Mens & Maatschappij - Volume 93, Issue 4, 2019

The role of the asylum period for the mental health and social integration of asylum permit holders in Rotterdam

This research is about the role of the asylum period for the social integration of asylum permit holders and their mental health. The focus is not only on the duration of the asylum period but also on the effect of relocations and activities like volunteering and (language) education. The research uses data from asylum permit holders in the Dutch city of Rotterdam (N = 701). It is found that the duration of the asylum period has negative consequences for the mental health of the asylum permit holders. This is explained by the many relocations which are related to a longer stay in asylum centers and not because of the living conditions in the asylum centers. It is also found that undertaking activities in this period is beneficial for their social integration once they are outside of the asylum center.

The education gap in school. The effect of school context on adolescent inter-educational track friendships

Using data from the first wave of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU) and data from the Dutch Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs (DUO) this article tests to what extent different organizational characteristics of schools influence friendships between adolescents in different educational tracks. There being multiple educational tracks within the same school, instead of only one track, adolescents from different tracks being in the same classroom (‘brugklas’) and, relatively speaking, a small number of students in the same track have a positive effect on the number of friends an adolescent has in a different track. The descriptive analyses show that the friendship networks of adolescents are relatively homogenous within their school, most friends that go to the same school are in the same track. The friendship networks outside of the school are more heterogeneous. The opportunities an adolescent has to meet others who are in a different educational track thus strongly influence the number of friends an adolescent has in an educational track different from their own track.

High quality education: Bridging the socioeconomic achievement gap?

Widespread concerns regarding socioeconomic disparities in educational attainment contributed to this study’s aim to explore the role of providing high quality education in reducing these differences. Multilevel analysis of PISA 2015-data (N = 368.306) demonstrates that a higher socioeconomic background, a high educated teaching staff and a lower student-teacher ratio are related to higher performance in science, mathematics and reading, whereas stronger educational leadership is linked to lower student performance. In contrast with what is hypothesized, higher quality education is associated with increasing socioeconomic disparities in educational attainment, except for educational leadership. Since providing high quality education is an internationally popular strategy to enhance student performance, these results expose the urgent need for more research into its diverging role.