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In this article we compare the politicization and framing of the Islamic veil in parliamentary debates in France and the Netherlands between 1989 and 2007. If stark national differences in the framing of the issue can be found in the 1990, later years show more convergence, when the debate shifted to the burqa in both countries. One important and persistent difference, however, is that arguments concerning gender equality played only a minor role in the debate in the Netherlands in contrast to France. Although the article holds it highly plausible that national particularities are to some extent in a path-dependent way informed by national ways of managing diversity, it concludes that these findings cannot be traced back to national integration models. Not only migrant integration policies shift over time, they also interact with other institutional settings, notably of state-church relations and gender equality. This influence of interacting settings on the debate explains why accommodative headscarf policies can emerge in a republican country and restrictive policies in countries with assumed multicultural models. Moreover, similarities in framing can also be observed, such as a gendered culturalization of citizenship that in both countries is pushed by Right-wing populist parties tapping into (inter)national discourses on Islamic radicalism. © 2012 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

Immigrants' voyages to a new land have been among the most exciting and noble of human endeavors. It is the amazing courage to flee oppression, to leave behind everything that is familiar, and to chance the hostility of a completely alien culture in order to find freedom, opportunity, and a better life. Immigrants are moving to a new country for the best of motives: the desire to improve their lives; the urge to leave countries whose governments they could not abide; and the willingness to work for another country where individuals can live in freedom and dignity. Many and many immigrants and refugees, including Albert Einstein, Ernst Boris Chain, Selman Abraham Waksman, Enrico Fermi, Sigmund Freud, Eric Fromm, Bertold Brecht, Jean Gabin, Charles de Gaulle, Thomas Mann, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, François-Marie Arouet (Voltaire), and Victor Hugo have made a remarkable contribution to the welfare and happiness of mankind. Immigrants often face difficulty adjusting to their new home in a new country for many reasons, including coping with trauma experienced in their native country, overcoming cultural and language barriers, and encountering discrimination. This can lead to severe and long-lasting psychological and behavioral problems, including depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and a high risk for suicide. The effects of immigration on psychological and social well-being are especially profound for certain populations, including children, women, individuals with disabilities, and those with limited financial resources. Many immigrants are often forced to take low-qualified jobs, even though they have the training and education for professional jobs. They cannot sustain their former economic and social status, which can lead to psychological distress. Despite the critical need for mental health services, immigrants face significant obstacles to receiving quality mental health care including financial difficulties, the lack of culturally- and linguistically-appropriate services, and mistrust of mental health providers. The results of the most recent research studies related to immigration and mental health will be presented in the book, "Immigration and Mental Health: Stress, Psychiatric Disorders and Suicidal Behavior Among Immigrants and Refugees". This book will be of interest to physicians, psychologists, mental health counselors, sociologists, politicians, social workers, public health administrators, medical, psychology and sociology students, and lay people.

Young immigrant women of South Asian, Turkish and Moroccan originin the Netherlands demonstrate disproportionate rates of non-fatalsuicidal behaviour. Suicidal behaviour is usually explained from apsychological or medical tradition. However, we would like to emphasizesociological correlates, by examining the relevance of Durkheim’s fatalisticsuicide, characterized by overregulation. We conducted a retrospectiveanalysis of 115 case files of young women who demonstratedsuicidal behaviour, to illuminate their living conditions. The analysisincluded a comparison of class factors as well as psychiatric andpsychological risk factors. In at least half of the cases, South Asian,Turkish and Moroccan women experienced specific stressful life eventsrelated to their family honour. Women’s lives were often characterized bya lack of self-autonomy. It is concluded that the archetype of fatalisticsuicide should be re-evaluated when interpreting the suicidal behaviour ofyoung immigrant women in the Netherlands, and incorporated intostrategies of prevention.

We investigated the prevalence and explored the vulnerability to suicidal ideation across several ethnic minority versus ethnic majority adolescents in the city of Utrecht in The Netherlands. Exploratory analyses were conducted on a dataset obtained from the Municipal Health Services in Utrecht. We examined whether ethnic minority adolescents are at risk for suicidal ideation because of a family background of migration, social-economic position and certain family factors, which influence psychological constellations We found that levels of suicidal ideation among adolescents of Turkish background were significantly higher than in both majority and other minority adolescents. The Turkish adolescents at risk for suicidal ideation reported that they do not enjoy being at home with their families Psychological factors, in particular lack of self-pride and the idea of not becoming successful in life, appeared to be important, as well as feelings of loneliness. Suicidal ideation was not found equally across all ethnic minority groups. A history of migration, ethnic minority status, or low socioeconomic status were not sufficient to explain the variation across ethnicities. Our results suggest that specific social-cultural factors, contextualized in the individual and located in the family environment, are relevant in explaining the disproportionate rates for Turkish adolescents in Utrecht. © 2008 Hogrefe & Huber Publishers.