Childhood and Youth in Germany and The Netherlands: Transitions and Coping Strategies of Adolescents [Reprint 2014 ed.] 9783110871821, 9783110141542

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International Studies on Childhood and Adolescence 1

International Studies on Childhood and Adolescence (ISCA) The aim of the ISCA series is to publish theoretical and methodological studies on the social, cultural, economic, and health situation of children and adolescents. Almost all countries worldwide report increased risks and problems in the development of children and adolescents. Many pedagogic, psychosocial, and medical institutes as well as education and training centers are trying to help children and adolescents deal with problematic situations. They step in to help with existing difficulties (intervention) or to avoid problems in advance (prevention). However, not enough is known about the causes and backgrounds of the difficulties that arise in the life course of children and adolescents. There is still insufficient research on the effectiveness and consequences of prevention measures and intervention in families, pre-school institutions, schools, youth service, youth welfare, and the criminal justice system. The ISCA series addresses these issues. An interdisciplinary team of editors and authors focusses on the publications on theoretical, methodological, and practical issues in the above mentioned fields. The whole spectrum of perspectives is considered: analyses rooted in the sociological as well as the psychological or medical and public health tradition, from an economical or a political science angle, mainstream as well as critical contributions. The ISCA series represents an effort to advance the scientific study of childhood and adolescence across boundaries and academic disciplines. Editorial Board Prof. Klaus Hurrelmann (Coord.), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Bielefeld, Postfach 10 0131, D-33501 Bielefeld, Tel.: (49-)-106-3834, Fax: (49-521)-106-2987; Prof. Günter Albrecht, Faculty of Sociology; Prof. Michael Brambring, Faculty of Psychology; Prof. Detlev Frehsee: Faculty of Law; Prof. Wilhelm Heitmeyer, Faculty of Pedagogics; Prof. Alois Herlth, Faculty of Sociology; Prof. Dietrich Kurz, Faculty of Sports Sciences; Prof. Franz-Xaver Kaufmann, Faculty of Sociology; Prof. Hans-Uwe Otto, Faculty of Pedagogics; Prof. Klaus-Jürgen Tillmann, Faculty of Pedagogics; all University of Bielefeld, Postfach 10 01 31, D-33501 Bielefeld Editorial Advisors Prof. John Bynner, City University, Social Statistics Research, London, Great Britain; Prof. Manuela du Bois-Reymond, University of Leiden, Faculty of Social Sciences, Leiden, The Netherlands; Prof. Marie Choquet, Institut National de la Sante, Paris, France; Prof. David P. Farrington, University of Cambridge, Institute of Criminology, Cambridge, Great Britain; Prof. James Garbarino, Erikson Institute, Chicago, USA; Prof. Stephen F. Hamilton, Cornell Human Development Studies, Ithaca, USA; Prof. Rainer Hornung, University of Zurich, Institute of Psychology, Zurich, Switzerland; Prof. Gertrud Lenzer, Graduate School CUNY, New York, USA; Prof. Wim Meeus, University of Utrecht, Faculty of Social Sciences, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Prof. Ira M. Schwartz, University of Pennsilvania, School of Social Work, Philadelphia, USA; Prof. Giovanni B. Sgritta, University of Rome, Department of Demographic Sciences, Rome, Italy; Prof. Karl R. White, Utah State University, Logan, USA

Childhood and Youth in Germany and The Netherlands Transitions and Coping Strategies of Adolescents Edited by

Manuela du Bois-Reymond, Rene Diekstra, Klaus Hurrelmann, and Els Peters

W DE

G Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York 1995

Manuela du Bois-Reymond P r o f e s s o r of Youth Studies a n d Youth Policies, Leiden University, The Netherlands Rene Diekstra P r o f e s s o r of Clinical a n d Health Psychology, Leiden University, The Netherlands Klaus Hurrelmann P r o f e s s o r of Sociology a n d Public Health, University of Bielefeld, G e r m a n y Els Peters Assistant Professor in Youth Studies a n d Youth Policies, Leiden University, The Netherlands With 12 figures a n d 50 tables Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication

Data

Childhood and youth in Germany and the Netherlands ; transitions and coping strategies of adolescents / edited by Manuela du Bois-Reymond ... [et al.]. p. cm. - (International studies on childhood and adolescence ; 1) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 3-11-014154-X (alk. paper) 1. Adolescence - Germany. 2. Adolescence - Netherlands. 3. Adolescent psychology - Germany. 4. Adolescent psychology - Netherlands. I. Bois-Reymond, Manuela du. II. Series. HQ799.G5C44 1995 305.23'5'0943-dc20 95-8054 CIP

Die Deutsche Bibliothek - Cataloging-in-Publication

Data

Childhood and youth in Germany and the Netherlands : transitions and coping strategies of adolescents / ed. by Manuela DuBois-Reymond ... - Berlin ; New York : Mouton de Gruyter, 1995 (International studies on childhood and adolescence ; 1) ISBN 3-11-014154-X NE: DuBois-Reymond, Manuela [Hrsg.]; G T

© Printed o n acid-free p a p e r which falls within the guidelines of the A N S I to ensure p e r m a n e n c e a n d durability. © C o p y r i g h t 1995 by Walter de G r u y t e r & Co., D-10785 Berlin All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages. N o part of this b o o k m a y be reproduced or t r a n s m i t t e d in a n y f o r m o r by a n y means, electronic or mechanical, including p h o t o c o p y , recording o r any i n f o r m a t i o n storage a n d retrieval system, w i t h o u t permission in writing f r o m the publisher. Printed in G e r m a n y Printing: W B - D r u c k G m b H , Rieden a m Forggensee. Binding: Lüderitz & Bauer G m b H , Berlin. C o v e r Design: J o h a n n e s R o t h e r , Berlin.

Introduction 'Adolescence is a new birth, for the higher and more completely human traits are now born. Character and personality are taking form, but everything is plastic. Self-feeling and ambition are increased, and every trait and faculty is liable to exaggeration and excess, it is all a marvellous birth, and those who believe that nothing is so worthy of love, reverence and service as the body and soul of youth, and who hold that the best test of every human institution is how much it contributes to bring youth to the ever fullest possible development, may well review themselves and the civilization in which we live to see how it satisfies this supreme test.' (Stanley Hall, 1904, Adolescence) 'Today's adolescents are the children of the youth cult which dominated the last few decades, and that cult has led to a situation where not only children turn adolescent earlier and adolescents grow up later, it has also mystified the stretch of time between 13 and 30 to such an extent that it seems like the centre of life. Their philosophy of life is made up of the experiences their peers of earlier decades have made. The sixties provide scepticism, lack of illusions stems from the fifties, radicalism from the seventies, hedonism from the eighties - but the visions of those decades are over and done with.' (SPIEGEL special 1994: Die Eigensinnigen. Selbstporträt einer Generation) Central topics in the study of adolescence are discussed in this reader: status transitions and coping strategies, or h o w young people grow into society and how they cope with the experiences and changes that g o with growing-up. In the present day such changes are not all that self-evident. There is a much greater variation in forms and standards of behaviour than there are used to be. This is illustrated in this book by the results of studies on adolescence and adolescents from two West European countries, Germany and The Netherlands. The contributions approach youth from different points of v i e w and scientific traditions. This is bound up directly with the great variation in forms of expression of youth and the situation of young people. Putting it extremely, it is not so straightforward any more what w e should mean by 'youth', or w h o belongs to this category. The lines of demarcation between the stages of life are shifting. Somewhere between the 'Hurried child' (Elkind 1981) and post-adolescence something c o m e s about which replaces what w e were used to call childhood, adolescence and early adulthood.

It looks as if youth has evolved from a self-evident category into a problem category, problematic in several respects. It is not only anything but obvious when a person is not a child any more or when a child becomes an adolescent, what is also coming

vi

Introduction

into discussion is what should be considered 'normal' and what 'deviant' behaviour. Norms and values that steer behaviour are becoming multi-interpretable, for the subjects just as much as for the scientists studying modern youth in social relations. In this book we search for answers to complicated questions like what is youth? what are normal and abnormal development trajectories in adolescence? from the perspectives of psychology, pedagogy and cultural sociology. However, this does not automatically mean interdisciplinarity. The reader will see that the contributions owe much to their respective scientific traditions, traditions that do not combine, let alone merge automatically. It is easier to demand interdisciplinarity than to achieve it, but it is already progress when the different approaches are brought together and confronted within one and the same book. Despite gradually closer relations, the scientific approaches to adolescence still have a long way to go to appropriately and fully profit from each others' insights and findings. To a great extent these are still tasks for the future. Something else characterises this book, and that is attention to both qualitative and quantitative approaches in the study of the multi-faceted phenomenon that is youth. Both approaches are concerned after all with the question, what current and future developments in society mean for children and young people. Quantitative approaches look for the answer to this question by examining the frequency and trends in behavioral indicators of psycho-social development; whereas qualitative approaches direct their attention more to 'trendsetters' in modernisation processes. But luckily there is no longer a hostile controversy between both paths of knowledge - and this too we regard as progress in research on childhood and youth. Finally, this book is the expression of a developing network of youth researchers in Europe. Only ten years ago projects like this one in which youth researchers cooperate and publish together across the borders, were the exception rather than the rule. These days we are seeing this happening more and more, partly due to the De Gruyter series. Publishing in English gives many European youth researchers the chance to make their work known to each other; English is becoming the lingua franca at European conferences, and in the cooperation between youth and childhood researchers. The four sections of the book reflect all these different developments. The first section presents research into a classic theme in adolescence sciences: status transitions. The three contributions from a Dutch project show the tension between traditional and modern forms of living of today's young people and their future perspectives. It is demonstrated that young people have more options in their lives than earlier generations. It is also made clear however that it would be wrong to

vii

Introduction

assume that a 'choice biography' is reserved for all young people. The researchers show that social class still plays a great role in the choice for (the level of) further education and profession. It is equally beyond dispute that increasingly longer education paths are leading to a prolongation of the phase of youth. Young people live up to the picture of 'loose and wild' conjured up by the media much less than one is inclined to believe, despite increased informality and a tolerant social climate with respect to morals and sexuality. Where this discrepancy originates is less obvious and needs more research. Likewise it is surprising how little is known about the experience of physicality and sexuality in the 'new youth biography'. While social class is still influential in the education paths of modern young people, gender is definitely an important factor with respect to the future expectations of young people. In the European discussions on youth (policy), gender and family building, the so-called profession-family dilemma plays an increasingly important role for the young generation with fewer fixed standard biographical notions. On the one hand, girls have caught up in education with regard to boys in the last two or three decades, but on the other hand there is still a clear discrepancy between the chances for boys and girls of ending up in certain female professions and at certain lower professional levels in most European countries. Likewise, in the relationship between the genders we see modernity beside tradition: It is self-evident for today's girls that they practise a profession, are economically independent and can choose to have children or not to have any children. Just as self-evident is however that most boys and girls want to have a family, and that for boys and girls alike it is still the mother who is mainly in charge of bringing up the children (cf. Peters; Ravesloot). Both the first and second section contains a contribution about the parent-child relationship. Research in European (and Anglo-Saxon) countries proves that there is no question of a 'generation gap'. M. du Bois-Reymond's two contributions place the absence of such a gap in an inter-generational and inter-cultural perspective and link it with

modernisation

theories: Parents of today's

youth give shape to

the

modernisation process with their upbringing behaviour. They do this by switching to more open and tolerant style of upbringing and communication than they experienced themselves during their own youth with their parents. But here too there is by no means question of an unambiguous trend: Social class today actually plays a greater role for the amount of openness in communication in family and between generations than earlier. In as much as parents become more tolerant and open minded, those who do not (mainly from the lower middle classes) deviate from 'the main stream'. The contribution from the cross-cultural project about parent-child relationships shows a general trend in Western European countries, pointing to a negotiating

viii

introduction

culture in most families. Yet there are intercultural differences, such as the warmer family climate in The Netherlands as compared to Germany. The second section presents a cross-cultural project from three European regions (West and East Germany and The Netherlands). It is a qualitative, case-oriented study focusing in particular on the question to what extent children are affected by the same kind of processes of individualisation that have been determined for youth (cf. Krüger & Ecarius). Beside the parent-child relationship, new forms of child cultures receive attention (cf. Büchner). All together the contributions from this project offer co-researchers a chance to get to know a strand of thinking about childhood and modernity which is typical for a socio-cultural rather than a psychological approach. The third section focuses on the nature and magnitude of emotional and behavioral problems and risk behaviours in adolescence as well as on interpersonal and social correlates of such problems and behaviours. Data from survey studies in Germany (cf. Kolip & Hurrelmann, Settertobulte) and The Netherlands (cf. Dekovic & Meeus, Garnefski & Diekstra) converge on the conclusion that adolescents clearly appear to be a healthy group if health is defined in the biomedical sense, but much less so if health is defined in terms of parameters of psychosocial and mental health. The prevalence of stress-related complaints, psychoactive substance (ab)use and (self)destructive behaviour both in German and Dutch young people suggests that a substantial part of the adolescent population, at least about 1 in 5, might be at risk for further development because of serious adjustment problems. Although there is evidence that certain problem behaviours, such as violent behaviour, might be selflimiting and decreasing in terms of frequency and intensity over the adolescent years (cf. Vollebergh), others such as emotional problems appear to increase from early to middle adolescence (cf. Dekovic & Meeus; Garnefski & Diekstra). There is also agreement between the reports from Germany and the Netherlands on the relationship between gender and problem behaviours, in that girls show more often internal or emotional coping strategies and boys more often external or behavioral forms of coping. But more remarkable is the agreement between the studies on the fact that the prevalence of emotional problems among girls is generally higher than the prevalence of behavioral problems among boys. One explanation for this finding could be that girls more readily express or articulate problems and also are more inclined to ask for informal or professional help (cf. Settertobulte; cf. Palentien & Hurrelmann). But it might also indicate that present-day adolescence is a more stressful developmental stage for girls than it is for boys.

ix

Introduction

An important finding reported in several chapters in this section is the fact that 'comorbidity' of co-occurrence of problems or problem behaviours is rather the rule than the exception (cf. Vollebergh, Kolip & Hurrelmann, Dekovic & Meeus, Garnefski & Diekstra). Researchers as well as clinicians and other 'interventionists' therefore have to discard the 'single problem' approach and conceive adolescent health problems predominantly in terms of 'sets of interrelated behaviours or problems'. Such 'sets' appear to be strongly related to the existence of multiple problems in the socio-ecological context in which the adolescent lives. It might very well be that the relatively low level of acceptance of professional psychosocial and medical services, as described in two of the contributions (cf. Settertobulte, Palentien & Hurrelmann) have to be attributed to the fact that such services usually have a high level of specialisation and are 'alien' to the adolescent context, not incorporated in the adolescent's everyday context (such as located within the school system). In addition, adolescents are often referred to such services under a specific personalistic and symptomatic label (such as 'being suicidal', 'depressed', 'drug dependent', 'anorexia patient'), that might affect their selfperception in a rather negative way. Such a reductionism reduces the chances that adolescents will accept and profit from help offered and therewith also reduces their chances for a healthy development (cf. Palentien & Hurrelmann). The fourth and last section introduces a new concept that is gaining more and more meaning in the intervention and prevention discussion aimed at policy making, on a national as well as a European level. The contribution of F. van der Linden tries to place the concept 'youth information' in a theoretic framework in youth research by relating it to coping and socialization theories. The contribution of Guit and van der Linden presents research into the information needs of young people. It seems that going to be a living world policy on the book.

youth information - understood in the broadest sense of the term - is new field of attention in youth research, and build a bridge between the of children and young people on the one side, and a modern youth other side. That is why we included this theme as the last section in the

Manuela du Bois-Reymond Rene Diekstra Klaus Hurrelmann Els Peters

Contents Introduction Manuela du Bois-Reymond, Rene Diekstra, Klaus Hurrelmann and Eis Peters ν

Part I 1.

2.

3.

Status Transitions of Dutch Adolescents and the Role of Parents

The Modernization of the Youth Phase. Educational, Professional and Family Careers of Dutch Youth in the Nineties Els Peters

3

Courtship and Sexuality in the Youth Phase Janita Ravesloot

41

The Role of Parents in the Transition Period of Young People Manuela du Bois-Reymond

73

Part II

Modernisation of Childhood in East and West Germany and The Netherlands

4.

The Impact of Social and Cultural Modernisation on the Everyday Lives of Children. Theoretical and Methodological Framework and First Results of an Inter-cultural Project Peter Büchner 105

5.

The Modern Family as a Negotiating Household. Parent-Child relations in Western and Eastern Germany and in the Netherlands Manuela du Bois-Reymond 127

6.

Biographisation in Modern Childhood Heinz-Hermann Krüger and Jutta Ecarius

161

Part III Coping Strategies of Dutch and German Adolescents in Social Context 7.

Internal and External Coping in Adolescence. Psychosomatic Complaints, Aggressive Behaviour, and the Consumption of Legal and Illegal Drugs Petra Kolip and Klaus Hurrelmann 183

8.

Demands for Help. Gender Differences in Informal and Medical HelpSeeking Wolfgang Settertobulte

197

xii 9.

Contents Adolescents' Health Problems and Utilization of Medical and Psychosocial Care Services in East and West Germany. Findings of a Study Based on Interviews of Medical, Psychological and Educational Experts Christian Palentien and Klaus Hurrelmann

10.

11.

12.

209

Emotional Problems in Adolescence Maja Dekovic and Wim Meeus

225

Inter-ethnic Violence: A Male Youth Problem? Wilma Vollebergh

243

Youth Under Threat Nadia Garnefski and Rene F.W. Diekstra

257

Part IV Youth Information in the Netherlands. A New Educational Concept 13.

Youth Information, Education and the Psychosocial Functioning of Adolescents. An Approach Using Both Socialisation- and Coping-theory Frans J. van der Linden

14.

289

The Demand for Youth Information. Results of a national survey among adolescents and young adults in The Netherlands Harry Guit and Frans J. van der Linden

References

305

329

Parti Status Transitions of Dutch Adolescents and the Role of Parents

1.

The Modernization of the Youth Phase. Educational, Professional and Family Careers of Dutch Youth in the Nineties Els Peters Leiden University, The Netherlands

1. Introduction How do young men and women feel about employment and how does it fit in with their life-course models? How do they intend to combine a job on the one hand and relationships and family life on the other? What role do gender and social class play in their anticipations on adulthood? These questions lie at the core of the Leiden research project 'Youth, Parents and Employment' (YPE). Youth research in the Netherlands and other European countries (cf. e.g.: Hurrelmann & Engel, 1989; Meeus, de Goede, Kox, & Hurrelmann, 1992) has shown that, compared to earlier youth generations, young people attend school for a longer period of time and enter the labour market at a later stage. Such a prolonged institutionalized youth phase applies equally to boys and girls, irrespective of social class. Apart from an educational moratorium, which invites and indeed forces young people to choose from a vast supply of educational and professional options, a relational moratorium can also be detected (Meeus & 't Hart, 1993). Nowadays, young people progress towards sexual and relational independence much earlier than a few decades ago. At the same time, the decisive choices concerning marriage and notably parenthood are being postponed (Breakwell, 1992; Ravesloot, 1992; van der Vliet, 1992). The period of experimentation has increased, as have the options in the field of relational lifestyles. As a result, the transition to adulthood can hardly be called predictable or self-evident any more. This is generally taken as a sign of the destandardization of life-course patterns and the individualization of youth-biographies (Buchmann, 1989). The debate on the individualization of youth-biography strongly emphasizes the possible drawbacks of the increased freedom to act and the options available. The freedom to choose is accompanied by an obligation to choose and a necessary reflection on choices made, in addition to a justification of these choices. This has made the transition from school to employment and the anticipation of adulthood

4

Els Peters

considerably more complex. Choices involving education or employment are now tied to the unpredictability of the labour market as a result of growing unemployment and the devaluation of qualifications. Girls are faced with the additional problem of combining their job and their role as a mother. Even though they have many more options with regard to planning their professional and family lives according to their 'own demands' than their mothers had, girls still have to deal with objective obstacles such as the limited availability of day nurseries and the poorly-balanced division of child-raising and professional tasks between men and women. The significance of employment and the realization of a professional career are matters that cannot be considered or studied without referring to the general ideas of adolescents about their future lives as adult men and women, i.e. to the life-course perspective, and the socio-historical developments which have taken place in the Netherlands and other West European countries over the last decades regarding education, employment, relationships and family building, i.e. to modernization processes. Moreover, the way young people conceive of their future lives cannot be separated from the influence of 'significant others'. Although the influence of peers has increased for most young people, parents still play an important role in decisionmaking processes of their sons and daughters. At the same time, however, most contemporary fathers and mothers were themselves brought up in a completely different time, a time in which the life course was strongly influenced by gender-specific and class-related rules as well as by religious and local traditions (Peters, 1993). How do these parents translate their own past experiences vis-ä-vis their children and how do young people react to this? In other words, what is the nature of the intergenerational relationship and how does it influence the transition to adulthood? Before we go into the questions of the YPE-project (section 3) which are at the centre of the present and next two contributions, we shall first present an outline of the social context to which our questions relate and of the changes that affected being young and growing up in the Netherlands during the decades after World War II (section 2). In sections 4 and 5 we will describe the educational and professional choices of our respondents, and their anticipation of combining a job with family life. We will focus on gender- and class-specific differences. Finally, section 6 deals with the question of whether we are justified in assuming that a choice-biographical rather than a standard-biographical life-course model applies to contemporary youth.

