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BACKGROUND: About one third of all parents have concerns about their child's psychosocial development. Agreement between child health professionals (CHPs) and parents about such concerns may improve treatment adherence and outcomes. This study investigates which child, parenting and/or environmental stressors are associated with (dis)agreement in concerns regarding psychosocial problems in children, in parent-CHP dyads.METHODS: During routine child health assessments, data were collected from a sample of children aged 14 months to 12 years (n = 3,870). CHPs registered the psychosocial problems that they identified, and parents reported their concerns. Child psychosocial stressors were measured with the ITSEA/CBCL, and the child's history of psychosocial problems. Environmental stressors referred to stressful family/contextual situations in the past year, and parenting stressors to perceived parenting efficacy.RESULTS: The CHPs and parents disagreed on 36.4 % of the children. CHPs based their identification of problems mainly on children's history of past problem (OR = 5.85, 95 % CI = 4.74-7.22). Parental concerns were most likely in case of an increased ITSEA/CBCL score (OR = 7.69, CI = 5.39-10.97). CHP-parent agreement was more likely in case of a combination of child psychosocial, parenting and environmental stressors (OR = 35.58, CI = 24.11-52.48). Parental concerns not confirmed by the CHP were associated with higher educated parents, originating from an industrialized country, and younger children. The CHP-identified problems not confirmed by parental concerns were associated with older children.CONCLUSION: Agreement between CHPs and parents is associated with a co-occurrence of child, parenting and environmental stressors. Improved agreement between CHP and parents will increase the likelihood of shared decision-making regarding follow-up care and compliance with advice.

The present study departs from the sociological notion that the boundaries between youth and adulthood are increasingly blurring. In order to investigate this assumption, semi-structured biographical interviews have been conducted in 1988 and 1997 among 85 youngsters, who were asked to reflect upon youth and adulthood. Attention was paid, among other things, to their perceptions of adulthood and to the social roles that have historically been connected with adulthood, these being work and family. Using HOMALS analysis, a complex of differentiated perceptions was found. These largely varied as a function of social status and gender. Lower-class youth tended to perceive adulthood primarily in terms of starting a family and getting a job, whereas higher-class youth associated adulthood either with individual development or a complex of indicators (work, family, individual development). We found evidence for the socialization theory, as well as for the notion of reflexivity as it has been put forward by theor...

“Did children in former times have nowhere to go but to play on the street, nowadays they — especially children from higher social classes — have music lessons, sport lessons, paint courses, drama classes, and ballet classes. During holidays, tennis and sail camps are visited... There are more ways and financial means to fill up leisure time. The present-day twelve year-old is very busy.” (The diary generation by Schilders & Helmer, 1996, p.25)

In Chapter 1, we examined how childhood and youth sociologists assume that the way in which parents and children communicate and associate with each other has transformed over time. Instead of being predominantly hierarchical and authoritarian in nature, as it was several decades ago, the contemporary parent-child relationship distinguishes itself, according to childhood and youth sociologists, by its relatively high degree of equalization, negotiation, intimization, and child orientation.50 This change in the mutual relationship between family members cannot be isolated from all-embracing societal changes, in particular the introduction of contraceptives and increasing participation in employment by women, which have resulted, among other things, in a reduction in the average family size. Although, so far, many studies have been conducted into contemporary parent-child relationships, only few have aimed to examine the way in which these social changes influence children’s lives and their relationship with their parents (see for an overview, Torrance, 1998; Chapter 1). In general, in research on contemporary parenting practices, the broader social context is given scant attention. Commonly, attempts are made to describe the degree to which individual families deviate from or are in line with the prevailing parenting norms with a society. These studies do not, however, describe this norm and the way it changes as society changes (compare Hofstede, 1991, p.49).

In the previous chapter, we studied the organized and unorganized leisure patterns of contemporary children and teenagers. We established that ten to twelve year-old children commonly have different leisure interests than teenagers aged fourteen and fifteen and that girls generally prefer other leisure activities than boys. Most juveniles do not engage in these leisure activities on their own. The large majority spends an important part of their leisure time with peers. Many unorganized activities are thought up and undertaken together with peers, such as playing football in the streets, playing hide-and-seek, or just chat with local children or a group of friends from school. However, while also being engaged in organized activities at the sporting club or during music lessons, children meet and friendships are formed. In addition to the time that is spent with peers, many juveniles also spend an important part of their leisure time with their parents or siblings and engage, together with them, in all kinds of activities. In the leisure pursuits of contemporary children and teenagers, not only peer contacts, but also contacts with parents and other members of the family play an important part. The question of whether, during the transition from childhood into adolescence, alterations occur in the role parents and peers play in the leisure activities of juveniles has not been studied extensively so far. Hence, this question forms the central theme of the subsequent chapter.

