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Parental Influence on Work and Family Plans of Adolescents of Different Ethnic Backgrounds in The Netherlands

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Abstract

This paper examined the work and family plans of adolescents from five different ethnic origins. The way in which parents influence these plans was studied by using a representative sample of secondary school pupils (N = 52,000) in The Netherlands. Results showed that substantial proportions of adolescents had traditional work and family plans. The study showed that work and family plans of adolescents of non-Dutch origin overall were at least as egalitarian as those of Dutch origin. Girls of all ethnic origins held more egalitarian plans than boys. Logistic regression analyses revealed that adolescents’ plans were associated with parents’ socio-demographic characteristics and role-modeling. The processes of intergenerational transmission were found to be highly similar for girls and boys in all ethnic groups.

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Acknowledgements

The author wants to thank Aat Liefbroer, Pearl Dykstra and Werner Raub for their comments and suggestions for improvement in different stages. I am also grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their useful input and to NIBUD and SCP for providing the data from the National Pupil Surveys (Nationaal Scholierenonderzoek).

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  1. Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI), P.O. Box 11650, 2502 AR, The Hague, The Netherlands

    Helga A. G. de Valk

  2. Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies (IMES), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Helga A. G. de Valk

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  1. Helga A. G. de Valk
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Correspondence to Helga A. G. de Valk.

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de Valk, H.A.G. Parental Influence on Work and Family Plans of Adolescents of Different Ethnic Backgrounds in The Netherlands. Sex Roles 59, 738–751 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-008-9464-9

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