2. Changes in the transition to adulthood and their social context The youth phase can be regarded as a series of status passages in the course of which young people acquire a different social role and position. These transitions bear upon the changes from school to employment, from lack of sexual experience to being sexually experienced, from the parental home to a private household and building a

Educational,

professional

and family careers of Dutch youth in the

5

nineties

family of one's own. When we compare the ways in which these steps towards adulthood were taken in the 1950s as opposed to the 1980s, several structural changes become apparent. These changes, which have been established in many West European countries (Watts, Fischer, Fuchs, & Zinnecker, 1989; Poole, 1989), concern the duration and sequence of the transitions as well as their social significance and subjective meaning. A vast complex of developments - such as ongoing industrialization, urbanization, increasing social mobility, secularization, emancipatory motherhood

GIRLS

marriage II II III leaving home sex

Ϋ/////////////////ΖΛ

FliMUinm3Si

Age:

12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25

26 27

28 29

30

school labour market sex before 21st leaving home ι marriage II 11111 fatherhood

BOYS

Figure 1. The average age or the age at which the majority of girls and boys in the 1950s has taken the passages to adulthood (source: Peters 1992: 53).

motherhood

GIRLS

marriage Hill II leaving home sex

Zm ZEE!

school Age:

12 13 14 15 16 17 school

1B 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26

27

28

29

3D

H labour marker sex leaving home

BOYS

marriage II 11111

Figure 2. The average age or the age at which the majority of boys and girls in the 1980s has taken the passages to adulthood (source: Peters 1992: 72).

Els Peters

6

and democratization processes, the development of the welfare state and general changes in norms and values - has evidently left its mark on the daily lives of young people and adults alike. Figure 1 and 2, which outline the transition to adulthood of boys and girls in the 1950s and 1980s, clearly demonstrate this. What becomes especially apparent, is that the modernization of the youth phase has not led to the elimination of gender-specific differences, or of social differences for that matter, as we will further demonstrate in the course of our argument.

2.1 The prolonging independence

of the educational career and the postponement

of economic

One of the most significant changes has been the prolonging of the educational trajectory. During the 1950s and 1960s, when the Dutch economy was rapidly expanding, a properly qualified work force became more and more in demand. This prompted young people to spend more time taking higher educational levels; something which their parents encouraged and fully supported. This particular development was also promoted by the increased individual wealth, the democratization of the educational system - which transformed class-related educational structures into mass education - and the prolonging of compulsory education. Since the beginning of the 1970s compulsory education goes up to the age of sixteen and is followed by another two years of part-time education (one/two days per week). In the 1980s, boys and girls leave full-time education at the age of 20. Quite a different situation from the 1950s, when education was considered of less importance to girls, who would enter the labour market some two years earlier than boys (or never at all, as they would go into house-keeping to help out their mothers). Boys would often take an extra couple of years of part-time (vocational) training. Girls, as it was then expected, would eventually marry and become a housewife and mother, whereas their husbands would take on the role of breadwinner. To be sure, many upper-class girls were already taking higher educational levels, but a professional career was generally deemed of less importance than general education and meeting the right partner. For boys, the trend of increasing educational participation set off during the 1960s, whereas this only happened some ten years later for girls. Partly under the influence of the Women's Liberation Movement, the equal rights debate and active educational emancipation policies, the topics of proper education, jobs and economic independence for women gradually gained in importance. In 1970, 71% of the Dutch population no longer agreed with the assertion that higher education is more useful to boys than it is to girls. By 1991, this percentage has increased to 87% (SCP, 1992b: 468). Another indication for the increased educational ambitions of girls is the fact that they appear to have practically caught up with boys with regard to their educational

Educational, professional and family careers of Dutch youth in the nineties

7

levels since the 1970s. In university education for example, the number of female students by now surpasses 40% (Niphuis-Nell, 1992: 56). With respect to the choice of subjects however, we still find certain genderspecific contrasts. During secondary education, girls more often choose languages even though mathematics and science increasingly seem to appeal to them - and, likewise, during higher education (vocational and university) they more often choose social subjects. 1 These choices eventually affect their position on the labour market: Girls have a greater chance of becoming unemployed, they cover a smaller range of professions and get paid less (Brouns & Schokker, 1990). The concentration of girls within certain disciplines and professions clearly demonstrates that their freedom of choice is still limited. So, the extended educational participation, as such, does not imply that boys and girls share the same point of departure, nor does it imply equality between the sexes. Class-specific differences appear to be even more persistent than gender-differences. Children whose parents have low educational levels tend to leave school at an early age and hardly ever make it through higher general/pre-university education or higher education (SCP, 1992 a : 35). Once they reach the age of 16 - and are no longer compelled to go to school full-time - they more often opt for a combination of training and employment than upper-class children. This affects their labour-market position in that low qualifications simply lead to unemployment more easily than higher ones (ter Bogt & van Praag, 1992). Considering the present and likely future developments on the labour market - i.e. an ongoing rationalization of production and a growing demand for qualifications - their future position does not look bright. The higher educated are also confronted with such ' n e w ' risks. Vocational and academic qualifications, for instance, no longer fully guarantee future employment; what is decisive, however, is the choice of subjects. As the intrinsic market value of diplomas is decreasing, the expansion of educational participation is being stimulated once again. 2 In general, this development has forced young people to aim as high as possible and, what is more, to make the 'right' choice initially. This is not an easy task, considering the vast supply and ongoing differentiation/accumulation of subjects and the unpredictability of labour-market developments (on both a national and a European scale). As a result, they postpone their choices of professional training and stay in school up to a later age. They believe that in doing so they will avoid unemployment and improve their chances. From the end of 1980s, it gradually became apparent that young people do not in fact always select the most efficient trajectory through the educational system; often they pile one subject on top of another or keep changing subjects (SCP, 1992": 55). By 1994, 1 out of 5 first-year university students will have already completed higher vocational education (Mare, 1994). 3 The relatively late entering of the labour market and the extended economic dependence of young people are clearly indicated by the percentages of professional participation. 4 In 1960, 58% and 55% of all 15- to 19-year-old boys and girls respectively participated in employment; whereas by 1986, a mere 22% and 26% remain (SER, 1986).

8

Els Peters This does not mean that employment has vanished altogether as an aspect of being

young. Apart from their 40 hour school week, many 14- to 18-year-olds have jobs during holidays or in the weekends: no less than 85% and 76% of boys and girls respectively. In addition, nearly half of this category appears to have one or even more than one job on the side during normal school weeks: 51% of the boys and 40% of the girls (SCP, 1992 a : 57). So, with regard to education, the prolonging of the youth phase does not altogether offer the uncomplicated joy of 'unattached youth'. By having a job next to school they satisfy their material needs and their need for participation in youth (sub)culture while at the same time gaining their first experience on the labour market. For upper-class youth, the economic dependence on parents and/or grants now lasts until their twenties. Between 1960 and 1990, the professional participation of 20- to 24-year-old men dropped invariably, i.e. from 90% to 67% (SCP, 1992 a : 57). Analogous to, for instance, the situation in Germany, we get a different picture for women in the same age category. In the 1950s and 1960s, women usually retired from the labour market at the age of 20-24, the age at which most of them got married. In the 1970s, they maintain their job beside their marriage and we see an increase in the labour-market participation of 20- to 24-year old women (from 54% in 1971 up to 71% in 1981). By 1990, the gender-specific differences within this age category have disappeared (67% of the men and 66% of the women). Compared to the 1950s, young women indeed not only become employed at a later age, they also maintain their economic independence for a longer period of time. At the same time, as becomes apparent from figure 2, they appear to give up their economic independence between 25 and 29 and temporarily withdraw from the labour market or start working part-time. Nowadays, marriage as such no longer causes the discontinuities in the professional biography of women. Instead, the birth of the first (or second) child does. At the end of the 1980s, the average age at which Dutch women have their first child is 27 (in the 1970s, the average age was 24.3). The withdrawal from the labour market is still mainly due to the uneven division of professional and caring tasks between men and women. Nevertheless, much has changed in the general conception of the division of tasks between the sexes in terms of relational and familial patterns; something which is also expressed in youth-biography. When we look at age and order of status transitions, major changes appear to have taken place with regard to sexual independence, living on one's own and marriage. This applies to girls and boys alike, as we will show below before going into the changes that have taken place in the general ideas about the combination of parenthood and employment.

9

Educational, professional and family careers of Dutch youth in the nineties 2.2 Advanced

relational independence

and the prolonged

experimental

phase

In the 1950s, the bourgeois morality of marriage and family still prevailed in Dutch society. During the 1960s and 1970s, certain changes emerge towards growing liberalization, tolerance and pluriformity (cf. also the contribution of Ravesloot in this volume). Due to the waning influence of the Church, the debate on women's rights and their unequal position in society and within the family, the sexual revolution, the introduction of the pill, and the increasing percentage of divorces, the standard biographical life-course model - courting, engagement, marriage, parenthood - has become strained (van Leeuwen & Ploegmakers, 1990). Since the 1960s, the percentage of married couples with children has decreased, whereas the number of single-parent families and unmarried couples with/without children has increased. Although marriage remains the most common form of relationship, ideas about it have changed drastically. In 1965, 60% of the population believed that married people generally experience greater happiness than unmarried people do, whereas by 1991, only 14% held this view (SCP, 1992": 460). In large sections of the population alternative ways of life and forms of relationship gained in popularity and legitimacy. In 1980, living together as a form of test-marriage was denounced by 20% and, as a permanent form of relationship by 33% of the population (the remaining category either approved or did not care, which clearly indicates a growing respect for individual choices), but by 1991 these percentages had dropped to 8% and 18% respectively. Similarly, the living together of lesbian or gay couples and l.a.t.relationships were only rejected by a small percentage (17% and 14% in 1980 respectively, and 13% and 8% respectively in 1991, SCP, 1992 b : 462, 463). Having children is no longer considered to be a matter of course or an obligation which has to be met: In 1965, 68% deemed voluntary childlessness to be unacceptable, whereas in the 1990s a mere 5% did so (SCP, 1992": 460). The advance of liberalization and the increased freedom of the individual to make decisions about his or her life has not only affected adults, but adolescents as well. As to what they are allowed or not and what parents can and cannot demand of them, opinions have changed. Ever since the 1950s, parent-child relationships have continuously shifted towards a situation of consultation and negotiation between the generations (cf. also the contribution of du Bois-Reymond in this volume). This shift in the balance of power between the generations is clearly characterized by the altered form of address, which after all expresses the desired distance between parents and children. In the mid-1960s, for children to be on first-name terms with their parents was still unacceptable (52% in 1965), whereas by the beginning of the 1990s, a majority of the population appears to be in favour of this (62% in 1991, SCP, 1992 b : 463). Generally, parents aim for more equality, intimacy and mutual approach. Similarly, the balance of power between the sexes has become more even; women have demanded and indeed gained more rights. This development has resulted in more liberal, less gender-specific ideas on the education of girls. As we

10

Els Peters

will see later on, however, these changes (in terms of modernity) are accompanied by continuity (in terms of tradition). If we look at figure 1 and 2 again, we can see that, compared to the 1950s, boys as well as girls nowadays gain sexual experience at a much earlier age (the average age having advanced some 5 years, from 22.5 in 1950 to 17.5 in 1989; cf. van der Vliet, 1990). Furthermore, we can observe that gender-related differences in age have diminished, and that young people nowadays gain sexual experience when they are still at school and living at home. Parents seem to have accepted that sexuality is an integral part of being young, for boys and girls alike. In 1968, when the sexual revolution reached its peak and w o m e n ' s lib demanded the right to choose abortion, no less than 97% (fully) disagreed with the proposition "A girl should be allowed full sexual intercourse with a boy, even if she does not love him". By 1991, only two fifths of the persons questioned held this view (SCP, 1992"; 461). With regard to relationships becoming independent not only begins at an earlier age, it also involves a process of longer duration. W e can observe a considerable extension of the phase in which sexual and relational experimenting is allowed between 1950 and 1990. As girls generally marry some two years earlier than boys, the period of experimenting is somewhat shorter for girls. The average age at which women married in the 1950s was 24 as opposed to 24.6 in the 1980s. Despite this particular continuity much has changed in the trajectory of becoming independent over the years. Until the mid-1970s, people married at an increasingly early age. Growing prosperity, the increased supply of housing and especially the determination to detach oneself from the parental home and its prevailing norms and values all largely contributed to this state of affairs. Then, for a majority of young men and women, the start of a household of o n e ' s own simply coincided with getting married. For girls, marrying from the parental home was the only decent way of becoming independent. Only girls with upper-class backgrounds lived on their own for a few years because of their studies, but usually they returned to the parental home before getting married (Peters, 1992). This changes from the end of the 1970s when young people marry at a later age and decide to live together for some time first. Living together as a form of test-marriage became so widespread in the 1980s that it in fact established a whole new standard trajectory which can be differentiated according to educational levels. Nowadays, higher-educated young people usually live on their own for some time first, whereas the lower educated tend to start living together immediately. The fact that the average age at which young people leave home shows another increase at the end of the 1970s, can be taken as a sign of the changing position of young people within the family; most have a room of their own, have their own (pocket)-money and are allowed considerable freedom to lead a life of their own. Although it holds true that girls leave home at an earlier age than boys do - because they feel more restricted in their freedom than boys (van der Linden, 1990) - this gender-specific difference is expected to disappear in the future. That such a

Educational, professional and family careers of Dutch youth in the nineties

11

'scenario of emancipation' is not unlikely, becomes clear when we see that in 1965 53% of the Dutch population considered it the job of parents to decide at what time their 20-year-old daughter should be in at night; in 1990 only 8% still do so. By now most parents either leave this completely up to their daughter (51%) or prefer to settle the matter by means of negotiation (41%, SCP, 1992": 463). Young people enter into (sexual) relationships and leave home as singles (between 1950 and 1990 the percentage increases from 20% to 40%) or as cohabitants, while only few of them have attained economic independence yet. This synchronous (in)dependence in different areas of life, which may last for some young people until their thirtieth year, is interpreted as an indication of the emergence of a new lifephase: post-adolescence (Zinnecker, 1987). At the same time we have also seen that lower-class boys reach adulthood much earlier than boys from upper-class backgrounds. To some extent, the same goes for girls.

2.3 Combining employment

and

parenthood

In Dutch society a shift from the ideal of the housewife to the ideal of combining motherhood and working outside the home occurred between 1960 and 1990. Professional participation of women remained fairly constant from the beginning of the century up to the 1960s (approximately 25%). Since then, it has increased to 56% in 1991 (SCP, 1992": 59). In 1965, no less than 84% of the Dutch population objected to married women working while having schoolgoing children; in 1991 the percentage had dropped to 20% (SCP, 1992 h : 466). Accordingly, most of the women working outside the home in the 1950s and 1960s appear to be young single women. In the 1950s, the two-phase model - i.e. working up to the moment of marriage could in part be enforced by legislation 5 , whereas by the end of the 1980s, a whole new situation had emerged: Now young people are expected to attain economic independence and are encouraged to do so by different governmental policies and campaigns. 6 Considering the increased educational level of girls, it is conceivable that only few young women actually need to be encouraged in their aspirations regarding their professional career and economic independence. The same is suggested by the changes that have occurred in ideas about the division of tasks between the sexes: 83% of the Dutch population believe that housekeeping is a responsibility of men as well as women, and 89% feel the same about child-raising. Also, it is no longer maintained that women are more suited for child-raising than men are (the percentage decreases from 77% in 1970 to 36% in 1991, SCP, 1992": 467, 468). Everyday reality, however, does not match these liberal and egalitarian values. ".. the combination of both caring tasks and employment can be so straining that a majority of women feel compelled to choose one of the two. The combination appears easier to deal with and/or more appealing as long as women can rely on proper day nursery, acceptable working conditions and a partner who is willing and

12

Els Peters

able to participate in child-raising and housekeeping." (SCP, 1992": 64). As it appears, these conditions are often lacking, especially in the case of lower-class women. As mentioned above, the labour-market position of women is not equal to that of men, and, what is more, women generally hold part-time jobs more often than men do: Of all working Dutch women and men, 62% and 16% respectively work part-time (SCP, 1992 a : 62). 7 Although it holds true that more and more women remain employed after the birth of their first child (in the mid-1980s 23% did so, whereas in 1970 this was only 9%), studies show that 80% of the ones who remain employed, still quit after having their second child. This is not only caused by a lack of 'cooperative' men, but also by the fact that Dutch society has not yet fully adapted to the concept of day-nurseries. In the beginning of the 1990s, two fifth of the population object to employed women placing their children in a nursery. Whether the government should provide cheap day-nursery facilities for working mothers, remains a matter of dispute and is only acclaimed by a bare majority (52%, SCP, 1992 b : 466, 448). What is also influential here, apart from traditional values regarding motherhood, is the fact that the freedom to choose whether one wants to have children or not - in terms of ' w h e n ' and 'how m a n y ' 8 - is accompanied by the notion that 'having them' implies being willing to look after them, or, in other words, by the notion of parenthood as a conscious choice of the individual instead of something to be taken for granted. But although the encouragement of m e n ' s readiness to care is gaining priority in governmental policy, care still remains the responsibility of women. Girls in neighbouring countries are being confronted with the issue of combining employment and motherhood as well (Chisholm, 1993; Krüger, 1993), but the Netherlands occupy an exceptional position because of their relatively low rate of professional participation of women and the substantial percentage of women working part-time.

