and
Communities: The Significance of Social Capital in the lives of Children and Young
People, Journal of Youth Studies 10(1): 97116.
Hooghiemstra, Erna (2003) Trouwen over de Grens, Achtergronden van Partnerkeuze
van Turken en Marokkanen in Nederland (Marrying beyond the Border. Backgrounds of Partner Choices of Turks and Moroccans in the Netherlands). Den Haag:
SCP.
Hoogstad, Mark (2008) Rotterdam Slaat Door in Repressie (Rotterdam Exaggerates
Repressive Policies), NRC Handelsblad, 23 May.
Huynen, Bart and Meuwissen, Peter (2008) Flinke groei Kinderopvang 2007 (Increase
of Childcare), CBS Webmagazine 23 april. Voorburg/Heerlen: Centraal Bureau voor
Statistiek.
Jarvis, Peter (ed.) (2009) The Routledge International Handbook of Lifelong Learning.
London and New York: Routledge.
Keller, Tamas, Gbos, Andreas, Torres, Analia, Triffiletti, Rossana, Salmieri, Luca and
Vassilev, Ivalyo (2007) Flexibility and Work-Life Balance, in Ivalyo Vassilev and
Claire Wallace (eds) WORKCARE. Social Quality and Changing Relationship Between
Work, Care and Welfare in Europe, Working Paper, University of Aberdeen. URL
(Consulted May, 09) http://www.abdn.ac.uk/socsci/research/nec/workcare/
Keuzekamp, Saskia and Merens, Ans (2006) Sociale Atlas van Vrouwen uit Etnische
Minderheden (Social Atlas of Women from Ethnic Minorities). Den Haag: Sociaal
Cultureel Planbureau.
Knijn, Trudy (2004) Challenges and Risks of Individualization in the Netherlands,
Social Policy and Society 3(1): 5765.
Knijn, Trudy and Komter, Aafke (eds) (2004) Solidarity Between the Sexes and the
Generations. Transformation in Europe. Aldershot: Edward Elgar.
Leccardi, Carmen and Ruspini, Elisabeth (eds) (2006) A New Youth? Young People,
Generations and Family Life. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Liefbroer, Aart (2005) Transition from Youth to Adulthood in the Netherlands, in
Hans-Peter Blossfeld, Erik Klijsing, Melinda Mills and Karin Kurz (eds) Globalization,
Uncertainty and Youth in Society, pp. 83104. London and New York: Routledge.
Lutz, Wolfgang, Richter, Rudolf and Wilson, Chris (eds) (2006) The New Generations of
Europeans. Demography and Families in the Enlarged European Union. London
and Sterling VA: IIASA/Earthscan.
Manting, Doris and Liefbroer, Aart C. (eds) (2000) Gezinnen in Beweging (Changing
Families), Bevolking and Gezin 29(2):1165.
McDonald, Peter (2006) An Assessment of Policies that Support Having Children from
the Perspective of Equity, Efficiency and Efficacy, in Vienna Yearbook of Population
Research 2006, pp. 23134. Vienna Institute of Demography, Australian Academy of
Sciences.
Young 17:3 (2009): 265283