Op basis van een kwalitatief onderzoek onder 30 peergroups, waarbij gebruik gemaakt werd van focus group interviews, wordt de volgende vraag beantwoord: Welke functies vervullen peer groups voor de individuele leden bij het leren onderhandelen metleeftijdgenoten, ouders en docenten? Welke sociale competenties worden in de peergroup verkregen en hoe gaan peer groups om met de risico's van de moderne samenleving? Het artikel geeft inzicht in de onderscheiden onderhandellingsstrategieen van meisjes en jongens met verschillende opleidingsachtergronden. Uit de gegevens blijkt dat jongeren binnen de context van de peergroup een betekenisvolle werkelijkheid creeren die hen belangrijke orientaties biedt voor de huidige samenleving. Peergroups leren elkaar bijvoorbeeld de gevolgen van hun handelen in te schatten en op een verantwoordelijke manier met de moderne risico's om te gaan. Jongeren uit een peergroup steunen elkaar bij moeilijke beslissingen inzake studie- beroeps- en relatiekeuzes waarvan gevolgen niet altijd zijn te overzien. In multiculturele contexten dient de peergroup als een platform voor discussies waarmee jongeren een balans zoeken tussen tegenstrijdige waarden en levenswijzen thuis, op school en in de vriendengroep. En tenslotte: De peergroep stimuleert informeel jeugdcultureel leren en creativiteit. Als zodanig zijn scholen waar leeftijdgenoten veel tijd doorbrengen niet alleen een broedplaats voor het verkrijgen van schools (leer) kapitaal, maar vooral ook van jeugdcultureel kapitaal. Voor jongeren (vooral jongens)met een problematische onderwijsloopbaan vervult de peer group vooral de functie van het verdragen van frustraties die zij op school en in hun buurten ondervinden. Vanuit deze peer groups krijgen agressie en criminele handelingen vorm.

In Chapter 1, we discussed that, although there is a large body of empirical studies into young people’s leisure activities in the Netherlands, few studies have examined issues that are interesting from a theoretical point of view. The question of whether, during the transition from childhood into adolescence, changes occur in juveniles’ leisure patterns has rarely been studied, so far. Also, little is know about how pre-structured juveniles’ leisure time is, as a result of leisure club participation. These questions form the central themes of the subsequent chapter.

Op basis van empirische data wordt aangetoond hoe in moderne gezinnen wordt omgegaan met de vrije tijd van kinderen.Zowel kinderen als hun ouders ontwikkelen een hoge mate van flexibiliteit om een evenwicht te vinden tussen vrije tijd als ontspanningstijd en vrijetijd als 'leertijd'. Ouders waarderen de vrijetijd van hun kinderen toenemend als 'leertijd' en stimuleren hen in deze richting. De vrijetijd wordt door ouders gezien als de tijd waarbinnen jongeren zelfstandigheid en verantwoordelijkheid ontwikkelen op het gebied van consumeren (besteding zakgeld, mobiliteit en tijdsmanagement (tijd vrijmaken voor zowel schoolverplichtingen/ huiswerk, hobbies en niets doen. Bezwaren van vooral ouders van dochters uit de lagere sociale milieus tegen het rondhangen op straat komt niet voort uit morele bezwaren, maar uit angst dat deze van het rechte pad afraken.

Im Kapitel uber den Verhandlungshaushalt im Modernisienmgsprozes werden die Wandlungen im Generationenverhaltnis unter einer modernisierungstheoretischen Perspektive dargestellt und anhand einer interkulturellen Fallstudie (‚interkultureller Drilling‘) illustriert (vgl. Kap. 4). Im vorliegenden Kapitel geht es ebenfalls um das Generationenverhaltnis, hier allerdings nicht fallbezogen, sondern auf der Basis einer quantitativen Vergleichsstudie deutscher und niederlandischer Kinder. Buchner und Fuhs (1996) befragten in ihrer Studie 2663 10- bis 15jahrige Kinder und Jugendliche aus Ost- und Westdeutschland zu ihren Eltern-Kind Beziehungen mit Hilfe eines ausfuhrlichen standardisierten Erhebungsinstruments, das auf der Grundlage der qualitativen Vergleichsstudie ‚Kinderleben‘ von du Bois-Reymond u.a. (1994) entwickelt worden war. Drei Jahre spater erfolgte unter Verwendung wesentlicher Teile dieses Fragebogens eine niederlandische Replikationsstudie, so das nun die Moglichkeit besteht, in einem quantitativen interkulturellen Vergleich zu uberprufen, inwieweit die von Buchner und Fuhs (1996) berichteten Ergebnisse fur Eltern-Kind-Beziehungen in Deutschland sich auch in der vom Alter her vergleichbaren niederlandischen Stichprobe wiederfinden lassen oder auch nuanciert werden konnen. Zu den Fragen, um die es in diesem Kapitel geht, gehort so z. B., ob die von Buchner und Fuhs berichtete weitgehende Durchsetzung einer starkeren Kindorientierung und Respektierung kindlicher Interessenauserungen in den familialen Interaktionen, wie sie sich Ihr die uberwiegende Mehrheit der deutschen Befragten gezeigt hat, in gleichem Ausmas in der niederlandischen Stichprobe zu beobachten ist. Neben der Klarung solcher Fragen auf dieser inhaltlichen Ebene geht es daruber hinaus darum, auf der methodischen Ebene die Voraussetzungen der Vergleichbarkeit beider Stichproben abzuschatzen.