3. Research context: Theoretical and methodological notions We have already pointed out how the transition to adulthood has changed over the decades and in what way these changes are embedded in specific socio-economical and cultural developments in Dutch society. What has also become clear, is that changes in the field of education and employment, sexuality, relationships and marriage have each at their own pace and to their own extent affected the lives of boys and girls from different social classes. Despite the continuities that are manifest in gender- and class-specific stage transition-trajectories, we can safely state that, as in Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. (Buchmann, 1989; Cohen, 1987; Leisering, Geissler, Mergner, & Rabe-Kleberg,

1993; Peters & Chisholm,

1991), firstly,

structural changes have occurred in the transition to adulthood; secondly, the youth phase has been increasingly institutionalized and, thirdly, life-course patterns have become destandardized (Peters, 1993; Peters, Guit, & van Rooijen, 1992). On the

Educational, professional and family careers of Dutch youth in the nineties

13

other hand we also found the emergence of new standard patterns that cause a restandardization of the life course (du Bois-Reymond & de Jong-Gierveld, 1993). These structural changes are bound to have repercussions on the subjective experience of being young and becoming an adult, as well as on the educational goals and the child-raising approach of parents. How do young people - and their parents experience and interpret these changes? The discussions about the individualization of youth-biography frequently stresses the fact that the effects of the modernization processes we sketched earlier have not only made life easier for young people but also more difficult. For our present purposes we have narrowed down the various aspects of the discussion to the functional contrasts between standard- and choicebiographies, between freedom of choice and restriction of choice, and finally, between hierarchic or formal intergenerational relationships on the one hand and informality and negotiation on the other. The transition from socially-accepted options to increasingly individualized lifecourse models has adequately been termed as the transition from a standard-biography to a choice-biography. On the objective as well as on the subjective level, life's trajectories are less determined by gender- and class-specific rules, and as a result are becoming increasingly unpredictable. Today's parents still used to interpret their own lives in standard-biographical terms predominantly when they were young themselves. The future of young women then, their purpose in life, was not only aimed at being a housewife and mother at a normative social level, but it was also given meaning and significance by women themselves at a subjective level. Mutatis mutandis, the same holds true for men. But how do boys and girls in the 1990s experience the transition to adulthood? Do they believe that they are in a position to shape their future lives according to their own priorities, irrespective of gender and social background? Furthermore, do they try to keep their options open as long as possible, and, if so, do they anticipate some sort of open-ended situation? And finally, are we justified in assuming the presence of a choice-biography, or do boys and girls lead their lives according to both 'old' and 'new' certainties and should we therefore rather assume a modernized standard youth-biography? Both pluriformity and freedom of choice in different areas of life presuppose the presence of multiple legitimate options according to which boys and girls can shape their adolescent and (future) adult lives. But any multiplication of options somehow also produces the obligation to benefit from all options available as well as the responsibility of the individual to make his or her choices adequately, as social background and gender no longer provide sufficient justifications for choices to be made. At the same time, freedom of choice is restricted by the individual's (growing), dependence on the educational and professional systems, i.e. by objective limitations which cannot be ignored. What is important here, is how the tensions between freedom of choice and obligation to choose is expressed in youth-biography. What are the various educational, professional and relational trajectories of young people

14

Els Peters

like? What strategies do young people adopt to make sure they reach their goals in various areas of life? And what is more, how do they experience the process of making choices? Is it true, for instance, that young people feel increasingly under pressure and consequently are inclined to postpone important choices in order to avoid that pressure? Both individualization and pluriformity of available options demand a certain respect for alternative choices. Once a directive parental approach is absent, generations (and sexes) will have to negotiate. Furthermore, once human relationships become more individualized, they are likely to become more informal as well - codes of behaviour relax as hierarchical relationships weaken. The fact that negotiation and informalization have become characteristic aspects of contemporary child-parent relationships can be interpreted as a positive development in as far as young people are allowed more freedom by their parents, but there is another side to this. When 'everything' is negotiable, interpretation and orientation become more difficult for parents and children. The question is how this affects parent-child relationships. Do young people still look upon their parents as educators or counsellors, and, what is perhaps even more important, do parents still view themselves as such? If today's parents are faced with uncertainties in child-raising, are we right in assuming that young people are confronted with an extra handicap in the field of 'biographical options' (Fuchs, 1983) in as far as the standard-biography has ceased to function as a guiding principle? Despite the fact that (youth) research in the Netherlands is concentrating more on the shifts in stage transitions and life-course models,9 longitudinal studies of the various transitions to adulthood and their interrelations as interpreted by young people as well as parents still remain scarce.10

3.1 The Youth, Parents & Employment

project"

In order to study the various ways in which adolescents pass through transitions to adulthood, the choices they make, the ways in which they adapt and motivate their choices, and the support they get from their parents in this process, but also to determine the significance of gender and social background in transitions to adulthood, we opted for a longitudinal, qualitative and intergenerational-comparative research design in which both young people and their parents are involved. Over a three-year period (1988, 1989, 1990) we interviewed boys and girls on a yearly basis and surveyed their - changing - options and choices regarding education, employment, sexuality and relationships as well as their ideas about the combination of employment and parenthood. Our point of departure was set at the final year of secondary school. At that point in their lives - and in the years to come - boys and girls are expected to make a vast amount of choices and to develop the strategies

Educational, professional and family careers of Dutch youth in the nineties

15

necessary to make the transition to adulthood. In the second and third round, the questionnaires were adapted to the altered conditions of their everyday lives and contained questions about their choices (made or postponed) regarding areas of life such as education, employment and (sexual) relationships, and about conceivable changes in the child-parent relationship. Our instrument was the semi-structured biographical interview. The 120 young people who participated in the YPE-project were recruited from schools for secondary education in the town of Leiden. 12 At the time of the first interview (1988) the 54 boys and 66 girls were in the final class of secondary education (ranging from lower-vocational to pre-university). At that time they were 15 to 19 years of age (birth-cohort 1968-1972). They came from different social classes, measured by the educational and professional levels of the father and mother, and were all living in the town of Leiden or in one of its suburbs. 1 3 At the time of the last interview (1990) 51 boys and 65 girls were still involved in the project. 14 During the period of 1989 to 1991, both the fathers and the mothers were questioned to gain further insight in the child-raising approach and child-parent relationship from the perspective of the parents, the parents' own youth and correspondences or contrasts between their youth and that of their children. 15 The parents were recruited through those boys and girls who had indicated that their father and mother would be willing to participate. W e selected 60 mothers depending on educational level, employment position, marital state and birth-cohort. These women were interviewed in 1989 and 1990 and the idea was put to them to involve their husbands in the interviewing process as well; 48 partners decided to cooperate. To make up for the remainder, we recruited 12 interviewees from the rest of the target group. 16 The fathers were interviewed in 1990 and 1991. In the first interview, the mothers and fathers were questioned separately. The emphasis was on their life history and on their own youth phase; they were specifically asked to look back on their own youth in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. The topics were quite similar to the ones treated in the youth interviews: education, employment, sexuality, relationships, anticipations of future adult life and the relationship with their parents. In the second interview the parents were interviewed as couples. Now their role as parents and their views on parenthood and educational aims were the central issues. In the second round we interviewed 40 couples and an additional number of individual fathers (3) and mothers (7). 17 All interviews were recorded on tape. The youth interviews were fully transcribed, whereas in case of the parent interviews we had to resort to abstracts with additional quotes per topic of discussion. 18 The research material was encoded and entered into the computer in order to facilitate a quantitative interpretation of essentially qualitative data. 19 The interpretation itself and the analysis of interrelations between variables relied first and foremost on the use of frequency rates. For further exploration we went back to the original interview material. Specific case-studies and direct

16

Els Peters

quoting were applied to back up our interpretations and to illustrate subjective experiences on the part of the respondents. In the following sections we will go into the ideas of boys and girls about employment and the choices they have made with regard to further education or jobs. We will discuss the actual transition from training/education to the labour market as well as the combination of employment and parenthood as anticipated by the youth respondents.

4. The transition from school to the labour market When we spoke to our youth respondents for the last time, in 1990, the majority was still in training and was facing a long educational career. Most of them were between 18 and 23 years of age. By then, one third had taken a job and, in accordance with the general picture we constructed in section 2, this category particularly consisted of lower-class youth. 54% of them were no longer in full-time training as opposed to 34% and 16% of middle- and upper-class youth respectively. More girls than boys had left full-time education (43% against 25%). In other words, to most of the respondents employment still was a distant notion. What was their conception of employment at that stage of their lives? Did entering the labour market still mean a significant step towards adulthood or did they feel mature already because certain transitions had been made (long) before then? Or rather: How exactly did they experience the changes in the transition to adulthood we mentioned earlier, and how do gender and social class differentiate our findings?

4.1 Employment

as a step towards

adulthood?

Our respondents seem to agree on one thing: Employment as such does not establish the major transition to adulthood, for there appear to be various conceptions of (reaching) adulthood. This certainly renders the transition less standardized and more individualized. However, we do detect gender- and class-specific differences. When we asked lower-class repondents: 'When do you expect to become an adult?', most of them responded: 'How should I know ... that's a tough one!'. This does not necessarily mean that they consciously delay the process of maturing, but rather that they feel that adulthood can not be planned. This especially holds true for lower-class respondents who associate adulthood with 'being married, having a family and settling down'. When exactly they will take these decisive steps depends on when they meet a partner with whom they fall in love; something which cannot be controlled. As lower-class girls have boyfriends at a relatively early age, they generally have a clearer idea about the timing. They expect to have made the

Educational, professional

and family careers of Dutch youth in the nineties

17

transition within a period of five years. To lower-class youth being young represents a phase in which 'you just act foolishly and do as you please'. In adulthood they see very much in accordance with the classical image of the life course - a foundation for the security and unity of family life and employment. When we look at the upper-class respondents, we discover a very different perspective on adulthood. Here adulthood is seen a relative concept rather than a definitive stage in the life course. It is strongly associated with development of the self, for one does not stop maturing when one has become an 'adult'. Especially boys and girls who attend university take this view. Still, this is not the only perspective we encounter within the upper-class category. A considerable number of boys and girls do connect adulthood to employment and/or building a family, but, contrary to lower-class respondents, they consciously postpone these particular steps for as long as 6 to 12 years. What matters for them first is completing an education. The middle class respondents again present us with another picture. Some of them, especially the girls who have a job and a stable relationship already, consider themselves to be adults, while others expect to reach adulthood reasonably soon that is within a period of five years. These latter ones mainly appear to connect adulthood with living on one's own - by the time of the last interview 75% of these respondents were still living at home - and intend to take this step as soon as possible (within a year). The girls from this category especially appear to feel restricted in their freedom at home. Thus, social class and gender can certainly be said to play a part in the anticipation of adulthood. At the same time, however, the prolonged educational-career not only affects the perspective of adulthood but also the more general experience of being young. Whereas most respondents in their final year at secondary school characterized themselves as 'youngster'; only two years later they consider themselves to be 'adult' in as far as they make their own decisions and have a more realistic and serious outlook on life on the one hand, and 'still just a youngster' on the other. What is striking, is that respondents who are in vocational training or who have already entered the labour market tend to think of themselves as 'young adults', whereas a majority of the respondents who are in university education characterize themselves simply as 'youngsters'. The latter most clearly represent the category of postadolescents.

4.2 Employment as a means of self-development; life should be fun The fact that entering the labour market is not considered to be the major and/or definite step towards adulthood, cannot be separated from general expectations regarding jobs. Ideas about employment have drastically changed since the 1950s: One no longer lives in order to work, but one works to live. 'Post-materialistic'

18

Els Peters

values such as developing oneself, having fun and gaining satisfaction from one's job, have become increasingly important (Halman, 1991); not in the least to our group of respondents. This is clearly demonstrated by table 1, which summarizes their responses to the question of what they valued most in having a job, at the time of the first and the last interview. At the time of the first interview, when the respondents were in their final year of secondary education, 'being well paid' ranked first, followed by 'communication in the workplace' and 'professional involvement'. Two years later, 'being well paid' ranks third. Nearly all respondents say they value the immaterial aspects of employment and at some point start giving more and more priority to such aspects. Still, they agree that employment should primarily be 'fun and worthwhile for oneself'. Accordingly, hardly any respondents judge the social relevance of employment to be important. So, the notion of a 'socially conscious and committed youth generation' is not really adequate. This does not mean, however, that young people are not concerned with social issues at all, but simply that they do not establish the link between such issues and their jobs. They support organizations like Greenpeace or the World Wildlife Fund in their spare time. The respondents also admit being not particularly ambitious: Most of them profess to be hardly interested in executive functions or social status. This fits the general image of the Dutch as being less 'career-minded' than, for instance, Americans. Table 1. What aspects of employment do young people value? 1988 (round I, N=120) and 1990 (round III, N=116) Aspects

Communication

I

III

Income

I

III

Involvement

I

III

Social relevance

I

III

Social status

I

III

Management

IIII

81 99

87 59

61 78

10 14

20 13

20 23

Of some importance

17 13

26 45

22 23

6 12

8 18

6 20

Not/hardly important

19 4

6 12

36 15

103 90

91 85

93 73

(Very) important

Missing Total

3

-

120 116

1

-

120 116

1

-

120 116

1

-

120 116

1

-

120 116

1

-

120 116

Behind these general findings there still lie certain gender- and social background differences. It is true that girls value professional involvement in their jobs just as much as boys do, but in accordance with the assumption that girls attach less importance to success in terms of a career because of their 'double-future perspective', they value the immaterial aspects of employment more than boys do. As for the boys, they tend to stress the aspect of payment more strongly. So, here again we find an indication of the fact that girls do not primarily expect the role of (main) breadwinner in the future to be theirs. Indeed, girls find it just as self-evident to become employed (later on) as boys do, but judging from their perspective on future mother-

Educational, professional and family careers of Dutch youth in the nineties

19

hood and under the influence of examples from their daily environment, they already seem to reckon with future discontinuities in their professional careers. As will be shown later, boys do not. Such traditional, gender-specific distinctions are also operative in other aspects of employment. Boys focus more on status and managing when they imagine what their professional career will be like. And although over the years girls have begun to show more interest in these aspects of employment on average, this particular gender-specific difference remains manifest (cf. also de Goede & Hustinx, 1993: 96). We also find some important distinctions according to social background. There seems to be a proportional relation between social background and certain preferences: The higher the social origin, the more communication, involvement, management, status and success become significant. Middle-class boys attach even more importance to professional success than upper-class boys do, and expect to achieve this through promotion; lower-class boys focus more on the materialistic aspects and so put income at the head of their list. We can conclude that our respondents have clear views on what a job should offer them. Considering their demands and expectations with regard to employment, the next question has to be whether they feel insecure about their professional career and also whether they hesitate to make 'definite' choices in the educational field.

4.3 Uncertainties in future

employment?

The ideas respondents have of employment (when still in the educational system) are full of optimism and continuity. Most respondents appear to have maintained their original professional wishes through the years and to be quite optimistic about their chances on the labour market. They do not worry too much about unemployment and most of them expect to find a job within the employment sector they prefer. They assume that their (future) qualifications will guarantee as much and the ones who are less certain, admit to be ready to take advantage of any given opportunity. This being the case, are we right in assuming that the youth phase as a phase of anticipation of and transition to - economic - independence is far less problematic than is often suggested in the discussion about the individualized youth-biography? In other words, does making sound decisions in fact come easy to young people and do they generally not worry about the unpredictability of developments in the labour market? The answer to these questions cannot be completely affirmative as a considerable number of respondents (57%) indicate having had quite a few problems in making the transition from secondary education to further professional training or the labour market. To determine the nature or extent of these problems and the respondents involved, we shall now go into the educational and professional careers of our respondents in more detail.

20

Els Peters

4.4 Educational and professional trajectories; 'stayers' vs. 'switchers' If we compare the respondents' educational and professional situations in the first and last interview rounds at an aggregated group level, we are seemingly led to the conclusion that the school-job trajectories show a firm continuity and that our respondents generally keep to the standard curriculum of the Dutch educational system; from pre-vocational education to vocational training in the apprentice system to the labour market, from lower-general secondary education to senior-secondary vocational education, from higher-general secondary education to higher-vocational education, or from pre-university to scientific education. If we categorize, however, all the choices each individual respondent has made regarding education and employment and make an inventory of all the steps they have taken within the educational/professional system over the three-year period, we find that the reality is far more complex. The types of educational and professional trajectories we were able to categorize, are either characterized by continuity or by discontinuity and change.20 The trajectories of the 'stayers' are characterized by continuity. These respondents have completed their secondary education in one go and have subsequently entered further education or the labour market. 54% of our respondents fitted the 'stayers' profile. As for the 'switchers', their educational and professional trajectories are characterized by discontinuities: switching subjects repeatedly, switching between training and employment, leaving school prematurely, changing one's job every so often, and intermittently being employed or unemployed. No less than 46% of our respondents fitted the 'switcher' profile. As table 2 clearly demonstrates, the difference between respondents who pass through the educational and professional systems easily and without delay on the one hand, and the ones who repeatedly depart from the set curriculum on the other, is closely connected to social background and gender. First we will examine the basic trends and then go into some interesting subcategories in more detail. Class-specific trends The category of 'switchers' particularly consists of middle- and upper-class respondents. Not every middle-class youth appears to act as 'instrumentally' and to be as goal-orientated as we expected (cf. also Zinnecker, 1986). Respondents from upperand lower-class backgrounds do in fact match our expectations. The latter spend little time on experimenting within the educational system and enter the labour market 'on time'. For upper-class respondents, the educational phase tends to last relatively long. Still, we should take heed of the fact that although a majority show discontinuous educational trajectories, they also pass through the (full-time) educational system without delay more often (42% against 28% of middle- and lower-class respondents).

Educational,

Table 2.

professional

and family careers of Dutch youth in the

nineties

21

Educational and professional trajectories of young people from 1988 up until 1990 (N=l 16), according to social class and gender

Educational/professional trajectories after secondary education:

Class

Total

Gender

Lower Middle Upper

Boys

Girls

'Stayers' Standard transferees

10

14

13

19

18

37

Employed youth

11

6

-

3

14

17

5

3

1

8

1

9

1

12

10

10

13

23

Job/training combination 'Switchers' Commuters Interrupters

-

4

2

1

5

6

Drop-outs

3

6

5

5

9

14

'In & out' employment pattern

5

5

-

5

5

10

35

50

31

51

65

116

Total

Gender-specific

trends

Girls are more often 'switchers' than boys (49% and 41% respectively). And although the number of girls passing through an educational trajectory equals the number of boys (69%) - which is a confirmation of the general assumption that the youth phase of girls is showing more and more resemblances to the youth phase of boys - girls more often accumulate qualifications, switch subjects, take time off to travel or quit their studies prematurely and leave without qualifications (42% against 31% of the boys). Girls apparently find it more difficult to make the 'right' choices. And of course, in making them, they are being confronted with numerous contradictory messages. Employment, for instance, is supposed to be self-evident, but, at the same time girls are well aware of the fact that women are still largely responsible for taking care of children. The professional trajectories of girls and boys also appear to be different: Many girls enter the labour market directly after passing their finals, whereas boys more often combine employment and further training. But, on average, class-specific contrasts are more substantial than gender-specific ones. Educational

differences

Although table 2 does not indicate as much, preparatory training does certainly influence the course of educational trajectories. Especially respondents who have completed higher-general secondary education appear to become 'switchers' at some point. The position of higher-general secondary education within the Dutch educational system is rather ambivalent. At first it was intended to serve as a preparation

22

Els Peters

for higher-vocational education, but it soon became clear that it did not work out as expected: Students dispersed in every possible direction and started 'commuting' up and down the educational system. Some take one more year of pre-university education in order to go to university, some finish higher-vocational education first, but others rather make a backward move and enter senior-secondary vocational education. Of all respondents who finish pre-vocational education, which is rather ill-reputed in the Netherlands, three fifths successfully follow an educational trajectory, enter the labour market or combine a job with training. However, once problems on the labour market occur, they tend to be especially serious in the case of pre-vocational students. Of one fifth, the professional trajectory can be characterized as an 'in and out' pattern. For many respondents, we can safely conclude that the 'educational moratorium' constitutes a period in which available options are more or less successfully probed. Why, we may ask, do so many respondents opt for trajectories that are ultimately 'inefficient' in terms of the educational system, and what is more, how do they experience and justify their choices? Do they consciously choose to make use of all options available? Or do they merely react to the immense variety of options, their limited insight into the organization of the professional system, the unpredictability of supply and demand on the labour market and the pressure to improve their chances because of the continuous devaluation of diplomas? Or, to put it differently, exactly who are the 'switchers' and who are the 'stayers' in the educational system? Standard transferees 'At some point you just take your pick' is how the process of choice-making is characterized by respondents that pass through the educational system without delay. They admit having had no particular problems facing the vast supply of educational options. They arrived at their final choices through discussions with others such as their fathers, their best friends and professional counsellors. Although some have not made up their minds as to what they would like to do most, this does not seem to cause any insecurity since they prefer to keep their options open within entire sectors of employment. Like Edward, who wants to 'go into business' at some point and is therefore going to study law, which will allow him some room in which to manoeuvre. Respondents like Edward - girls included - usually attach great importance to a high salary, professional involvement and a career. Such ambitions generally match expectations connected to social background and we often find that the educational level and aspirations of the other family members are equally high. Standard transferees appear to be independent young people who succeed in enjoying their youth and simultaneously concentrating on completing their education. They are full of optimism about getting their diplomas and finding the right job. Usually, the parents have promoted their optimism by already making great demands during secondary school. This changes once the children pass through their courses success-

Educational, professional and family careers of Dutch youth in the nineties

23

fully. Then these parents tend to become less demanding; it is up to their son or daughter from then on. The boys and girls themselves think accordingly: Success or failure both depend on one's own efforts. 'Commuters' When we set this group against the category of respondents whose educational trajectory is characterized by up- and downward fluctuations between and within secondary and higher education, we find a different picture altogether. 'Commuters' are respondents who are mainly confronted with the recurrent problem of too many options. They partly blame themselves for any 'failure', but they also blame the institution of school, which after all has compelled them to commit themselves to a certain field of study at an early stage. ' H o w should I know what to choose, being the age I a m ? ' , as these 21- to 23-year-olds put it. They generally experienced the transition from secondary to higher education as a problematic one, because at that point they simply did not know what further education they preferred - not even after an additional year of secondary education. With some, further education - often selected by striking off options - did not meet the expectations, others were not selected for the education they had chosen, and others failed their first year exams and found themselves back to square one: What to do next? In many cases, tension arose between the responsibility and concentration necessary for higher education on the one hand and the urge to enjoy the newly acquired freedom to live on o n e ' s own and meeting new friends on the other. Initially, the parents largely overlooked the apparent urge to experiment, but once it dawned on them that their son or daughter was not up to his or her freedom, they still tried to tighten the reins. They often succeeded in that their children did not quit their studies and remained well aware of the importance of proper qualifications. What is striking, is that these young people only expect the regular educational system to lead to the kind of employment they aspire to; they hardly ever consider working their way up through evening classes, courses or j o b training. The considerable pressure they experience is partly caused by the prerequisite of proper qualifications to stand a chance on the labour market and the urge to take the highest possible levels because of the general devaluation of diplomas, and partly by their own problems with the actual content of higher education. As such, this has not as yet deprived these respondents of their ambitions, but it has certainly made their ideas regarding employment much more vague. However demanding the parents of these respondents may have become - which is indeed a contrary approach to the one we came across in the case of the standard transferees - they ultimately believe that coercion will simply not do. A completely different picture is offered by the next group, consisting of young people who have prematurely broken off their studies and have entered the labour market.