Downloaded from you.sagepub.com at University of Bucharest on November 10, 2014

281

282

Young 17:3 (2009): 265283

Nederland, Trudy, Crippa, Francesca and Zebrowski, Maeva (2006) New Faces, New
Fatherhood Concepts in European Cities: Guidebook. New Faces project. URL
(Consulted March, 2009): http://www.eurocities.org/minisites/newfaces/
Pels, Trudy and De Haan, Mariette (2007) Socialization Practices of Moroccan Families
after Migration: A Reconstruction in an Acculturative Arena, YOUNG 15(1): 7191.
Pels, Trudy, Dekovic, Maja and Model, Suzanne (2006) Child Rearing in Six Ethnic
Families. The Multi-cultural Dutch Experience. Wales, UK and New York, USA:
Edwin Mellen Press.
Pfau-Effinger, Birgit and Geissler, Birgit (2005) Care and Social Integration in European
Societies. Bristol: Policy Press.
Portegijs, Wil, Hermans, Brigitte and Lalta, Vinodh (eds) (2006a) Emancipatiemonitor
(Emancipation Report). Den Haag/Voorburg: SCP/CBS.
Portegijs, Wil, Cloin, Marielle, Ooms, Imgrid and Eggink, Evelien (2006b) Hoe het Werkt
met Kinderen. Moeders over Kinderopvang en Werk (How it Works with Children.
Mothers on Childcare and Work). Den Haag: SCP.
Portegijs, Wil and Keuzekamp, Saskia (2008) Nederland Deeltijdland (The Netherlands
Country of Part-time Work). Den Haag: SCP.
Reynolds, Tracy (2007) Friendship Networks, Social Capital and Ethnic Identity: Researching the Perspectives of Caribbean Young People in Britain, Journal of Youth
Studies 10(4): 38398.
Saraceno, Chiara (2004) De-Familiarization or Re-Familiarization? Trends in IncomeTested Family Benefits, in Trudy Knijn and Aafke Komter (eds) Solidarity Between
the Sexes and the Generations, pp. 6888. Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, USA:
Edward Elgar.
SCP (Social-cultural Planbureau) (2007) Sociale staat van Nederland (The Social State
of the Netherlands). Den Haag.
Sterckx, Leen and Bouw, Carolien (2005) Liefde op Maat. Partnerkeuze van Turkse
en Marokkaanse Jongeren. (Tailored love. Partner Choice of Turkish and Moroccan
Youth). Amsterdam: Spinhuis.
Tolonen, Tarja (2008) Social and Cultural Capital Meets Youth Research: A Critical
Approach, in Helena Helve and John Bynner (eds) Youth and Social Capital,
pp. 2942. London: Tuffnell Press.
Ule, Mirjana and Kuhar, Metka (2008) Orientations of Young Adults in Slovenia Toward
the Family Formation, YOUNG 16(2):15383.
UNICEF (2007) Report Card 7 on Child-Wellbeing in Rich Countries Florence: UNICEF
Innocenti Center.
Vassilev, Ivalyo and Wallace, Claire (eds) (2007) WORKCARE. Social Quality and
Changing Relationship Between Work, Care and Welfare in Europe, Working Paper,
University of Aberdeen. URL (Consulted March, 2009): http://www.abdn.ac.uk/
socsci/research/nec/workcare/
Vennix, Paul and Vanwesenbeeck, Ine (2005) Seksualiteit en Relaties van Turkse en
Marokkaanse Nederlanders (Sexuality and Relationships of Turkish and Moroccan
Dutch People). RNG-studies nr. 8. Delft: Eburon.
Walther, Andreas, Bois-Reymond, Manuela du and Biggart, Andy (eds) (2006) Participation in Transition. Motivation of Young Adults in Europe for Learning and Working. Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Bern, Brussel: Peter Lang.

Downloaded from you.sagepub.com at University of Bucharest on November 10, 2014

Bois-Reymond Young parenthood in the Netherlands

MANUELA DU BOIS-REYMOND, PhD, is Professor of Education and Youth

Sociology (emer.) at the University of Leiden/NL. She is member of a
European network of researchers (EGRIS) and conducts, together with her
colleagues, research on transitions of young people in comparative perspective. Recently she has been involved in a study on young parenthood,
financed by the European Commission. She has published widely on intergenerational relationships, learning biographies, school reforms and on
the transitions of young people to the labour market and now to young
parenthood. She is a board member of various international journals.
Address: University of Leiden/NL, Faculty of Social Science, Department of
Education, Wassenaarseweg 52, 2300 RB Leiden/NL [email: dubois@fsw.
leidenuniv.nl]

Young 17:3 (2009): 265283

Downloaded from you.sagepub.com at University of Bucharest on November 10, 2014

283