Mens & Maatschappij - Volume 90, Issue 3, 2015

The frail empirical foundation of the educational disadvantage policy

Educational opportunities are influenced by factors lying in the home situation of the children. In order to compensate for unfavorable circumstances, the Dutch government launched the educational disadvantage policy in the 1970s. The core of this policy is the so-called weighted student funding system. This policy instrument departs from the premise that students can be discerned according to level of disadvantage, and that schools with disadvantaged students should receive extra financial resources accordingly to combat educational delays. When this system was developed in the early 1980s, three indicators of disadvantage were applied, viz. parental educational level, occupational level, and country of birth. Analyses performed at the time showed a predictive validity estimate of 0.50, or 25 percent of explained variance in the students’ educational attainment. In the course of years the demographic circumstances have changed and the funding system has been adapted. Nowadays there only is one indicator of disadvantage left, that is, parental educational level. Analyses performed on data from the 2014 measurement wave of the national large-scale COOL^5-18 cohort study show a validity estimate of 0.20, or no more than 4 percent of explained variance. It is argued that the empirical foundation of the educational disadvantage policy has become questionably frail and that instead of employing demographical family characteristics, focusing on the actual performance of children based on test achievement or teacher observations probably offers a more valid alternative.

Do people perceive a conflict between the young and old? A study on the influence of social identification, competition, and contact

In this study we ask to what extent the Dutch population perceives a conflict between the young and old and how we can explain this. We use Social Identification Theory, Realistic Conflict Theory, and Contact Theory to derive hypotheses. These are tested with newly collected data on a representative sample of the Dutch population which are analyzed with Structural Equation Modelling. A considerable part of the population perceives conflicting interests between the young and old, but fewer people see a real conflict. In line with Realistic Conflict Theory people who experience incompatible interests between age groups in the labor market also perceive a larger conflict between young and old. We do not find that people who identify stronger with a certain age group (Social Identification Theory) or who have a more age-homogeneous network (Contact Theory) perceive more conflict. A weak economic position seems to be a predictor of experiencing all kinds of conflict in society, including one between age groups.

Depressive symptoms among Turkish and Moroccan migrants in the Netherlands: the impact of disintegration and locus of control

Previous research showed that especially Turkish and Moroccan migrants in the Netherlands run a higher risk of experiencing symptoms of a depressive disorder than indigenous Dutch people. In this study we aim to explain why some Turkish and Moroccan migrants experience these symptoms of depressive disorder to a higher degree than other members of these groups. We used cross-sectional data from the Dutch Life Course Study (Nederlandse Levensloop Studie). Although one indicator of social disintegration, experienced loneliness, appeared to be the most important predictor for symptoms of a depressive disorder among these migrant groups, indicators of economic and psychological disintegration were also clear predictors for these symptoms. However, psychological disintegration, which we theorized to be the final stage of integration and therefore serves as a mediator, was unable to explain the relationships of economic and social disintegration with depressive symptoms. Moreover, taking the locus of control into account, appeared to provide important nuances for interpreting these effects: for those who experience more control over their lives, disintegration in the domains mentioned is less strongly linked with depressive symptoms than for those who experience less control over their lives.