24

Els Peters

Drop-outs These respondents cannot look back on a particularly successful educational career. Their 'failure' is largely due to the fact that, on hindsight, they let their ambitions outrun their abilities from the start - also at their parents' instigation. Contrary to the category of 'commuters', these respondents subsequently drew their conclusions and dropped out. Partly because they realistically evaluated their own abilities and motivation to finish their study without further delay and partly because their parents would not allow endless experimenting: 'Either you study or you will take a job!' Take Nanette, who has completed higher-general secondary school with great difficulty and effort. Because of her parents' expectations she entered teacher training college '... but I wasn't exactly convinced of it ... at home, they would not once say to me: well then, let's try to find you a nice job! It was education all over again.' Despite her efforts she did not make it and dropped out halfway through the first year. She found this a great relief: Ί simply loved it. No regrets, none at all.' She became unemployed for some time and took several unskilled jobs. Today she is working as a cashier in a bank. During the first round of interviews most of these respondents were still optimistic about their chances of ultimately realizing their professional ambitions, but the reality turned out differently. Nearly all have jobs by now, but not the jobs they had in mind when they still expected to finish their senior-secondary or higher-vocational education. By now they admit that they no longer aspire social status on the basis of a job and the girls in particular appear to have become more attached to making money. The professional orientation of drop-outs seems to have shifted from 'what I would like' to 'what is still possible' in terms of a 'nice' job. Besides, 'you can always works your way up through courses...' and with that perspective (and strategy) in mind these respondents keep their professional future open.

4.5 Summary We may conclude that the institutionalization and prolonging of the youth (school) phase, certainly does not imply that the educational trajectories of young people have become more similar to one another. Within the institutionalized context of the educational system, many different paths are taken; that is why it is more adequate to use the term 'educational biographies' instead of 'educational careers', for the concept of career suggests continuity, conscious and goal-orientated planning, and progression. As we have seen, only the category of standard transferees fits this picture. Family background and parental approach still influence the educational and professional trajectories of young people. Most upper-class parents allow a relatively long youth phase, but not all of them do. Especially young people who grow up in a more restrictive upper-class environment stand a chance of 'failure' and dropping out

Educational,

professional

and family careers of Dutch youth in the nineties

25

of the school system because they fall short of the obligation to continue family traditions. The 'commuters' on the other hand appear to be troubled by the amount of freedom they are allowed by their parents, their own wish to experiment and at the same time to achieve and the obligation to choose. 'Commuters', mainly upper- and middle-class respondents, hate the idea of choosing, they prefer to keep their options open, keep developing themselves, and, what is more, they are afraid of making the wrong decision. This category most clearly represents the pattern of post-adolescent youth. They particularly fit the 'formal' criterium of lasting synchronous (independence. At the subjective level, we see that they hesitate to commit themselves to fixed trajectories and as such, they have adapted themselves to the prolonged youth phase in terms of 'not yet having to act maturely'. Towards themselves and others, they justify their incapacity, fear and insecurity in making choices as 'having the right' to be young. Although social background is of great influence on educational and professional trajectories, a number of lower-class respondents also become successful 'standard transferees' and conversely, middle- and upper-class respondents sometimes drop out and become employed or unemployed. To a certain extent, the institutionalization of the youth (school) phase is accompanied by destandardization, in other words, with the growing unpredictability of educational careers of contemporary youth. If we consider the educational and professional trajectories of boys and girls, we can conclude that the educational moratorium is a period in which girls are confronted with more problems than boys. Girls not only have to cope with the 'normal' problem of the expansion of choices in the educational and professional system, but also with the 'extra' problem of the implications of their choices in the long run. The double expectations they have to deal with - becoming independent women and, if they choose to have children, good mothers - seem to lead to 'mixed' answers. Girl's educational trajectories are more often characterized by discontinuity, dropping-out and switching. Boys on the other hand can still rely on a more self-evident lifecourse perspective, full-time employment is still the dominant practice for males in Dutch society. This unambiguous perspective of the future seems to influence their decisions and strategies in the present. These results clearly demonstrate that boys' and girls' actual choices for professional training must be studied in the context of a life-course perspective. To gain insight in the relationship between actual and anticipated transitions to adulthood, we will now describe how our respondents see their future lives as adult men and women and how they intend to shape their professional careers in the long run.

5. Views on employment as combined with parenthood Over a three-year period we asked our respondents about their views on combining employment and child-raising. The results are intriguing, for it appears that their

26

Els

Peters

ideas change as time goes by and they shape their professional training. What is also remarkable, but not surprising, is that girls change their minds more often than boys do and they also tend to go more deeply into the intricacies of the problem of combining employment and child-raising, whereas boys' ideas on the subject appear hardly differentiated at all. Although the gender-specific standard-biographical lifecourse model has lost its dominance and more options are available, in the anticipations of our respondents we still see a mix of old and new ideas and expectations. From table 3 a number of general trends become apparent. Table 3.

Models applied to the combination of employment and parenthood by the respondents in 1988 (round I, N=120), 1989 (round II, N=120) en 1990 (round III, N=116), according to gender Boys

Combination-model job/parenthood:

I

II

Full-time job/no children

3

-

Part-time job/no children

1

Girls

Total

III

I

II

III

I

II

III

1

6

2

2

9

2

3

-

-

2

1

45

34

27

-

-

2

Parallel model 1*

40

32

26

5

Parallel model 2*

2

5

4

20

16

21

22

21

25

Two-phase model*

-

-

-

18

11

5

18

11

5

Three-phase model*

3

-

-

-

-

-

9

23

28

9

23

28

'Doubt'

5

17

20

6

12

8

11

29

28

Missing

3

-

-

-

-

-

54

51

66

66

65

Total Parallel model 1 Parallel model 2 Two-phase model Three-phase model

54

3 120

-

-

120 116

Full-time job, combined with motherhood/fatherhood Part-time job, combined with motherhood/fatherhood Leave the labour market for good after having children Reentry on the labour market when children enter primary/secondary education

Most of the boys intend to combine a full-time job with fatherhood (parallel model 1), but, the total number decreases over the years (from 74% in 1988 to 51% in 1990). Can we assume that their ideas are shifting toward increasingly egalitarian conceptions of the division of parental and professional tasks? Yes and no. In as far as the male standard model of breadwinner and father has lost much of its selfevidence, we can. An increasing number of boys - especially from an upper-class background - admit not having 'the faintest idea' of how they will approach the combination-question in the future. Over the three year period their number has increased fourfold! In as far as boys refuse to commit themselves to combinationmodels with an egalitarian bias at this moment in their lives, we cannot. Only a few boys seriously consider a division of tasks based on part-time employment and being able to spend time on family tasks (parallel model 2).

Educational, professional and family careers of Dutch youth in the nineties

27

Although the overall picture we get from our girls is more complex, one general trend in their ideas about employment and motherhood is clear: The traditional housewife-mother pattern has lost its appeal. When the girls were still in their final year of secondary school, 27% of them expected to remain housewives for the rest of their lives after having had children (the two-phase model). By 1990 this percentage has dropped to a mere 8%. Instead of the two-phase model, girls often mention the possibility of temporarily stepping out of employment until their children reach school-age (the three-phase model) and thus implicitly adopt the dominant practice we examined in section 2. If we consider both the two- and three-phase model for girls and the breadwinner model for boys to be more traditional life-course plans (because of the genderspecific division of parental and professional tasks), an interesting trend can be observed. In their final year of secondary education (1988), three quarters of the boys and two fifths of the girls approached the question of labour division in traditional terms. By 1990, half of all boys and girls have these very patterns in mind. So, as the years go by, the perspectives of girls and boys gradually grow towards one another, which on average means that girls have lowered their ambitions! We do, however, detect signs of an opposite trend: the number of girls aspiring to a professional career (without interruptions) is on the increase as well. In their final year at secondary school, 50% considered a full- or part-time professional career, irrespective of combining this with motherhood. One year later, this percentage has dropped to 30% and finally it has risen to 37% again. We may conclude that girls want 'both': a job and children. They either aim at achieving both goals simultaneously by working full- or part-time and taking care of the children alternatively, or conceive a job and children as a sequence of events (i.e. a three-phase model). Thus, from a very early stage in their lives, a lot of girls still reckon with the gender-specific division of tasks, as well as with the limited options for combining employment and parenthood. The general trend, however, indicates that employment has become an integral part of modern girl-biographies; the option of being a mother and a housewife all of one's life has lost its appeal.

5.1 Girls' and boys' choices examined more

closely

Why do some boys and girls come to adjust their conception of the future and develop more traditional or modern views or start to feel doubts and why do others stick to their initial ideas? What kind of factors are involved in this apart from gender and social background? To answer these questions, we took a closer look at the individual choices of our respondents over the three-year period. The comparison at an aggregated group level had already led to the conclusion that there was a lot of discontinuity in the views of

28

Els Peters

our respondents. An inventory of all the choices each individual respondent has made regarding the work-parenthood dilemma, revealed an immense variety. Even though these options are still hypothetical, this can be taken as a sign of the increased number of options young people have today. We differentiated the actual variety of options according to nine basic categories, ranging from 'invariably modern' to 'invariably traditional'. It should be noted here that this kind of taxonomy is largely tentative, for concepts such as 'modern' or 'traditional' always connote powerful set of values however unprejudiced we intend to use them. This is especially the case when we apply them to actual social issues such as 'women and employment'. We simply cannot rule out the effects of such normative connotations nor would it solve anything if we arrived at artificially abstract terms. What is important here in terms of definition, is that we do not intend to interpret the concepts of 'modernity' and 'tradition' in terms of opposites, or polarities, but rather against the background of the socio-theoretical debate about modernization. As such, both concepts refer to socio-historical trends: in this sense 'tradition' implies a retrogressive force and 'modernity' implies a progressive one, at least, that is where developments seem to be heading. According to this line of thought a girl's preference for the two- or the three-phase model is interpreted as a traditional preference, whereas the other options are labelled as modern. For example, if a girl initially opted for the two-phase model but changed to the three-phase model in the second and third interview rounds, she would still be characterized as 'invariably traditional'. Accordingly, a shift from combining full-time employment and motherhood to part-time employment would be taken to be an 'invariably modern' choice. On the other hand, for boys the combination of full-time employment and fatherhood is interpreted to be traditional, and the remainder of the options to be modern. In table 4, we have listed the progression of individual choice patterns over the three-year period, according to social class and gender. Most respondents kept to their traditional choice after finishing secondary school (34%), respondents with a constant modern outlook constituted only a sr^iall sub-category (14%). We also notice that upper-class respondents only occasionally turn out to be 'invariably traditional' as opposed to middle- and lower-class respondents. Gender produces even greater contrasts: boys very rarely appear to be 'invariably modern' and, as we already observed, they have more doubts regarding their initially traditional choice as time goes by. For girls it is very much the other way round: they often change from an initially modern choice to a more traditional one. If we take a closer look at the choices of our female respondents first and examine three major categories (invariably traditional, from modern to traditional, invariably modern), we will detect some interesting differences between these groups of girls. Girls sticking to a traditional choice Twenty girls opted for the two- or three-phase model in all three rounds. Although the phrase 'invariably traditional' suggests that these girls all have a clear picture

Educational, Table 4.

professional

and family careers of Dutch youth in the

29

nineties

Changes in traditionalism/modernism of the different employment/parenthood models through the three rounds of interviews (N=l 16), according to social class and gender Class

Gender

Lower Middle Upper

Total

Boys

Girls 14

16 7

Invariably modern

4

3

9

2

Doubt - » modern

1

5

1

1

6

6

Traditional - » modern

2

4

-

2

4

Modern - » doubt

1

2

6

4

5

9

Invariably doubt

1

1

1

1

2

3

Traditional - » doubt

3

7

6

15

1

16

Modern - » traditional

5

3

2

-

10

10

Doubt - » traditional

4

4

1

6

3

9

Invariably traditional

14

21

5

20

20

40

Total

35

50

31

51

65

116

of their futures, again the reality appears more complicated. Their anticipation of a traditional division of parental and professional tasks is attended by quite a few doubts, considerations and insecurities. They realize that modern society allows a considerable variety of possible options and therefore they more or less keep other choices open. The girls who prefer a more traditional division of tasks and want to take main responsibility for bringing up the children, differ as to their individual motives but also share a number of structural features. They all have middle- and lower-class backgrounds and most of them went to senior-secondary vocational education after finishing pre-vocational education. This means they have opted for a clearly joboriented, relatively short-term educational trajectory. However, some go on to higher-vocational or university education, and thereby surpass the educational level of their parents and especially their mothers. Although all of these girls have higher educational and professional aspirations than their own mothers, they still highly value motherhood as such. Over the years, their views on the division of tasks indeed have become less traditional (only 5 opt for the housewife and mother-model in the third round), but they are still determined to 'be there' for their children, especially in the children's early childhood. Whether these girls will further adjust their family-oriented ideas of the future and attach more importance to employment, we do not know. What we do know is, that these girls intend to organize their lives in a more modern way than their mothers, who in many cases stopped working as soon as they had children. What is also remarkable, is that these girls do not intend to let their partners decide if and how they will combine

30

Els Peters

employment and child-raising. They want to make their own choices in life and we consider this to be the main shift between the generations, as it was quite normal and self-evident for the mothers of these girls to adjust their own wishes to their partner's professional career and family planning. Most of these girls seek the solution in re-entering the labour market (part-time) as soon as their children go to school, and expect their partners to assume the role of breadwinner. They do not plan, however, to 'exempt' them from caring tasks and to a certain extent they demand a more active participation than they witnessed by their fathers. Because nearly all these girls still live at home, they have had little opportunity to familiarize themselves with alternative conceptions of the combination of employment and motherhood. Their own mother is their principal role-model and shows them 'what a woman should be like': Part-time employment is fine, but full-time employment conflicts with ideas of 'what a good mother should be like'. Yet once again: the present outlook of these girls does not guarantee anything and will be shaped by subjective motives as well as by labour-market developments in their employment sector. Girls shifting from modern to traditional choices Whereas the above category was identifiable when seen in a socio-historical perspective of traditional norms and practices regarding motherhood and the secondary importance of employment, the category of 'switchers' from modern to traditional is far more elusive. What brings these girls to take a step backward? The ten girls concerned all have social backgrounds and educational levels that strongly resemble the ones we found in the first category. There are, however, three distinct features of this group: Firstly, none of these girls have educational levels higher than senior-secondary vocational education; secondly, half of them already entered the labour market; and thirdly, most of them have steady boyfriends. In the first interview round, they all opted for the combination of part-time employment and motherhood (parallel model 2), even though they expressed their doubts as to the if and how. After a few years of combining professional training or employment with a steady partner - with whom they (also) discuss their futures - it gradually dawns on them that maintaining part-time employment is not as self-evident and easy as they assumed at first. Especially if they plan on having more than one child (most of them expect to have two or three) and do not want to postpone childbirth much longer. Furthermore, girls in this group who are employed often witness the fact that their women colleagues (temporarily) quit their job as soon as they have children. By then, the three-phase model becomes a more suitable and attractive solution - especially for girls with lower-qualified jobs. Although all girls profess to have reached this kind of conclusion without consulting their partners, in the meantime many have already been confronted with a lack of willingness on the part of their boyfriends to support the part-time model. Besides, they know that child-care facilities are hardly

Educational, professional and family careers of Dutch youth in the nineties

31

available and, in case of very young children, they do not like the prospect of day nursery anyway. Not unlike the girls from the first category, these girls also prefer to raise their children themselves for the first couple of years. They too are encouraged to do so by their parents. In other words, on closer inspection the 'switchers' are not all that different from the first category. As such it would be more appropriate to term this group a subcategory in which the three aforementioned features are jointly combined. The main aspects common to both groups are on the one hand that the girls 'demand' of their (present or future) partners to actively support them in the housekeeping and childraising besides their role of breadwinner, and on the other the girls' explicit intention to re-enter the labour market instead of becoming a 'full-time mother', i.e. as they see it: being overwhelmed with housework, isolated from society and totally dependent from their partners. Girls sticking to a modern choice When we speak of 'modern girls', what exactly do we mean by 'modern'? The group concerned consists of fourteen girls who have continuously argued in favour of an egalitarian division of parental and professional tasks over the three-year period. Two of them indicate that their professional career comes first, and they do not intend to have children. Only one girl has stuck to her intention of combining a fulltime job with children. The others have adjusted their wishes and, through the years, have abandoned the idea of full-time employment in favour of part-time employment. The 'modern' girls are mainly from upper-class backgrounds and most of them attend senior-secondary or higher-vocational training or university education. Their parents have high educational levels and their mothers far more often have jobs than is the case with 'traditional' girls. Here, daughters find out that 'it can be done'. Although it should be said that most mothers have part-time jobs (at a middle- or higher-level), acquired by re-entering the labour market later. The daughters go one step further than their mothers. When considering the possibility of part-time employment and part-time caring, they do not think about burdening themselves with the double pressure of both, but of an equal division of tasks. None of these girls expect their partner to become the main breadwinner. They feel it is the responsibility of both partners to take care of children, if they have any at all. For 'modern' girls do not take having children for granted in the way 'traditional' girls do, nor do they know when they want children. With regard to motherhood, they keep their options open and do not want to commit themselves, not even in a hypothetical reaction to our questions. We may conclude that the perspective of our female respondents on their future as 'working women and mothers' is not only influenced by social background, but also by the educational level, employment situation and prospects of the girls themselves and last but not least by the ideas of their partners. It should be noted however that

32

Els Peters

none of the girls - whether they opt for more modern or more traditional models exclude further changes in their perception of the division of tasks, and quite a few girls would not even be surprised if their future life would turn out to be completely different than they expected. T o a certain extent, boys also expect changes in their ideas about organising their 'working life and their life as a father' in the future, but their motivation differs from the girls. This becomes clear when we examine their choices more closely and concentrate on the two major categories

(invariably

traditional; from traditional to doubt).

Boys sticking to a traditional choice Twenty out of a total of 51 boys qualify as 'traditional' as they prefer a genderspecific division of tasks in which they see themselves as the main breadwinner. Contrary to the 'traditional girls', the 'traditional boys' do not share any specific social background and have a wide variety of educational levels, ranging from prevocational to university education, some of them already have a full-time job. This clearly points to a certain conservatism, not only on the part of the boys, but also on the part of the parents and society at large when alternative divisions of tasks for boys are concerned. Public opinion still has not adapted to this idea yet. Considering the imperative demands of the labour market and the fact that most ambitious jobs exclude or discourage part-time employment, this is hardly surprising. It should be noted, however, that these boys do not consider the traditional division of tasks to be the most obvious division. They know that girls' ambitions have changed and reckon with the possibility of their future partners attaching great value to employment and their future role involving more active participation than they witness f r o m their fathers. But most boys leave it to their future partners to solve the 'combination p r o b l e m ' . The three-phase model is especially mentioned by these boys as a convenient solution. If it turns out that their (future) partner wants to maintain a j o b besides caring for the children, these boys realize that a satisfactory agreement will have to be reached. They prepare themselves for 'negotiation'. Thus, the ' o p e n n e s s ' of the future perspectives of these boys is partly forced upon them by the discussion in society about the equal division of paid and unpaid labour, and mainly based on a 'defensive awareness', that has not led to the development of new views about their future roles as fathers. They still prefer a full-time j o b and legitimate this wish by referring to the fact that a career and a part-time j o b do not go together. They hope to meet a partner that underlines their views, but again are not completely sure.

Boys shifting from a traditional choice to doubts The fifteen boys w h o abandoned the 'purely' male standard model over the years not only reckon more strongly with demands that (future) partners might have, they also are less sure about their own preferences. These boys - w h o have upper- and middleclass backgrounds - consider the future to be far away and are much more orientated

Educational,

professional

and family careers of Dutch youth in the

nineties

33

to the present. They concentrate on their study and expect that it will be quite a few years before they enter the labour market. The fact that these boys reckon more strongly with the professional ambitions of their future partners, can be related to their experiences at home. Their mothers not only work outside the home far more often than in the 'traditional' boys' situation, but also have higher educational levels. The question of whether these boys will belong to a generation of men who will take their roles as fathers seriously and will be prepared to arrive at a more flexible division of tasks, is hard to answer. The odds are that their future partners will have the same social background, equally high professional ambitions and equally 'modern' ideas about the division of tasks between men and women. Still, the fact remains that these boys highly value their own professional careers and are not sure whether there will be any room for caring tasks. They wonder whether being a parttime father and only working part-time will interfere with their career. Considering these boys' willingness to communicate and negotiate on the one hand and the ambitions of upper- and middle-class girls with higher educational levels on the other hand, it is to be expected that a suitable agreement will (have to) be reached. Besides, even if both parties will not give up their professional ambitions they probably can afford to buy 'care' more easily, than will be the case for lower educated young men and women. We can conclude that the anticipations of our male respondents are influenced by their awareness of the changes that have taken place in girls' biographies. They all know that they have to reckon with the professional ambitions of their partners. A situation that was reversed in the fifties and sixties. However, when thinking over the possible alternatives, 'traditional boys' feel that they have something to loose (the prospect of a full-time career). To a certain extent, boys who started to doubt expressed the same feeling, but in contrast they also expect to gain something: 'fathering' as a new and fulfilling experience.