Jusqu’à récemment, l’étude des activités de loisir chez les jeunes était centrée principalement sur les adolescents. Dans la présente étude, nous examinons les activités de loisir tant chez les préadolescents que chez les adolescents. À partir de débats sociologiques sur l’importance qu’occupent les loisirs dans l’emploi du temps des jeunes adolescents d’aujourd’hui et sur la précocité de la transition de l’enfance à l’adolescence, un questionnaire a été élaboré à l’intention des jeunes de 10 à 15 ans. Ainsi, 927 jeunes Hollandais ont fait l’objet de cette étude. Une analyse CATPCA (analyse catégorique des composantes principales) a révélé que les fillettes de 10 à 12 ans s’adonnaient principalement à la lecture et aux activités créatrices dans leurs moments de loisir, tandis que les garçons du même âge passaient le plus gros de leur temps à jouer dehors. Toutefois, chez les 14 et 15 ans, on a décelé un intérêt marqué pour les activités culturelles pour les jeunes, ce qui allait à l’encontre de la théorie voulant que l’adolescence précoce s’installe au détriment de l’enfance. Les questions portant sur les activités organisées ont permis de constater que le marché des loisirs n’était pas également accessible à tous. En effet, les enfants des classes supérieures sont avantagés, comparés à ceux des classes moins bien nanties, ce qui a un effet sur la mesure dans laquelle ces sous-groupes ont la chance d’accumuler un capital-loisir significatif par le biais d’un apprentissage non structuré., Until recently, studies into juveniles’ leisure activities concentrated mainly on adolescents. In this study, the leisure activities of both pre-adolescents and adolescents are studied. Departing from sociological debates on the busyness of contemporary young adolescents’ leisure diaries and of an advanced onset of the transition from childhood into the youth phase, a questionnaire was designed for 10 to 15 year-olds. 927 Dutch youngsters were studied. By means of CATPCA, it was found that 10-12 year-old girls mainly engage in reading and in creative activities, whereas the boys spend most time playing outside. Fourteen and fifteen year-olds, on the other hand, showed a clear interest in youth-cultural activities, which did not support theoretical notions about the advancement of adolescence at the expense of childhood. Questions on organized activities showed that the market of leisure opportunities is not equally accessible to everyone: higher class kids are in an advantageous position compared to lower class kids, which affects the degree to which these subgroups have the opportunity to develop important leisure capital through informal learning., Hasta hace recientemente el estudio de las actividades de ocio en los jóvenes estaba enfocado principalmente sobre los adolescente. En el presente estudio, examinamos las actividades de ocio tanto en los preadolescentes que en los adolescentes. A partir de debates sociológicos sobre la importancia que ocupan las diversiones en el empleo de tiempo de los jóvenes adolescentes de hoy en día y sobre la precocidad de la transición de la infancia a la adolescencia, un cuestionario dirigido a jóvenes de 10 a 15 años fue elaborado. Así, 927 jóvenes holandeses formaron parte de este estudio. Un análisis CATPCA (análisis de categorías de componentes principales no lineal) reveló que las niñas de 10 a 12 años se consagran principalmente a la lectura y a las actividades creativas en sus momentos de ocio, mientras que los niños de la misma edad pasan la mayor parte del tiempo a jugar fuera. Sin embargo, en los jóvenes de 14 y 15 años, se descubrió un interés destacado por las actividades culturales para los jóvenes, lo que va en contra de la teoría que preconiza que la adolescencia precoz se instala en detrimento de la niñez. Las preguntas referentes a las actividades organizadas, permitieron de constatar que el mercado de las diversiones no es igualmente accesible a todos. En efecto, los niños de clases sociales altas son favorecidos, comparados a los de las clases menos pudientes, lo que tiene un efecto en la medida que estos subgrupos tienen la suerte de acumular un capital-ocio significativo por medio de un aprendizaje no estructurado.

This article examines trends in the time use of Dutch adolescents and the relationship between their leisure and well-being. After outlining the policy assumptions of youth research and addressing issues of measurement, especially that of measuring well-being, longitudinal time diary data are used to assess trends in adolescents’ time use. Among the issues addressed are, whether adolescents spend less time in school and doing homework, do more paid work, are more pressed for time, sleep less, or how they spend their leisure time. Using cross-sectional data we examine how particular uses of leisure time relate to adolescents’ well-being. Do playing sports and attending cultural events enhance their well-being and, reversely, is hanging out associated with doing not so well? Regrettably, the analyses of time use trends and relationships between time use and well-being are not rooted in the same empirical data base. The longitudinal analyses are based on the Dutch Time Use Studies (TUS), supplemented...