6. Discussion In the preceding sections, we have constructed two major typological classifications of the significance of employment in the life course of boys and girls: 1. continuous vs. discontinuous educational and professional trajectories; and 2. 'traditionalists' vs. 'modernists' or 'doubters' with respect to the division of professional and parental tasks. The first type of classification is related to actual transitions in the youth phase, either from secondary education to further education or to the labour market. The second type is largely based on anticipated transitions; entering into (steady) relationships in order to start a family on the one hand, and the division of tasks on the other. We have tried to demonstrate that there is some connection between the actual and

34

Els Peters

the anticipated types of transitions. These connections are not causal but imply an interaction both at the structural and the subjective level. The structuring elements of this interaction are quite complex and render generalizing more difficult, as we have demonstrated by showing how and why boys and girls adjust their educational and professional choices and how their anticipations of relationships and family-building change as time goes by. Nevertheless, we intend to establish a number of trends next. Before we describe these trends we want to point out once more the relativity of the terms 'traditional' and 'modern' we used in the context of the employmentfamily typology. Both at the ideological and the practical level, contemporary boys and girls do not have the gender-specific standard life-course model in mind that their parents' generation had. In this respect the marked contrast between 'modern' and 'traditional' is not altogether functional any more and instead it would be more adequate to perceive given differences in terms of a sliding scale which enables us to differentiate between various subgroups. The result of this is as follows. Family background appears to be of great influence on the way young people anticipate starting a family and the division of tasks between men and women. Lower- and (in some cases) middle-class parents still largely adhere to genderspecific standard life-course models and by transmitting their norms and values through child-raising they shape the expectations of young people. The higher the social background, the more likely it becomes that young people's parents realize alternative life-course models. Their mothers are likely to be employed, their fathers will generally be employed full-time and as a result, discussion about the division of tasks is more likely to occur. As higher educational levels are more common in upper-class families, keeping one's options open and postponing 'definite' choices will also be more likely here. And, conversely, as soon as choices regarding familybuilding are postponed, professional career perspectives with a less traditional bias towards the division of roles between the sexes gain momentum. What is just as important in this respect, is the class-transcending influence of educational choices. A large number of boys and girls choose the type of education that their parents were not able or even willing to achieve and, in doing so, they move towards alternative career models. Even if our data does largely confirm that the connection between social background and educational career still exists, the numerous 'switch'-trajectories and class-transcending educational careers prove that this connection is becoming increasingly indirect, and that the traditional division of labour between the sexes consequently will shift to more differentiated and individualized patterns. A decrease of gender-specific standard life-course models mainly occurs within the large category of 'doubters' and 'switchers'. The fact that within a three-year period so many boys and girls change their views about the division of tasks so often, can be taken as a sign of an increasingly individualized youth-biography. In short, all

35

Educational, professional and family careers of Dutch youth in the nineties

appears to be in a constant state of flux: T o d a y ' s certainties become doubts and who knows what tomorrow will bring? Apart from the choice of education and family background, steady partners

also

appear to have a strong influence on the anticipation of the future. To some extent boys who have girlfriends with strong views on egalitarian division of tasks will certainly adjust their own views, at least for the time being. Conversely, girls especially the ones with unsatisfactory jobs - are also strongly influenced by their partners' wishes. The more their partners reinforce gender-specific role patterns, the more the girls push their own egalitarian preferences with regard to the division of tasks to the background. But, as we have also seen, both boys and girls do prepare for negotiation. The open-endedness of this process should again be taken as a sign of the ongoing individualization of youth-biography. Gender

plays a significant part in the anticipation of the division of tasks.

Especially girls move towards a more egalitarian approach. Over the three-year period more girls than boys stuck to their 'invariably modern' choices or developed a modern conception of the division of tasks. W e also saw, however, that quite a few girls shifted towards a more traditional future perspective. Nearly all of these girls have lower-class backgrounds and low educational levels. This group, together with the 'invariably traditional' girls, constitutes over 50% of the total number of girls. Should we then modify our assumption that girls are more concerned with an egalitarian division of tasks than boys? The answer is twofold. On the one hand, we feel that developments towards equality between teh sexes progress only gradually and do not cause any radical rifts between generations when it comes to views on the position of women. For in the lower classes, gender-specific role models are still more widespread, and upper-class parents already tend to have a more modern approach. On the other hand, we see that at a structural as well as an individual level the contemporary girl-biography has definitely modernized compared to the generation before. The fact that nowadays participation in professional training is completely taken for granted by girls (and their parents) makes this all the more plausible. And as contemporary girls postpone motherhood, a less traditional relation between the sexes becomes even more likely. In the case of 'traditional' boys and girls, we find a significant gender-specific contrast. If we try to explain their traditional conception of the division of tasks, it seems that only the girls treat this topic in terms of an individual

choice as opposed

to choices that are imposed by parents, partners or society. So girls interpret

social

reality in terms of individual choices. This does not relieve youth sociologists of the task of analyzing further the presence of objective limitations and formulating necessary policy plans to eliminate these limitations, but within the framework of our approach of changes in the youth phase, these shifts in the justification

of choices

must be treated seriously. In the case of 'traditionalist' girls, these shifts point towards the longing for an individualized

family

life and a conscious choice for

36

Els Peters

motherhood. This conclusion is supported further by the aversion that these girls apparently have against 'dumping' their children in nurseries. When considering the division of tasks between the sexes, the 'traditionalist' boy does not start from the notion of individuality but rather from a self-evident intergenerational continuity: This is how it has always been, women have always been the ones who raise the children. Still, these boys also see themselves as having a more individualized role as a father or family man and want to be involved in child-raising. This brings us to our final trend: the fact that boys and girls approach the solution of the care vs. employment question from different angles. At the time of our last interview round, re-entering the labour market and part-time employment combined with motherhood appear to be the dominant models for girls, whereas in the case of boys, next to 'doubt', full-time employment and being the breadwinner predominate. How their ideas will develop further and how their lives will turn out, we do not yet know. We can only find this out for certain by monitoring their future steps towards family life. Still, we would like to explore some possible developments here. In the preceding sections we have characterized girls in part-time employment as girls with typically modern life-course plans - after all, they intend to combine employment and family - but in terms of individualization their modernity shows a number of degrees. Some, for instance, prefer to work part-time outside the home for financial reasons or simply for company, whereas others may do so in order to develop themselves or to maintain their economic independence. Again, it remains to be seen where their choices will lead to, but we expect the latter group will concentrate more on negotiating with (future) partners and try harder to achieve their aims. They may even convince their partners to try part-time employment for a while. The choice for the three-phase model can be considered as a more 'traditional' as well as a more 'modern' option. We expect that the 'three-phase modernists' will partly merge with those 'parallel' models which are based on the synchronicity of employment and family. Furthermore, they will apply the model in a way that 'threephase traditionalists' would not; they will (want to) re-enter the labour market at an earlier stage and will not as easily (be prepared to) settle for a low-status and lowpaid job. Over the years, large numbers of boys have abandoned the breadwinner-model, but on the whole, it still remains the first choice. Contemporary boys realize perfectly well that girls have professional ambitions, and seem to take it for granted that girls will want to participate in employment. However, they do not have a clear conception of the everyday practice of child-raising. On the one hand they strongly oppose placing their children in a day nursery during early childhood, but on the other they would not be prepared to give up their chances of achieving their professional ambitions by taking a part-time job. Whether these boys will all persist in the option of full-time employment remains to be seen in the future, only further longitudinal research will tell. Much will depend on the professional ambitions of

Educational,

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and family careers of Dutch youth in the

nineties

37

their future partners and as for their objections to creches, all will depend on future developments in the institution of day nurseries in general, the advancement of parental leave and the availability of part-time jobs with career perspectives. The most interesting category of boys form those w h o have 'doubts' about their future role. It is our v i e w that within the total development of a whole generation of males growing up, this category will prove to be the most potentially changeable. The strongest indication that the male biography is going through a modernization process, is that so many boys have become uncertain about the gender-specific division of tasks and are aware that in the future they may have to shift towards a more egalitarian division of caring and professional tasks.

Notes 1.

2.

3.

4. 5. 6.

7. 8.

The most recent figures of the Central Bureau of Statistics show that 47% of all firstyear students are female and that the relative number of women taking sciences has increased strongly. Some 16 to 17% of first-year students at the technical colleges are females; within social sciences and literature 70% are; within medicine and biology 60% (Mare, 1994). In 1990, 2 out of every 10 young persons entered the labour market after completing a higher education. By the year 2000, the expected ratio will be 3 out of 10. For the ones who do not complete a higher education, the ratio will be 1 out of 10. Consequently, 40% will have participated in higher education as opposed to a mere 12% in 1970 (SCP, 1992°: 56). Because of the explosive increase of the education budget the Dutch Ministry of Education and Sciences has tried to contain this development by reducing grants and linking them to age, duration of studies and progress of studies. Gradually, the emphasis has shifted from a student's rights to his or her obligations. This development is closely linked to the more general discussion about the prospects (and affordability) of the Welfare State. Thus, the same approach of obligations versus rights has also deeply affected unemployed Dutch youth. The 'Jeugd Werk Garantiewet' (JWG; a policy plan to guarantee youth employment) was presented in order to prevent (long-)lasting unemployment of school-leavers. It offers a traineeship after a six-month period of unemployment and, in return, it is expected that the offer will be accepted. The sanction on refusal is a cut in benefits. This relates to the number of employed and unemployed. Until 1957 female civil servants could be officially fired once they got married. Unofficially, this was still applied until the late 1960s. Certain economic policies actively enforce economic independence: if for instance in a situation of living together one of the partners (usually the man) becomes unemployed, the so-called separation allowance (an extra allowance on top of the unemployment benefit) is terminated and the other partner (usually the female) is obliged to start applying for jobs. Compared to 44%, 42% and 41% of British, Danish and Swedish women respectively. In 1960 women, on average, had 3.12 children and by 1985 the average had dropped to 1.5. The most recent population prognosis sets the average at 1.8 children per female and a 20% rate of childlessness (the rates being 1.65 and 27% according to the last prognosis, SCP, 1992a: 26).

38 9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14. 15.

16.

17.

18. 19. 20.

Els Peters The increased interest in the changing youth phase as an aspect of modernization processes is, according to Meeus and 't Hart (1993), partly due to the fact that many of the old myths about youth in general (e.g. youth as 'storm and stress' period, intergenerational conflicts, cultural avant-garde) have been adequately refuted. And, as the authors put it, their refutation has eliminated the main reasons for studying youth in terms of conflict, rebellion or crisis. Gradually it became apparent that 'normal youth' (including the less 'obvious', including girls) had been rather neglected until recently. An exception must be made for the 'Shifts in life-courses' study that involves interviews with 2918 young people (in 1991, 1994 and 1997) about school, employment, sexuality, relationships, and child-parent relationships, because parents are interviewed as well. This study will prove a valuable source of information about Dutch youth in the future (Meeus & 't Hart, 1993). The study was conducted at the University of Leiden, department of Youth Studies & Youth Policy and was also financed by the Ministry of Social Affairs & Employment, the Ministry of Welfare, Public Health & Culture and Kinderpostzegels Nederland Foundation. During the period of research (1988-1992) M. du Bois-Reymond, H. Guit, F. Meijers (until 1990), J. Ravesloot, E. van Rooijen and the author jointly participated in the project. The aim and methods of the project were expounded to pupils in the final years of secondary schools. The total of 149 participants consisted of a main group of 120 and 29 reserves, in case of drop-outs, who would serve to maintain the sample rate over the years. Between the first and second rounds 10 participants dropped out; between the second and third rounds 4 did. We take the relatively low rate as a sign of strong involvement in the project on the part of the respondents. Their general reaction to the first interview was one of great enthusiasm and many soon became interested in their 'continuing story'. We on our part tried to encourage involvement by keeping the respondents informed about the progress of the project. For that purpose we sent them interim reports in the paper Tussenstop (Stop Over) between the interviews. Since ethnicity was no selection criterion, the distribution of ethnic groups was defined by the enrolment of participants alone. The number totalled 1 boy and 5 girls, all of whom went to Dutch infant and primary schools. Also cf. note 12. For a discussion about the intergenerational aspects of the research project and the differentiation of youth-generations, cf. also: du Bois-Reymond, Peters, & Ravesloot, 1994; Peters, 1992; Peters, 1993; Peters, Guit, & van Rooijen, 1992. In the first round of parent-interviews 48 parent couples, 12 individual mothers and 12 individual fathers participated. So, on the basis of the first round we had data on 72 (in)complete families at our disposal. Our aim was to bring together 50 parent couples for the second round, but only 36 out of the 48 couples from the first round volunteered again. We recruited another 4 'new' couples and ended up with a second round sample of 40 parent couples. As for the individual mother- and father-respondents from the first round, only 7 mothers and 3 fathers again participated in the second round. In order to avoid a subjective interpretation of the material, the abstracts were doublechecked by a second researcher who compared them to the original tape recordings. Each protocol was counter-encoded by a second encoder in order to guarantee maximum inter-codal reliability. The educational trajectories refer to the following categories: 1. standard transferees follow the standard routes through the Dutch educational system; 2. commuters are young people whose educational trajectory is characterized by up- and downwards fluctuations between and within secondary and higher education;

Educational,

professional

and family

careers of Dutch youth in the

nineties

39

3. interrupters temporarily interrupted their study after the exam of secondary education and went back to school again after a year of travelling/working; 4. drop-outs left school without a diploma and are working full- of part-time. The three professional trajectories concern the following categories: 1. employed youth took up a full- or part-time job directly after passing their exam; 2. job/training combination·, 3. in & out employment pattern concerns young people whose professional trajectory is characterized by disruption (they did not get a job directly after finishing their education, had to go into the army, or got unemployed), frequently changing of employer or by an in and out pattern (periods of employment and unemployment).

2. Courtship and Sexuality in the Youth Phase Janita Ravesloot Leiden University, The Netherlands

1. Introduction What does it mean to young people to grow up socially and sexually these days? What choices do they face now that social class, gender, religion and tradition no longer provide the necessary guidelines, and the individual can instead largely determine his or her own life-course? The traditional 'standard biographical' lifecourse, involving falling in love, followed by engagement, marriage and having children is hardly a self-evident trajectory any more. The new sexual morality does not imply a completely laissez-faire attitude however: The justification of sexual contacts is merely in the hands of the individual now and is no longer connected to marriage, which used to be the ultimate justification of a full sexual relationship. Given the increased range of options, it has become more and more necessary for young people to reflect on their own actions: What made me choose this particular partner? D o I want to g o to bed with this person? What do I expect from our relationship? Surprisingly little is known about the way contemporary young people experience such an increased range of options during their youth phase. Quantitative research and, even more so, general studies of the 'individualized youth phase' too easily assume that all young people avail themselves of the opportunity of sexual and relational freedom (Vogels & van der Vliet, 1990). Only recently, qualitative studies have put this image in perspective (Naber 1992; Peters 1992; Vennix, Curfs, & Ketting, 1993). Because of the increased options, contemporary parents are faced with the demand of developing ' n e w ' child-rearing skills. They are much more involved in the social world of their children than former generations of parents. Y o u n g people today tend to live at home for a longer period of time (Latten, 1991), and as a result, parents become to some extent confronted with the sexual lives of their sons and daughters. How do parents - most of whom have themselves been brought up in the context of restrictive sexual morality - interact with their children under these circumstances? From the scarce evidence on the subject it becomes apparent that contemporary

42

Janita Ravesloot

parents are not active supporters in the field of sexuality, whereas multiple studies point a connection between a general attitude of concern and support on the parents' part and a more capable attitude towards sexuality on the youth's part (du BoisReymond & Ravesloot, 1994; Rademakers & Ravesloot, 1993). What is interesting, is the question of whether young people actually expect such specific support from their parents and whether parents would like to think of themselves as supporters in the field of sexuality. In the following pages, we will be dealing with two questions: 1. How do contemporary young people give shape to the status passages of relationship development and sexuality? And how do they justify their decisions?, 2. What kind of support is offered to them by their parents in this area ? In section 2 we present the theoretical context from which our line of questioning, the research method and subsequent analysis of data were generated. Section 3 offers an outline of social developments from the 1950s to the 1990s in the field of sexuality. Next, we present the data we acquired from our research, concentrating on the opinions and demands of young people in connection with sexuality and relationships (4), their uncertainties about sexual behaviour and relationships (5 and 6), their expectations vis-ä-vis their partners (7) and future relationship trajectories (8). Section 9 offers a further exploration of the subject of parental support and in section 10 we shift perspectives by concentrating on the data from the parent interviews: What support do they offer in their own view? Finally, we evaluate the results (11) in the light of the historical transition from a standard biography to an individualized youth biography.

2. Theoretical context, sample and research method In the 1950s and 1960s, the youth phase was characterized by the anticipation of heterosexual maturity: Young people were determined to reach this stage as soon as possible. Ideally, this involved: completing an education, finding a job to earn the daily bread, going steady with a future partner in marriage, getting engaged, getting married and building a family. According to this standard biography, men were supposed to be breadwinners, whereas women took care of the housekeeping and family affairs. Within the traditional framework, which was strongly gender- and class-orientated, sexuality derived its significance from the context of a steady relationship which was exclusively directed towards marriage. The aims were clearcut: finding a person to court, becoming engaged to him or her, and postponing the first coitus until the wedding night. Of course, no sexual experimentation was allowed during the youth phase. Young people simply had to observe this explicit norm and parents had to see to it that they did. Thirty years later, normal biographical norms and values have lost a great deal of their significance and a transition to an increasingly individualized youth phase has become evident:

Courtship and sexuality in the youth phase

43

1. The autonomy of young people has increased considerably, in spite of their economic dependence and a prolonged period of living at home, young people have the freedom to evade parental control and hang around with peers of both sexes. As a result of the prolonged youth phase, a youth's main meeting places are the classroom, the school yard, and - in spare time - his or her own room, the shopping centre, the pub and the discotheque. Already in their early teens, children make extensive use of their ample leisure time and opportunities to consume. 2. The room for sexual and relational experimentation has increased; young people are allowed to enter into relationships and develop a sexual life independently and without any commitment to marriage. Contraceptives have become widely accepted. 3. The room for negotiation has increased', parent-child relationships have become less and less characterized by authoritarian features. Young people no longer submit to their parents' demands, but instead consider it their right to demand explanations for the educational measures taken by their parents. Moreover, since the educational career of contemporary young people has also been prolonged and the influence of peers has intensified, parents feel obliged to reckon with the norms and lifestyles of the peers of their children, including their ideas about sexuality. In spite of the fact that gender and class no longer structure the life-course of young people to the extent that they used to, several studies have pointed to genderspecific trends: A prolonged and individualized youth phase is most common in upper-class families, and boys appear to make use of 'their new freedoms' more than girls do (Buchmann, 1989; Peters, 1992). On the one hand, there is a positive side to the increased autonomy and room for negotiation that young people have gained: After all, they benefit from the liberty that previous generations have struggled to achieve. But on the other hand, an increased range of options also entails a certain amount of strain. Young people have to maintain the balance between freedom of choice and obligation of choice. Whether they choose or not or postpone one, they will have to justify it. What is also expected of them is the versatility to adjust their orientations, since sexual relationships end easily as they get started and living together or being married does not necessarily imply a relationship 'for life'. Young people have to think in advance and plan their future, but at the same time they hardly know what the future has in store. This requires a considerable amount of flexibility and openness on the part of contemporary youth. How do young people act in such a field of tension? What dilemmas of orientation do they encounter now that the development of socio-sexual identity and its integration in society are no longer promoted by self-evident (standard-biographical) tradition but are instead determined by (choice-biographical) decisions of the individual? Although sociologists generally hold a positive view of the changes that have moved the parent-child relationship in the direction of negotiation and equality, at

44

Janita

Ravesloot

least in the specific educational area of sexuality there is another side to the picture. Contemporary parents adhere to the principle that the ultimate goal of child-rearing is the encouragement of the independence and autonomy of their children. From an early age, young people understand that they have a right to demand explanations, to be respected and to have privacy. Numerous studies have pointed out that both generations are willing to discuss and negotiate when educational or professional careers are brought up. Also, parents are always there for their children in situations involving general emotional problems. However, when young people encounter questions and dilemmas concerning sexuality, most parents appear to back out as equal discussion-partners: They do not attempt to create an open atmosphere and instead keep a low profile (Ravesloot & du Bois-Reymond, 1992). Most contemporary parents were themselves brought up under the regime of a 'culture of obedience' in that their own parents simply did not permit any intimate interaction with the opposite sex or smothered all discussion of the subject of sexuality. Today's parents are able to justify their approach of non-intervention by referring to an ideology that tells them to permit their children considerable liberties, even though for a majority of parents such non-communication is strongly related to remaining sexual taboos. At the same time, the media create the impression of 'modern' parents and children mutually sharing their most intimate experiences and questions. The media largely contribute to the establishment of new norms: Open family discussions are portrayed as a 'must'. Parents sometimes experience this external pressure as a burden. As for young people, they are 'confronted' with the sexual lives of their peers via films, television and magazines twenty-four hours a day. There is, in other words, a competition going on between old and new values with regard to sexuality. Questions such as the ones we raised in the preceding section should only be tackled by means of longitudinal qualitative research. Processes of interpreting the meaning of sexuality and relationships and the developments and changes that these processes undergo, play themselves out over a period of years. As such, a snap-shot would not do: Processes of deciding and interpreting do not fit the format of a survey. Biographical interviews appear far more appropriate. Since 1988, the qualitative and longitudinal project "Youth, Parent and Work" has been in progress (cf. contribution of Els Peters). The research has involved the monitoring of 120 young people and the way they handle their options both in the field of education and work and in the field of their private lives (relationships with peers and parents, socio-sexual development). Our research was conducted by means of semi-structured biographical interviews on a yearly basis. Furthermore, we separately interviewed the parents of each youth-respondent. The first interview took place when the respondents were between 16 and 19 years of age. All the boys and girls were still living at home then and about to take their final exams (ranging from lower vocational to preuniversity education). They had widely different backgrounds in terms of social class. The 1988 interviews did not explore the topic of sexuality at any great depth; only from the second round on did we treat the subject more extensively, because by

45

Courtship and sexuality in the youth phase

then we had gained the confidence of our respondents. The first thing we noticed was a discrepancy between the uncomplicated and emancipated image that exists of contemporary youth on the one hand, and the way our respondents pictured themselves, on the other. This made us concentrate especially on the topics of sociosexual development of young people and intra-family communication during the second and third rounds of interviews (1990-1992). W e asked our respondents about their relational and sexual needs, their sexual morality and the confusing aspects of it, their sexual careers and the support offered by significant others in the process of socio-sexual maturation. We focused on the sexual and relational lives of our respondents not as an isolated aspect, but rather as an integral part of their overall life-course model. In doing so, we systematically differentiated between their actual opinions and behaviour here and now and their anticipation of the future.

3. From suppression to the acceptance of sexuality in the youth phase Contemporary parents grew up in a setting in which the authority of the church determined the perception of corporality as socially acceptable only in the context of the institutions of marriage and family. 1 Education was not aimed at imparting knowledge, but instead it promoted sexual restraint and submission of sexual needs to spiritual and moral values. Sexual education was a family matter and if by any chance the parents were not up to the task, there was always the doctor, the youth leader, the minister or the priest to take care of it (van Drenth, 1991; de Graaf, 1989). Furthermore, no effective contraceptives were available then and, consequently, a 'slip' was viewed as dangerous. Finally, a housing shortage meant that newlyweds had in many cases no other option than to live with their parents for a long time until a place was allotted to them. Given these circumstances, it is hardly surprising that studies on the topic of 'youth and sexuality' in the post-war Netherlands provide considerable information on sexual norms and values, but hardly any on their actual

behaviour.2

Premarital sex was prohibited, but did young people observe such restrictive morals? By the end of the 1940s, a number of office holders and pedagogues were not so sure any more. In 1948, the Ministry of Education and Science commissioned seven research institutes to study the so-called 'mass youth' because of a deep concern for the moral degeneration that was supposed to have occurred in the postwar Netherlands (Meijers & du Bois-Reymond, 1987). Under the influence of postwar industrialization and urbanization, the self-evidence of mutual attention, help, and control of familial and local relationships was replaced by the pragmatization of urban culture. Mass entertainment and growing emphasis on consumption

and

entertainment as such put considerable pressure on the existing framework of personal relationships (van den Heuvel, 1993). Two areas of transition to adulthood in particular seemed to give cause for concern: professional career and sexuality.

46

Janita Ravesloot

Especially of girls from the lower social classes, it was thought that the rather abrupt transition to a life of (unskilled) factory labour and exposure to overt sexual behaviour in the workplace and urban night life would create premature sexual maturation with supposedly devastating results. Yet, more highly educated young women would also meet with problems because their status made them less attractive as future wives. Long- lasting engagements - partly because of the housing shortage - were assumed to cause tensions which would eventually find expression in premarital sexual intercourse. One of the first Dutch youth studies (Saal, 1950) shows that there was far less reason for concern than most politicians, pedagogues, and clerical groups were assuming at the time: A majority of Dutch young people still adhered to the view that sexuality and marriage should remain directly linked. When asked about the permissibility of sexual intercourse with a person one was not engaged or married to, 90% of the young men and 97% of the young women responded negatively. Having intercourse with the person one was engaged to was repudiated by 71% of the men and by 86% of the women, whereas 29% and 14% respectively did not object to it (Saal, 1950: table VII). Male respondents on average held a more tolerant view of intercourse before or during engagement than did the female respondents. Besides gender, denomination also played a role: Dutch Reformed and Roman Catholics appeared the least tolerant; Reformed, Liberal Protestants and other denominations were somewhat more tolerant, and the nondenominational respondents appeared the least restrictive. But what did young people actually do in the field of sexuality? Kooij (1985) came up with an answer by interviewing adults about their first coital experiences. His data show that most Dutch young men and women in the 1950s had sexual experiences before marriage (table 1): Table 1. Coital experiences before marriage, according to age (percentages) Men

Women

1917-1931

61

55

1932-1946

77

68

1947-1956

82

81

1957-1960

87

86

Year of birth

(Source: Kooij, 1985: 28, table 9)

As Kooij points out, within the first two birth cohorts men report premarital sexual experiences more often than women do, but the difference between the sexes diminishes over the decades. Still, the status passage remained associated with a steady partner in most cases. The average age at which young people married was about 27/28 for men bom from 1945 to 1960, and 25 for women born in the same period.

Courtship and sexuality in the youth phase

47

The Dutch sociological literature published after 1955 clearly detached itself from the pedagogic concern about the 'degeneration' of youth; attention and interest shifted towards youth and its cultural manifestations (Abma, 1990; van Hessen, 1965), and more strictly sociologically focused studies from abroad acquired prominence (Coleman, 1961; Eisenstadt, 1956; Schelsky, 1957). Although the 1950s and 1960s can be characterized as a period of transition from traditional to modern social structures which would eventually produce a whole new configuration of youth and a liberalization of sexual morality and behaviour, subsequent enquiries show that young people still prefer 'observing the rules': "... the modus vivendi that today's youth shows signs of, can briefly be formulated as idealism plus conformism ..." (Goudsblom, 1959: 155). The aspect of conformism becomes apparent from responses to the question of whether fidelity to one's partner was considered necessary. The answer was a massive 'yes': no less than 93%. But at the same time, something appeared to have changed: For instance, a vast majority of young people (81%) saw no objection to unmarried couples going on vacation together - a score that would have been unthinkable a decade earlier. Slowly but surely the traditional ties between sexuality and marriage had overtly begun to stretch. Because of generally heightened standards of living, the prolonged period of schooling and the rise of the media, a juvenile subculture gradually emerged in which a more liberal sexual climate in turn developed. Subsequently, the area of sexual corporality became the battlefield of intergenerational conflicts. Meanwhile, boys and girls had gained far more opportunities to meet outside the control of their parents and other educators. Birth control for young people was still a taboo, the sale of condoms to younger persons being officially prohibited in the Netherlands up until 1969. When girls were first allowed to take the pill on prescription at the beginning of the 1970s, the normative connection love-marriage-sexuality-reproduction became seriously pressured (van der Vliet, 1990). Ketting (1990: 76) calls this development the 'liberation' of juvenile sexuality. Later studies also point to liberalization. However, one major difference between pre-1960s and more recent research lies in the fact that the active role of the individual in sexual development has gained considerable attention. Instead of youth as an 'object' of biological or environmental influence, what has now become more important is the approach of young people making their own decisions at given moments in their lives, independently determining the direction and pace of their development and adjusting it to fit their own demands and abilities (Rademakers & Ravesloot, 1993). The concept of sexual development now becomes defined as a social learning process. In the middle of the 1980s, a number of sexual autobiographies of, and indepth interviews with young people were analyzed on the basis of this definition. The analysis produced a theoretical-descriptive model for establishing the course of youth sexual development. Between the ages of twelve and twenty, young people go

48

Janita Ravesloot

through a process of development which can roughly be divided in four

stages

(Rademakers & Straver, 1986): 1. At the beginning of puberty (at the ages of 12 to 13), interest in the physical is expressed by an initial unaccustomedness with the changes of the youth's body as well as by an interest in the physicality of peers, irrespective of their sex. Conversely, it becomes clear to the social environment that the youth is on his or her way to becoming an adult man or woman. To parents and other educators, the beginning of puberty marks the point at which to begin sexual education, although parents generally hesitate to make an overtly 'stimulating' impression in doing so. With girls, the first menstruation and the risks of first pregnancy are the subjects most frequently discussed; with boys, the main concern is a girl's pregnancy as a result of not using contraceptives. Recent studies have shown that Dutch parents do stress the necessity of ' s a f e ' sex (te Poel & Ravesloot, 1994). During the first stage of their socio-sexual development young people hang around with members of their own sex primarily in groups. They take an example from the others and draw each other's attention to the strange and exciting aspects of the opposite sex. Yet, at this stage, the interest in sexuality and sexual differences is chiefly theoretical and hardly ever a practice. The second stage, covering the ages of 14 to 15, shows contacts with the opposite sex becoming gradually more intimate. Young people at some point start to detach themselves from their peer group and try a more individual approach. Also, many uncertainties and considerable agitation emerge: "How do I go about it?" During the third stage (ages 16 to 17), young people have their first (brief) courtships and experiments with petting. Step by step, they progress from cuddling to caressing parts of the body on top of and underneath clothing, fondling genital parts, petting naked, and having intercourse. Generally, and with girls especially, this stage is not 'all roses': Sometimes sexual contacts go farther than they would like (Marneth, 1990). Towards the end of puberty, around the age of 18-19, young people tend to enter into one or more lasting relationships. As opposed to the exploration of making love as such at the previous stage, in this fourth stage the relational aspect becomes crucially important. The emotional commitment between partners tends to intensify, and gradually young people feel more and more capable in mastering this developmental task (Rademakers & Ravesloot, 1993). Of late, interest in large-scale quantitative studies of 'normal' sexual development has renewed. The advantage of this type of study is that it gives insight into what young people of given categories do at what age in the present era of the 'individualized life-course'. However, such research does not sufficiently elucidate our present questions: How do young people interpret their sexuality and entry into relationships in the context of the individualized youth phase and, notably, how do parents contribute to these developments?

49

Courtship and sexuality in the youth phase

4. Young people on sexuality and relationships 'Love more important than their health' proclaimed a Dutch newspaper headline last summer. 3 Girls and boys of 11 to 17 years of age worry the most about love, being in love and courtship, as it appeared from an inquiry of 400 pupils. Moreover, each and every youth magazine frequently publishes articles on intimate relationships and thereby suggests that young people live turbulent, dynamic sexual lives. Young people are virtually flooded with tips and advice on how they should give meaning to their sexuality. Homosexuality is allowed, as are lesbian relationships, and all is debatable - at least in the media. Contrary to the suppression of the preceding generation, what now seems to be the norm is 'experimenting'. But are young people really all that self-assured? One of the most revealing results from our research is that the category of 'youth' is not half as homogenous as large-scale studies and the media are suggesting. Different anticipations of adulthood coincide with different interpretations of steady, casual or absent relationships. A second outcome concerns gender-specific differences in interpretations and behaviour: Girls have a more positive attitude towards sex within steady relationships (in their own estimation) than do boys. A closer look at demands and opinions Nearly all respondents feel that everyone should make out for themselves choices to make in the field of sexuality, or, as Leo (17) puts it:

what

'... I think that everyone has the right to do as he pleases. You are not going to interfere, for it's none of your business. I mean, you should show respect (for a girl) ... but in the end it's for you to decide (...) whether you do it with boys or girls or to be gay or not.'

The 'new' values do not promote any specific type of behaviour, but a respect for individual choices - which as such is a sign of increased individualization. The choices as indicated by the respondents are as follows (table 2): Table 2.

The respondent's attitude towards sexuality (1988), in absolute numbers, according to gender Boys

Girls

Sex is permissible within casual relationships

18

9

27

Sex is permissible within steady relationships only

30

51

81

Total

Sex is permissible within marriage only

-

1

1

I don't know

4

2

6

Missing

2

3

5

54

66

120

Total

50

Janita Ravesloot

In their final years of secondary education, well over half of all the boys and four fifths of all the girls stated that they preferred going to bed with a person within a steady relationship. Such preferences are legitimized by individual motives. Anneke (20): Ί find it hard, although I can understand it if people want to have sex with a person just like that, but I myself first need to get to know a person better, otherwise it's all pretty embarrassing and I can't imagine myself enjoying it like that. On the other hand, if you go steady for some time, you feel free to do more because you know what to expect from each other.'

The main thing is feeling free to discuss what you do or don't like, and the partner should be worth 'sharing such intimate subjects' with. Or there should be mutual love and understanding. As Simone (17) puts it: Ί wouldn't even consider just going to bed with someone I have known for only one evening or something; I'd save that for later, when I'd be really sure that he loves me (...) when it's worth it. It's a matter of security ... ('What do you mean by that?') Well, knowing you can depend on each other ...'.

Here, aspects of self-protection are also involved: When you make love to someone you hardly know (at all), chances are that 'confronting situations' may occur in which certain limits are transgressed. Apart from that, young people appear to find it more difficult to agree on the use of the most effective contraceptives with a strange partner. A considerably smaller group of young people - consisting of boys more than of girls - does not exclude intercourse with varying partners for reasons such as the challenge of sex, the 'fun and excitement' of having intimate contacts with a person you hardly know and 'the kick of pushing the limits'. An element of freedom is involved as well: 'The next morning, you just pack your things without being bothered by a steady relationship'. Finally, it can simply be pleasant, like with Wim (18): 'If you feel attracted to each other without having a steady relationship, I think you could still have a nice time having sex, but it must come from both sides'.

A small group (again more boys than girls) didn't know how to answer. They all reduce their uncertainties to their lack of sexual experience, except for one girl who positively prefers the 'old' morals according to which sex belongs to the domain of marriage. These different demands and opinions on sexuality appear to be rather unrelated to social class and age, but not to gender: Twice as many girls as boys associate sexual intercourse with steady relationships. This result has partly to do with the persistence of certain double standards that were an everyday reality until the beginning of the 1970s. Girls are still supposed to mind their reputation and cannot afford to act too freely in public (Naber, 1992). More girls than boys lay down the condition of

51

Courtship and sexuality in the youth phase

feeling safe with the other before making love (cf. Marneth & Ravesloot, 1991; Neubauer, 1990; Ravesloot, 1992 b ). Boys, on the other hand, are allowed to gain experience - which could also put pressure on them - and openly express their 'liberal' sexual ideas without risking social censure for being a 'loose liver'. When we study the actual needs or wishes of young people, it appears that casual relationships are the least favoured: Most boys and girls either prefer a steady relationship or decide to stay independent (at least) for a while (table 3): Table 3. Present relational preferences of the respondent, according to gender (1988) Boys

Girls

Steady relationship

25

35

60

No relationship

15

25

40

Casual relationship

14

5

19

-

1

1

Missing Total The steady

54

66

Total

120

relationship

Young people who now prefer steady relationships can roughly be divided in two categories: 1. The boys and (especially) girls who interpret steady relationships in terms of permanence and continuity. They would rather meet their 'knight/lady in shining armour' right away, enter into a happy relationship and ultimately marry. In this context, being faithful to one another is taken for granted, and although it is never explicitly stated, these young people seem to have the 'ideal romantic love' in mind. Reaching adulthood in their view presupposes a steady relationship and that is their goal. This category is represented by middle- and lower-class youth especially. Carla (17): Ί want steady relationship ('And why is that?') ... well, when you go out with one boyfriend after another, it does not lead anywhere, I mean, you'll never be able to say: I love you. It just wouldn't mean anything. You know, it's not something you tell a person for the fun of it. You meet a person and say: This is the one. And that's the one you stick to ... become engaged to and eventually marry.' 2. The second group contains more boys than girls and is characterized by middleand upper-class youth who use a less traditionally defined concept of 'steadiness'. They do not exactly aim for permanence, but rather for monogamy as long as the relationship

lasts. They actually mix the old ideal of monogamy with new cultural

values such as 'satisfaction n o w ' . However, they do not rule out the possibility of having a number of subsequent steady relationships until they meet 'the one' (serial monogamy) or simply feel ready to commit themselves. As Peter (19) puts it:

52

Janita Ravesloot 'Right now I do have a girlfriend and I'm also thinking about getting married eventually, but not with my present girlfriend because she is like, you know, for the time being, for fun. I just don't think it's going to work between us and she feels very much the same way, so, luckily, that won't be to much of a problem. But for now we're doing fine like this.'

No

relationships

The ones who explicitly do not want relationships are mainly lower- and middleclass girls who feel they are simply too young to commit themselves yet. By the time they start further education there is 'still plenty of time to start seriously looking around'. Thus, future orientations are certainly of some influence on their outlook. We can reasonably assume that these girls will at some point shift towards the first category of 'steady-relationship youth'. As Pien (17) points out: Ί still don't seem to find the time for boyfriends yet. I'm always busy, you know, busy horseback riding, busy with my homework, so I expect I'll meet him after finishing school ... but once I meet the right one, then I'll be happy to divide my time ... ('And exactly what sort of relationship do you have mind?') ... a steady one, being meant for each other.'

Yet another category of no-relationship youth is formed by those who are strictly oriented towards the peer group, like Patrick (18): 'No seriously, I have lots of friends, knowing just about everyone in town (...) w e have a load of fun, the whole gang of us, it's like being drawn to each other, always being on the move ... so I don't need a relationship, at least not yet (...) of course in a years time I wouldn't like to be on my own, but right now we're having a whale of a time.'

Casual

relationships

Next, we distinguish a group of young people (containing more boys than girls) who explicitly prefer casual relationships. Their motives are largely similar to the ones we found with the no-relationship group. These respondents, from the middle and upper classes, in other words wish to experiment without committing themselves and act accordingly. They refuse to wait for the one in shining armour (for they don't believe in fairy tales) and so they enjoy the here and now. These boys are the least standardbiographically orientated. The few girls from the casual relationship group all want a boyfriend but, as opposed to the boys, they exclude coital sex. Having that in their view means attachment, which is exactly what they do not want yet. These girls are lower and middle class. Their orientation resembles the one from the steady-relationship group the most. Machteld (18): Ί hate to think of it yet, going to bed with someone and realizing that's it. I mean, you have to be absolutely sure first, knowing it's right. So, at present, I do have a boyfriend (...) but it's not steady or anything (...) because we're not going to bed with each other, no.'

Courtship and sexuality in the youth phase

53

While still in their final year of secondary school, most young people opted for having either a steady relationship or none at all. Two years later, a group of 'doubters' emerges, who now hesitate which type of relationship they want. The doubting girls, mainly from the upper classes, appear to have developed a sceptical attitude towards relationships. A s for they want to remain independent or enter into 'living-apart-together'(l.a.t.)-relationships, they just don't know yet and neither do they feel the need to know. A s for the boys, mainly from the lower classes, they have become uncertain because of the pangs of love they suffered. Nearly all respondents have a heterosexual orientation. Only one boy preferred a homosexual relationship in 1988, and two girls did not rule out the possibility of lesbian relationships. Anke ( 1 9 ) was one o f them: 4 ' W e l l , perhaps I also take to girls, you never know, maybe I ought to try it o n c e . With me, everything is still possible.'

B y 1 9 9 0 , each of these three young people has focused his or her attention on heterosexual relationships exclusively, 'as it happened'.

5. Sexual and relational careers of young people As we have seen, a majority o f young people initially opt for sex within a steady relationship regardless o f social class or gender; casual relationships appear to be far less popular. W e now move from the level of opinion to the level o f factual behaviour and investigate changes in sexual choices and justifications over the years. Table 4 (next page) summarizes the responses. 5 What becomes apparent from this table is that a majority of young people have already had more or less intimate sexual experiences during their secondary school days. W e also notice that sexual contact is not always a feature o f steady relationships, although coital sex usually coincides with the latter category. Most respondents shift from 'casual' to 'steady' and, accordingly, from 'hardly intimate' to 'intimate' contacts within a period o f two years. W e only find actual stability at the extremes o f the scale: the category without any sexual experience at all and the one with steady coital relationships. Three girls with long educational trajectories have shifted from steady coital relationships to increasingly

casual

'experimental' relationships. W e will now examine the various groups o f young people successively and concentrate on their motivations and experiences during the 1 9 8 8 round of interviews, i.e. when they were all still living with their parents and were about to take their finals.

54

Janita

Table 4.

Ravesloot

Relational context of sexual experiences, 1988-1990 1(1988) Boys

Girls

No sexual experience

20

15

Casual petting

14

Steady petting Casual coital relationship

111 (1990) Boys

Girls

35

11

5

16

17

31

5

6

11

4

11

15

6

11

17

9

1

10

11

2

13

Steady coital relationship

6

19

25

18

41

59

Missing

1

3

4

3

1

4

54

66

120

54

66

120

Total

Total

Total

Young people with no sexual experience Well over a quarter of the respondents (35) profess to have had no sexual experience whatsoever during their secondary school years. Some have only kissed with a person from time to time. We discern two subgroups: 1. Young people who deliberately postpone sexual contacts. This group consists of girls at lower educational levels and boys at higher educational levels. Most female 'postp o n e s ' wait for 'Mr. Right'. Experimenting as such is not done, as Anne (16) states: Ί hope you're not suggesting I would hit the sheets with a boy simply because he looks good or acts nice? I mean, you can't judge a person merely by his looks, it's just not done, at least that's how I feel about it.'

Furthermore, these respondents consider themselves too young (averaging 16 years of age). They only want to enter into sexual relationships when they are more 'mature'. In other words, when they have a job with a regular income, live on their own and have a steady relationship that will (hopefully) end in marriage. After passing their finals, a majority of this group attended full-time further education and has kept living with their parents. They usually spend their spare time with their soul mates. In most cases, their family cultures involve strict rules concerning regular hours, hanging out with peers and sexual behaviour. However, these rules tend to become less restrictive as the girls grow older. Mieke (16): Ί don't want anything to do with it (intimate relationships) and my parents know it. She (her mother) trusts I won't do it, you know, at my age, and I feel very much the same. I spend most of my time with my best friend, who is very dear to me, ... and the boyfriend ... will have to wait until I finish school.'

The male 'postponers' are a few years older on average and most of them plan to attend further education (university or higher vocational) after passing their finals. These boys don't rule out having different relationships or experimenting later on, but for the time being they prefer not to: They fully concentrate on qualifying,

55

Courtship and sexuality in the youth phase

moving into rooms, hanging out with their friends, listening to music and having fun. With regard to sexuality their norms appear to be extremely liberal. Everyone should do as he pleases and they feel the same applies to themselves. W h a t ' s more, they feel their parents fully support this approach. Leo (18): 'No, I avoid it all ... I don't like the idea of girlfriends and things like that. Maybe at some point in the future I will.'

2. Male youth with lower educational levels who have followed (part-time) further education after passing their finals. The main difference between this group and the one above lies in the fact that they very much want to gain sexual

experience

but

have not yet had the chance. As for their parents, they do not interfere with the lives of their children and do not impose restrictive rules with regard to girlfriends or sexuality. This group of boys reflects an extremely liberal attitude towards sexuality: One does not actually need to know a person well in order to have sexual contacts. Exactly when they will ever have a steady relationship they don't know, and this does not seem to interest them either. Oscar (18): 'Most boys have steady girlfriends and a friend of mine is getting engaged on July the first, which to me sounds really absurd, I mean, being nineteen and all. I'm not ready for it yet, steady relationships, but ... I wouldn't mind a girlfriend occasionally ... but where do you meet such a person ... like a kind of casual (sexual) relationship ... but only when I've settled, like, o w n a house, then I'll go steady.'

Young people and casual relationships One third of the respondents had experiences with making love within casual relationships, which implied that being faithful to each other, permanence and affection were of secondary importance. W e should bear in mind that this applies to young people with and without coital experiences. Most of them have a middle- and (predominantly) upper-class background, and most of them have not had intercourse with anyone yet. Still, this does not mean they avoid sexual contacts: They do experiment with sexuality, but at the same time they have a strong sense of limits. Christel (18): 'Going steady is still a bit too serious for me (...) also, w h o is the right one for me? Right now, I'm not going to sleep with a boy I hardly know at all (...) it does make you more mature, exploring each other ... sex is something to gradually discover, which is a bit scary at times ... do boys like me? But also: D o I think he's worthy of it?'

Some, like Wim (19), need to feel ready for it first: 'I've had several girlfriends for kissing and things, but I've never slept with a girl. Once I have a steady relationship, then probably will ... but at the moment I need to be alone for a while, to straighten things out, so having a girlfriend does not fit in. It's better without one.'

Ten respondents (9 boys and 1 girl) stated that they had slept with their partners within casual relationships, like Jack (18):

56

Janita Ravesloot 'Well, when w e first met, I thought she looked great and she kind of felt the same about me, so we both thought: Why not? It's a pity she's living in Amsterdam and I'm not, but when we meet over the weekends, w e really enjoy it. What she does in between, that's her business; w e don't have any fixed arrangements.'

The one (lower-class) girl in this category characterizes herself as an unlucky person: 'It just happened to me, while I was only looking for security'. She clearly made a different assessment of their relationship than her boyfriend did. He didn't take things half as seriously. If she had known beforehand just how unstable their relationship really was, she wouldn't have gone to bed with him. The boys on the other hand had all made the decision not to postpone 'it' any longer and just do it. They all characterize their family cultures as liberal and most of their parents indeed do not interfere with the sexual lives of their sons. Young people with steady

relationships

One third of the respondents had experiences with steady relationships. Again, within this group, we find both young people who do and young people who don't sleep with their partners and again we find the postponing approach: (lower- and middleclass) girls who postpone coital sex with their boyfriends in order to avoid making a wrong assessment. They may not want to marry all in white, but in the end they certainly want to enter their relationship as such. What matters most is exactly when and on what basis to decide to commit themselves. As long as they remain uncertain about this, they generally postpone coital sex. Miriam (18): 'My mother keeps telling me to take a boyfriend and go out with him, s o that's what I did. But now they're worried about me going to bed with him, which I'd never do ... I completely agree with them ... once I'm convinced that he's the one, then I probably will ... well, that is a tough one you have to find out, and as long as you're not sure, you shouldn't do it.'

Boys are far less concerned with this dilemma. They take a rather different position: ' I ' m not really ready for it yet, nor is my girlfriend, but it will take care of itself'. Most boys come from familial contexts in which the parents make rather strong demands in the field of sexuality. However, no major clashes occur between these parents and their children, because both generations feel that sexuality is connected with steady relationships. One fifth of the respondents does go to bed with their partners because it simply 'comes with it'. Their relationships seem to work out smoothly and probably will continue to do so, as with Julie (19): Ί have a boyfriend at present and hopefully we'll be living together in the near future ... what more could I want: having my best friend as my partner, having friends as such and enjoying myself. At some point I'd like to have children (...) and making love is part of that ... sharing the bed (...) 1 discuss all of this with my mother who also wants me to be happy and hopes things will continue to work out between us.'

57

Courtship and sexuality in the youth phase 6. Uncertainties about sexuality and relationships

Regardless of the casual or steady nature of their relationships, or the presence or absence of coital sex for that matter, it has become apparent that there is no uniform way young people make use of their freedom to experiment with sexuality and relationships. To some extent, all young people are confronted with problems concerning orientation, assessment of their partners and future decisions. Moreover, our research has shown that not all young people experience their liberties equally positively. During the first round of interviews, when the respondents were between 16 and 19 years of age, nearly a quarter of the boys and a fifth of the girls felt extremely uncertain about sexuality. Fifty percent of this category attribute their feelings of uncertainty to not being allowed 'to do as I please'. These young people experience a constant external pressure in that they are expected to experiment while they themselves prefer not to for various reasons. Boys who have never made love before appear especially sensitive to these expectations. They feel called upon to explain to themselves and to others why 'it' has not happened yet. John (18): 'You have to stand firm ... think of some good reasons why you haven't done 'it' at eighteen ... I feel as though I should be ashamed of not having done it with a girl ... everyone says I ought to do it at some point...'

Lower-class boys on the other hand tend to feel rather frustrated about not having had the chance to do it. Conversely, girls who go steady for longer periods of time sometimes feel stuck with the pressure to legitimize their behaviour, being frequently confronted with the question: Why commit yourself already at such a young age? Their parents and others advise them not to. As Sandra (18) states: 'My mother tells me, try to enjoy being young while it lasts ... look around you a bit more, you'll be old before you know it and where will you be then? But the thing is I simply love him.'

Uncertainties are also connected with learning

where to draw the line in sexual

contacts: ' H o w do I make him understand that I don't want to carry things too far?' or the other way around: How to make clear you do want to make love? Henk (19) finds it difficult to take the initiative, something that he feels is expected of him: Ί had the opportunity to enter into a (sexual) relationship once but I didn't take it, which in a way is a pity, but on the other hand 1 don't mind. I don't know. It's just that I usually hold back at the crucial moment'.

The use of contraceptives also causes uncertainty: ' A m I ready for the pill yet?', '... should I sleep with this person or not?' also appears to be a tough question for most. Girls in particular worry about their sexual appeal and are often dissatisfied with their body (fat, skinny, too tall). They often assume this must be the reason why boys make no advances to them.

58

Janita Ravesloot The above mentioned uncertainties seem not to be correlated with factors such as

gender, social class, educational level, living conditions and parental child-rearing approach. What does become apparent, however, is that uncertainties become more intense as young people gain sexual and relational experience without having had actual intercourse. Their main difficulties lie in deciding with which partner and at what point to do 'it'. Apart from sexuality as such, approaching members of the opposite sex, making physical advances, feeling able to make contact with someone you like, and the 'choice' of a relationship also cause uncertainties. Nearly half of the boys and girls admitted this during the first round of interviews. What problems were they facing? Most respondents, especially lower- and upper-class boys and girls, were worried about how to find 'the one'. What matters in choosing a partner and what does not? Lower-class girls often feel concerned about their being in demand or their future (marital) 'market value'. Upper-class girls on the other hand are more worried about finding a partner with the right mentality: How to find a person with a liberal attitude towards the sharing of domestic tasks, for example. Boys appear more preoccupied with the problem of finding themselves a 'nice lass'. Although the number of young people with ambiguous feelings had diminished by the time of the third round of interviews, one fifth of them still felt insecure about relationships as such. As the respondents grow older and gain more experience with sex, boyfriends and girlfriends, they become more self-assured. On the whole, we find that every sexual relationship entails a whole complex of considerations, decisions and reflections. Nothing is self-evident any more - not even a partner's expectations.

7. The properties of relationships: Communication and monogamy The liberalizations that have occurred within the relational culture over the last two decades can be interpreted both positively and negatively. On the one hand the primacy of individuality is supposed to prevent partners from any real mutual commitment, to lead to a kind of noncommittal morality and eventually harm the solidarity between partners by causing indifference. The relativity of marriage, new life-styles, the pluriformity of behavioral patterns, the normalization of divorce, ongoing expansion of sexual liberties - these can all be taken as signs of a culture of detachment, in which individualization is over-emphasized. On the other hand, the relativity of customs and traditions, of habitual patterns and power structures and the increase of pluriformity have been interpreted as the principle incentives for people to show even more consideration for each other. Not only do mutual relations demand more and more negotiation, it also takes far more conscious measures to put (and keep) relationships on the right lines. Relational demands have shifted from the material survival of couples to the interrelations between partners as individuals and the psycho-emotional support they are expected to offer each other (van den Akker,

59

Courtship and sexuality in the youth phase

Cuyvers & de Hoog, 1992). 'New' skills such as self-knowledge, communication, reflection and evaluation have become increasingly important. 'Explicitness' has become the key term for the new type of demands that belong to the modern relational culture of discussing individual needs within couple-relationships (van der Avort, 1987: 288ff.). What do young people themselves expect from their intimate relationships and how do their expectations fit in with the theoretical discussion we just mentioned? The question implies that they are somehow conscious of their own specific demands, but are they? The interviews show that boys and girls find it very hard to express such expectations. Their frame of reference, which is largely based on the relationship between their parents, often does not promote clarity but ambivalence instead. Most young people are determined not to copy the example of their parents but to give a different meaning to their (future) relationship. But some simply don't know how. Furthermore, anticipation is one thing, but finding a suitable partner is another. If the latter does not happen, expectations might very well have to be adjusted. Under these circumstances young people are very careful not to overstate their expectations. Two aspects are apparent nevertheless: being faithful to one another and being able to talk and listen. During all three rounds of interviews nearly ninety percent of the girls and eighty percent of the boys considered monogamy to be an essential part of a relationship, however brief it may be. To boys and girls with a normal-biographical orientation, unfaithfulness often implies a definite breach in the relationship. The ones with a choice-biographical outlook do expect their partners to keep the promise of monogamy, but at the same time they realize that faithfulness is not something to be enforced. Besides, 'adultery' can happen to anyone - even to themselves. If anything of the kind should ever happen, it will not necessarily mean a breach as long as the partner is not secretive about it. Table 5 indicates the value young people attach to communication with their partners: TableS.

Communicative skills (talking and listening) demanded of possible partner, in absolute number III (1990)

1(1988) Boys

Girls

None

5

4

Some

9

Many Missing Total

Boys

Girls

9

4

7

11

19

28

15

16

31

35

41

76

30

41

71

5

2

7

5

2

7

54

66

120

54

66

120

Total

Total

From all three rounds of interviews it is apparent that a majority of young people places a high value on being able to talk and listen to their partners. Mutual consulta-

60

Janita Ravesloot

tion and negotiation, expressing opinions, sharing problems with one another and settling disputes are among the more significant aspects of communication. Only by mutually sharing ideas, needs and complaints - i.e. on the basis of mutual intentions and expectations - can a relationship develop and survive. Without such foundations relationships are bound to fail, according to the respondents. The same goes for the ability to 'listen': Partners have to be willing to pay attention to each other's needs and demands. Girls make this 'condition' more often than boys do. Qualitative analyses show that this gender-specific pattern has at least partly to do with (negative) experiences some girls have had with the communicational style of their parents. Often, these girls witness their mothers attempting to 'make' their partners talk or negotiate. They notice just how difficult this can be and how frustrated their mothers can get when 'old-fashioned dad refuses to talk'. As a result of these experiences girls often assign even more importance to the 'ability to negotiate with your boyfriend'. Another reason why we find gender-specific differences in this area is that girls tend to worry about the future division of domestic tasks more than boys do. All this does not mean that boys are insensitive to the significance of 'talking' and we find this a rather remarkable result. Communication has clearly become an integral part of the modern morality of equality and intimacy.

8. Relational trajectories in the future As we have seen earlier, most young people become oriented towards steady relationships already in their youth phase. In the meantime we have established that a 'steady relationship' does not necessarily mean the same to all respondents: Its meaning is dependent on individual anticipations of adulthood. Considering the developing trend towards the postponement of marriage and the introduction of 'test' marriages by cohabiting (Liefbroer, 1991), and considering what is generally demanded of partners ('explicitness') and how increasingly ambivalent the adage of 'to have and to hold' has become, it is hardly surprising that young people anticipate relational trajectories that are widely different from those of earlier generations: Table 6.

Preferred types of future relationships, according to gender (N=l 16), 1990 Boys

Girls

Total

Living together permanently without marriage

4

8

12

Marrying from the parental home

5

6

11

Living together before marrying

32

46

78

I don't know

10

5

15

Total

51

65

116

Courtship and sexuality in the youth phase

61

Over two thirds of the respondents opt for living together before marrying. A number of them indeed interpret living together as a kind of 'test' and marriage as such as a consolidation of an already existing exclusive bond. Having children is also a reason to marry after having lived together. Tjeerd (19): 'Well, right now, we're registered with a housing association because w e intend to live together and perhaps in six months or s o w e will ... and w h o knows maybe we'll even marry after that ... but first I want to see how things turn out ('But do you know when you will?') ... no, first I'll need to know whether w e get along, and then perhaps, in a f e w years ... we'll get married'.

Over ten percent prefer not to marry but instead to keep living together. They find it nonsense to 'tie the knot' - for it will not improve their relationship nor does living together guarantee any permanence. If the relationship might ever go wrong, you can split up without having the official fuss of a divorce. Indra (20) knows she will never marry: 'No, I wouldn't want to get married. It's not necessary and I see no use in it either. If you're having a good relationship, there's no reason why you should. Separation, for instance, is just as difficult then as it would be if you were in fact married. The only thing is, when you are married, you'd have to go through a divorce suit and I'm no s o sure if that is such a pleasant affair...'.

This group consists of twice as many girls as boys, the girls being from the middle and upper classes predominantly. Some of them refer to the complications they witnessed from close by when their mothers got divorced. Eleven respondents (five of whom had a religious upbringing) do not plan to live together before marriage, but intend to marry directly, 'which is how it's done'. According to them, living together does not necessarily guarantee a successful marriage, so why not marry right away? Petra (18): Ί had these colleagues, w h o had been living together, well, for years and w h o eventually got married. By now, they've split up as well, which g o e s to show you never can tell. So, once I get house of my own I'll just marry ... I see no point in living together and I don't need no trial period ... I mean, if you can rely on each other, well, why not do it?'

Fifteen middle- and upper-class respondents - with long educational trajectories have no idea yet about their future relationships and postpone any choices in this direction. They keep various options open, like Mima (19), who considers the possibility of an l.a.t.-relationship: 'Well, I'm not even sure whether I'm up to living under the same roof with a person. The relationship I'm having right now is one of openness and freedom and it permits me to go my own way ... but whether it will still do so in a f e w years time, I don't know. It's all still very dim. Maybe I'll be living together, or married, or nothing at all ... of course it also depends on your partner...'.

62

Janita Ravesloot

Within the group of 'cohabitants', we find both normal-biographical and choicebiographical orientations, but we find no differences with regard to gender or social class: Living together has become an integral part of the new life-course - as numerous studies have shown. Up to this point we have been able to discern characteristic needs, ideas, behaviour and anticipations of contemporary youth. We now turn to the parents. How do they interpret and support the sexual careers of their children? First we investigate their role from the perspective of the youth, then from their own perspective.

9. The role of the parents - a closer look from the perspective of the youth As our research points out, most young people (about 80%) hardly ever communicate about their sexual lives or sexual matters with their parents. However, this does not mean that sexuality as such remains undiscussed in these families. As opposed to their own parents, contemporary parents put much energy in the sexual education of their children. But from the point of view of the young people, the education mainly concentrates on the technical aspects of sexuality and tends to leave out the discussion of any emotional aspects that might be involved. Only seven boys and nine girls feel free to have a heart-to-heart talk about their sexuality with their mothers, whereas only one boy and one girl feel the same with respect to their fathers. How might one account for such 'non-communication'? One potential explanation is that contemporary young people may turn to their peers for intimate discussion of the topic and consequently do not need their parents as communication partners. As we have discussed elsewhere, however, this assumption holds true only in part (Ravesloot & du Bois-Reymond, 1992). A second possible explanation is that young people and parents may have incompatible norms and values. In this line of reasoning, young people do not communicate in order to avoid conflicts. To evaluate this position we take a look at the norms and values young people asign to their parents. In spite of the 'non-communication' most youth-respondents appeared well acquainted with the opinions of their parents. As table 7 shows, well over ten percent of the youth-respondents believe that their fathers and mothers positively identify sexuality with the formal institution of marriage. Which means they classify the status-passage of 'first coitus' as belonging to adulthood instead of the youth phase. Parents do not seem to make any major distinction between their sons and daughters in this respect. Religious parents especially seem to be guided by the standard-biographical pattern, like Johan's: 'My parents are very old-fashioned when it c o m e s to that, but I can appreciate their viewpoint. But w e don't discuss those things at home. You simply don't do it until you are married. That's what they believe and that's what they'll stick to'.

63

Courtship and sexuality in the youth phase Table 7. Parents' opinions on sexuality, from the perspective of the youth, according to the gender of the youth and the parent (from the second round of interviews) Father Boys Girls Sexuality is permitted within marriage only

7

10

Sexuality is permitted within steady relationships

11

26

Sexuality belongs to the private life of the youth

28

Mother Total 17

Boys Girls Total 8

10

18

37

11

31

42

15

43

28

20

48

1

1

-

1

1

Sexuality is permitted within casual relationships

-

Sexuality is encouraged

-

3

3

-

-

-

I don't know

5

10

15

5

3

8

Missing

3

1

4

2

1

3

54

66

120

54

66

120

Total

As we demonstrated earlier (table 4), hardly any of the respondents adhere to such restricted parental norms in their actual behaviour. A second category of parents reflects a far more liberal approach. According to the youth-respondents, one third of the parents 'allow' sexual intercourse within the context of a steady relationship, or, as Ardie (17) puts it: Ί know for certain that my mom would hate to see me hit the sheets with every Tom, Dick and Harry. She believes that it should be part of a very close friendship, when you virtually know this boyfriend is for real ... besides, she would be extremely worried if I were like that. After all, you never know what you might catch ... so I agree with them in that respect'.

These parents try to convince their children that love and sex are connected, but not by falling back on the old morals of decency with which they were brought up themselves. They consider it in the interest of their children - of their daughters more than of their sons - that they not be promiscuous. A third group of respondents feel that their parents show no interest. As Monica (18) points out: 'No, they don't want to have anything to do with it any more. They know I'm coping with it and so they leave it up to me. It's your life, they tell me. All in all, they are far more permissive than they used to be'.

On the face of it, these parents deviate from traditional educational norms and do not try to oppose to their children's behaviour. Yet, this does not imply that their laissezfaire attitude will always coincide with liberal sets of values. Most young people experience a certain embarrassment on the part of their parents when the subject of sexuality comes up; they simply avoid the subject. A s Johnny (19) puts it:

64

Janita

Ravesloot

'... they don't discuss it and put no pressure on me. And ultimately, I think it wouldn't feel right discussing it with them. ('With neither of them?') More so with my father than with my mother. You know, it's more like a live and let live situation. So we rather avoid it altogether'.

The most liberal parental approaches are reported by three girls (all of them upper class) who are explicitly encouraged by their parents to sexually experiment, two of them indicating that their parents permit them to have sex within casual relationships. Like Kathleen (19): 'My father feels he has missed the things he really wanted, so he wouldn't want me to experience the same. But although he encourages me to take a good look around me and try different things, he tells me to be careful at all times'.

A comparison of the social classes shows that a majority of lower-class youth either think their parents permit sexuality within a steady relationship only or allow them to do as they please. The same goes for middle-class youth, although according to some, parents lay down the condition of marriage as the ultimate justification of sexuality. Finally, upper-class youth tend to think of their parents as liberal. Only a few of them expect that their parents will not approve of it outside a steady relationship. Thus we find a modern attitude towards sexuality in both the lower and upper social classes, whereas a rather traditional attitude tends to characterize the (orthodox) middle classes. On the whole, we find few differences between fathers and mothers. According to the respondents, mothers in particular tend to hold the view that sex is only permissible within steady relationships, whereas fathers tend to associate sex with the private lives of their children and not interfere. When we look at the responses of boys and girls separately, we find one major gender-specific difference: Girls more easily recognize the condition of a steady relationship on their parents' part, whereas boys more readily assume a liberal parental attitude. Furthermore, we find no reason to assume any particular conflicts with regard to the topic of sex. Young people sharing the least restrictive ideas and behaviour usually have parents who indeed permit such ideas and behaviour, whereas young people who associate sexuality with a steady relationship usually share their parents' point of view. Whether parents feel uncomfortable discussing sexuality with their children or not, the fact remains that, according to most young people, they respect and permit their children's privacy.

10. Parents' Perspectives We asked the parents about their educational approach in the field of the sexual development (and the experimental sexual behaviour) of their children. From the

Courtship and sexuality in the youth phase

65

interview material w e discern the f o l l o w i n g categories (cf. also the contribution o f M . du B o i s - R e y m o n d in this reader): • the commanding

approach:

Parents expect obedience from their children in the

fields o f sexuality and entering into relationships just as much as in any other; children have very little room to negotiate; they can only try to ' d o d g e ' parental control; • the ambivalent

approach,

involving

feelings

of incapacity:

Parents feel incapable

of adequately handling the educational situation and of c o m i n g to grips with the sexual lives of their children; •

the non-interfering

approach:

T h e parental style is characterized by a detachment

from f e e l i n g responsible for the conduct and sexual life o f their child; they consider him or her old enough to manage; • the approach

of substantial

negotiation:

T h e parents w i s h to be (and remain)

actively and substantially involved in the life and decisions of the youth; w h e n e v e r they disagree with a decision, they w i l l say so but at same time respect it. T a b l e 8 summarizes the various parental styles:

Table 8.

Child-rearing approaches as characterized by the father and the mother of the respondent with regard to the sexuality of their children, according to social background, in absolute numbers Mothers Low

Middle Upper

Fathers Total

Commanding

1

1

0

2

Non-interfering

9

12

7

Ambivalent

1

2

-

Negotiation

7

11

Missing

4 22

Total The commanding

Low

Middle Upper

Total

-

3

-

3

28

12

14

6

32

3

3

3

8

14

8

26

1

7

2

10

6

3

13

6

5

2

13

32

18

72

22

32

18

72

approach

This w a s the most c o m m o n parental style w h e n the parents were y o u n g themselves. B y now comparatively f e w parents feel they have the right to impose their w i l l on their children - only f i v e lower- and middle-class parents do, like father D.: '... in our home we don't allow them to sleep together... we simply forbid it ... you two having the fun and me having the trouble, I tell them'. T h e y are c o n v i n c e d o f the fact that they k n o w best what is right for their son or daughter because he or she is too y o u n g and inexperienced to make independently.

decisions

66 The non-interfering

Janita Ravesloot approach

M o s t parents ( 2 8 mothers and 3 2 fathers) consciously keep away from the sexual and - to a lesser degree - the relational lives o f their children. T h e y feel that sexuality is a private matter for which they should not (or no longer) feel responsible as educators. Within this category, we can discern two different groups: 1. a sub-category o f parents ( 7 5 % ) w h o justify their a l o o f attitude by referring to the 'spontaneity' o f sexual development and by indicating that their son or daughter is fully capable o f managing. Although they have certain beliefs about how to handle sexuality, they prefer not to discuss it, nor do they feel the urge to impose their will. T h e y interpret their role as one o f distant support. W h e n e v e r their children have questions or problems, they are quite ready to offer help, though. T h e non-interfering style can be characterized as relaxed. Father K . is a good e x a m p l e : '... they nearly always manage themselves, talking to friends, and I think they should, really. But whenever they can't, they can come to me for help. On the other hand, and this may sound funny, I always end up thinking: Who am I to interfere? So we wait and see how things turn out first...'. Mother Z. has the s a m e relaxed attitude. S h e has s o m e well defined ideas about how to deal with sexuality, but leaves the decisions up to her daughter: Ί hope she doesn't treat it as they do nowadays ... I simply don't like the idea ... nowadays it's like, well, I like you and off they go, to bed ... it's not done ... when you sleep with a person, you should do so because love him ... but ultimately it's up to them.' 2. T h e second group ( 2 5 % ) finds it hard to discuss sexuality and adopts a laissezfaire attitude, ignoring the subject altogether: Ί prefer to stay out o f it'. T h e s e parents hope their sons and daughters will find their own way.

An ambivalent attitude Seventeen o f the parents - irrespective o f social background - admit to having no control over the sexual life o f their son or daughter. A s for the latter, he or she has the freedom to do to as he or she pleases and to evade parental control. ' T a l k i n g things o v e r ' or 'imposing sanctions' do not m a k e a difference according to these parents. M o s t o f them adapt themselves to the situation to avoid conflicts or to reduce the risk that their children will leave home because o f e x c e s s i v e restrictions on their freedom. T h i s attitude, which is often accompanied with feelings o f incapacity, is most frequently experienced by fathers. Father B . feels he cannot control his daughter's behaviour. He knows she is seeing certain ' m e n ' , but she hardly ever talks about it. In the past he used to have rows with her, but as soon as he started realizing that she would do as she pleased anyway, he washed his hands o f her: Ί don't get to see many boyfriends, she goes out every weekend. She mentions girlfriends, but 1 never hear about boys. Well, my wife sometimes tells me, you know, about

Courtship and sexuality in the youth phase

67

my daughter seeing one boyfriend or another, but not that often. ( ' D o you presume your daughter has slept with someone already?') I don't think she has. And I wouldn't like her to be more adventurous than she already is, actually. But perhaps I only act this way to ease my mind, you know, rather not wanting to hear about it'.

Eight 'incapable' (upper-class) fathers explicitly admit to having handed over the educational responsibility to their partners. In part they consider themselves unable to cope with sexual education - especially if it concerns daughters. They realize that times have changed since their own youth and also that young people have much more freedom and room to sexually experiment. But ultimately, their partners take care of 'such matters', as father D. indicates: ' ... my wife discusses sexual matters with him. That's not for me. She is far better at it, you know. I myself am more concerned with his educational career...'

The negotiating approach Sixteen of the parents show a strong concern with the sexual and relational lives of their young adult children. Within this category we can distinguish three separate groups. Firstly, we find the type of parent who would never bring up the subject of sexuality of his or her own accord, but is quite willing to discuss it whenever the youth is in need. Like mother B.: '... the children started it all ... and when there is a problem, we feel free to negotiate ... if I would start (i.e. commanding, J.R.) right away ... it would somehow alienate them ... discussion shouldn't tend towards the opposite. T o the extreme that is; there always are subtle distinctions. For instance, things that weren't allowed in the past, now are. But as long as they remain discussible, I'll bring them up ... I mean, I wouldn't like things to be as they used to be, but it shouldn't tip ...'.

Secondly, we have a group of parents (4 fathers and 21 mothers) who do take the initiative. This category consists of mothers who have strong convictions and who consequently show an active concern with the sexual and relational lives of their children. They usually feel the need to explain their own norms and values vis-ä-vis their children and, in the process, to influence their children's behaviour. On the whole, these parents remain willing to discuss and try never to impose their views. Mrs P. offers a good example: Ί always told my daughters: I hope you'll marry the right one and don't try to experiment first ... one should save one's sexuality for a steady partner... but now she intends to g o on holiday with her boyfriend ... we haven't solved that one yet. But we have progressed in that w e know each other's points of view'.

Thirdly, we find a group of parents (3 mothers and 1 father) whom we would like to characterize as modernists. Their attitude can be labelled as informal and or liberal:

68

Janita Raves loot

'It doesn't really make that much of a difference what you do, as long as you keep it open to discussion', like mother M.: '... it's not like me, ordering them about ... w e talk things over - I'm sure they'll tell when the time has come. I expect them to anyway, although "expect" is too strong a word. I would certainly appreciate it because I myself have never experienced openness with my own mother. We could never tell her, let alone discuss it with her'.

The attitude of active communicative concern is especially characteristic of middleand upper-class mothers. The (non-interfering) attitude of aloofness is common to all classes, but it is most frequently found with lower-class fathers. The commanding style on the other hand is an exception in this respect, while fathers in particular tend to feel shut out or to leave the communication about the sexual development of their children to their partners. The data show that young people have gained considerable autonomy in the field of sexuality. Parents realize this is an irreversible fact, although at the same they may find it difficult to accept the choices of their children. Contemporary young people are no longer 'commanded' in the old sense of the word. Therefore it is hardly surprising that nowadays many parents keep a low profile and no longer take disciplinary measures. Nevertheless, our data indicate that the educational approach of contemporary parents is still largely gender-specific with regard to sexuality and relationships: Sons usually claim and get more freedom ('non-interference'), whereas many girls are still being controlled and drawn into negotiation with their parents. The gender-specific aspects of the parental approach in the case of daughters are closely connected to the fear of (unwanted) pregnancy, sexual abuse or loss of 'reputation'. The frequent occurrence of the non-interfering approach within the category of lower-class parents is closely related to the fact that their children follow relatively short educational trajectories and (mainly in the case of daughters) enter into steady relationships at an earlier age. Although some still live at home, these young people generally feel mature and wish to be treated accordingly. In any case, lower-class households are generally less familiar with the culture of discussion and negotiation (du Bois-Reymond, Peters, & Ravesloot, 1990).

11. Discussion In the preceding pages we have demonstrated that young people prefer sexuality within a steady relationship. What is more, on the express condition of a steady relationship, sexuality in the youth phase is widely accepted by both young people and parents. Despite this overall picture we found a great diversity of behaviour, needs and motives. Starting from our initial question concerning a modernized youth biography, we differentiate between two groups: • young people with a standard-biographical orientation and • young people with a choice-biographical orientation.

Courtship and sexuality in the youth phase

69

For young people with a standard-biographical orientation the main concern of their sexual and relational careers is to find a steady and lasting relationship. Such a relationship does not necessarily have to be 'for life', however. As we have seen, what is 'lasting' to some can easily mean 'forever' or merely 'as long as it lasts' to others. What is striking is the number of - mainly lower-class - girls who anticipate living together, marrying and building a family with their (present) boyfriend. Their working careers will ultimately serve these purposes. Once the condition of a steady relationship is fulfilled, they feel that sexuality is no longer taboo, which it certainly would still have been to their mothers. And although work to them is not the most important aspect of their life, they would never shape their lives after their mothers'. These girls consider motherhood and family life as true options rather than obligations. Within this group we also include the girls who postpone sexuality until they have met 'Mr. Right'. These girls are confronted with mothers who discourage them in the field of sexual experiments; they want to keep up their reputation and, moreover, they adhere to the view that sexuality is part of being an adult - which (they feel) they are not yet. Some of the lower-class boys also postpone sexuality, but for altogether different reasons. They usually want to become sexually active indeed, but it has not 'happened to' them yet. These boys easily become frustrated because their sexual status is not a matter of choice. As for their (future) sexual partner, this does not have to be 'the one' - as it does in the case of the girls. Also, they do not care whether their relationship is steady or casual. But ultimately they do have ideas of a normalbiographical nature, for instance about the future division of tasks between man and wife with regard to work and the upbringing of children. The category of young people with a choice-biographical orientation consists firstly of boys at higher educational levels who postpone sexuality because they do not want to commit themselves yet. These boys still enjoy the free peer group life. Their view of men-women relations is typically egalitarian, which means they are willing to negotiate a fair division of domestic tasks, and it is their opinion that their partners should have the same right to self-fulfilment as they have. Secondly, we found a group of boys who refuse to commit themselves, but who at the same time do experiment with sexuality within casual relationships. Their parents usually have a liberal, permissive attitude. The third subgroup, which is the most interesting, consists of (mainly middle- and upper-class) boys and girls who have great ambitions regarding their educational careers. Here we find casual relationships with peers and sexual experimenting but no sexual intercourse. Their motivations are partly 'modern' and partly 'traditional': 'not giving in' (mostly with girls) and 'gradually getting used to it' (mostly with boys) versus benefitting from the increased sexual liberties. Again, the parents generally do not interfere. As for their peer group orientation and their rather

70

Janita Ravesloot

egalitarian view of domestic tasks, these young people strongly resemble the two former subcategories. In conclusion, we can safely state that boys and girls shape their sexual youth phase in quite different ways. Girls prefer sex with a partner within a steady relationship, whereas boys tend to explore the present sexual liberty far more actively - like they always have. Educational level appears to be one of the crucially important factors: The higher the level and the longer the educational trajectories, the more modern the ideas and behaviour of young people become. The ones who derive most freedom from a prolonged sexual youth phase are mainly upper-class boys, that is, who have always had more room to experiment. As for the educators, it appears that parents react to the sexuality and relationships of their children in a variety of ways. Some seem to support their sons and daughters in the realization of a (sexual) way of life that is widely different from their own youth, but most fail to be reliable interlocutors to their children and, even today, feel too inhibited to openly communicate about sexuality; or some simply keep a low profile. Whenever they (mothers more often than fathers) communicate with their sons and daughters, it often amounts to giving warnings or strictly practical guidance. The young people themselves admit that they would not like their parents to get involved in their personal lives - they consider it as their private territory. Despite the possible complications connected to legitimising choices made, we found relatively few respondents who were insecure about their sexuality. But when we look at the insecurities with regard to relationships, we find a different picture altogether. Notably young people from the upper class experience insecurities where the choice of a partner is concerned. Girls in particular tend to have distinct preferences with respect to their future partner. These relate to the 'new' kind of relationship and everyday reality more than to standard-biographical expectations. What is expected from the partner is the ability to discuss and understand. The 'safe' prospect of staying together forever has vanished and young people realize that things do not always work out as planned. Finally, young people prefer living together before (possibly) marrying. A majority of young people no longer take marriage for granted, as a necessary consequence or simply an administrative formality, but consider it an individual choice: 'Now that I have found you, I'll show the rest of the world'. To young people today, the celebration of marriage means the sealing of a chosen relationship. However, it will take a number of years before we can predict exactly what relational trajectories our youth-respondents will eventually follow - and even then the answers may be far from final; changes and breaches within relationships keep occurring throughout life.

Courtship and sexuality in the youth phase

71

Notes 1. All the Christian blocks prescribed abstinence from sexuality before marriage. The Roman Catholic Church adheres to sexual, marital and familial values that are different in a number of respects, the most important of which is a strong depreciation of sexuality as such. Masturbation, homosexuality, premarital heavy petting and sexuality outside marriage are all interpreted as extremely sinful. As a contrast, marriage is held in high esteem according to the same doctrine. The four most important purpose of marriage are reproduction, the mutual support of man and wife, the nurture and education of children and the curbing of vice. As reproduction is considered the most important of the four, the use of contraceptives is rejected a priori. The Protestant doctrine on the other hand, although similar at some points, contains a number of individual notions. For instance, marriage is not sacramental and as such it is not within the jurisdiction of the church. As for the taxonomy of the purposes of marriage, reproduction is not considered of primordial importance, and, consequently, contraception is not prohibited. A third difference between the two doctrines lies in the acceptance of divorce. Similarities concern the negative connotations attached to sexuality as such and the important position of marriage. Both doctrines promote strongly asymmetrical parentchild and male-female relationships (Kooij, 1985: 11-13; Top, 1988; Ussel, 1971). 2. Only in 1968 an inquiry was held on the sexual knowledge, opinions and behaviour of young people which meets scientific standards, the so-called 'Sexuality In the Netherlands' (SIN) Surveys (for an overview: van der Vliet, 1992). 3. In the daily Trouw, June 30th, 1993: 15. 4. Statistically speaking, homosexual young people are underrepresented in our research sample. This may have to do with the average age of our respondents: To 15- to 18-year olds, i.e. to young people who are coming out, the idea of participating in a project in which their parents are also involved, may well be threatening. 5. The data on sexual behaviour are from the 1988 and 1990 rounds of interviews. The table represents a sliding scale between 'no sexual experience' and 'coital experience within steady relationships'. When we look at the importance of sexuality in the youth phase and the influence of standard biographical patterns, we can discern three significant aspects: firstly, sexual experience in the youth phase according to sexual contacts with and without coital experience; secondly, the type of sexual relationship (casual or steady); and thirdly, the changes that occur as time goes by.

3. The Role of Parents in the Transition Period of Young People Manuela du Bois-Reymond Leiden University, The Netherlands

1. Introduction Youth sociological research in the Netherlands and other European countries has shown that intergenerational relationships have become relaxed. Today's young people appear to go about with their parents without major conflicts and, what is more, parents appear to be the most significant others of all adults to them. This applies to mothers even more than it does to fathers. Judging from empirical evidence, we indeed cannot detect any profound intergenerational conflicts at all (Allerbeck & Hoag, 1985; du Bois-Reymond, 1993; de Hart, 1992; van der Linden, 1991; Meeus & ' t Hart, 1993). To account for such unanimous findings, researchers nowadays point towards a connection with certain changes that the role of the parents has undergone over the last few decades. Today's parents no longer appear to be 'leaders' but 'guides' instead. As such, they no longer adhere to those educational norms and values according to which the primary aim of child-raising consists of shaping young persons into subservient citizens. Nowadays, young people have to be brought up as independent individuals. Contemporary educational attitudes and sets of values are part of the extensive process of modernization which takes place at both the microstructural level of the individual family and at the macrostructural level. This being the case, it would certainly be inadequate to study the role of the parents from a strictly pedagogic point of view only. 1 A culture of negotiation, which lies at the core of modern family life and which is a mode to express individuality, permeates life outside the family as well. In recent studies of the repercussions of modernizing processes on young people, only little has become known about the role of the parents in the transition period. Furthermore, youth studies have shown that the transition phase as such is gradually turning into an open-ended phase in the human course of life. Today's young people can and will not be committed as to the when or the how of their decisive steps

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towards adulthood in the way their parents were in their own youth. The dynamics of destandardization and restandardization of status passages produce new patterns, but these patterns as such are not nearly half as close-knit as they used to be to earlier generations. Only this much is clear to parents and young people alike, that the youth phase has become significantly prolonged: Decisive choices in life can and sometimes must be postponed. The fact, for instance, that the educational career today takes far more time and attention than it used to, is not entirely a matter of choice to young people; part of it relates to the restructuring of the labour market and can therefore not be influenced by the individual. Under these circumstances, how do parents and young people shape relationships which, with most young people today, last for more than three decades before finally leaving the parental home, taking regular jobs or starting with family-building even come into perspective? Do parents actually support their sons and daughters in the process of becoming independent? Or do they stand around watching? Do they call in assistance when they encounter difficulties in the upbringing, for instance when their children are faced with decisive choices such as the choice of further education or professional career? Or do they try and solve the matter within the family? Do parents have any specific demands concerning the behaviour of their children or do they keep themselves from it because they feel their children have become too emancipated or independent for that? To what extent do parents still rely on the gender-specific educational standards with which they were once brought

up

themselves? And vice versa, what do young people expect from their parents in these respects? Do they consult them when confronted with important decisions? And finally, to what extent do their mutual demands and expectations match? These are the questions we will be dealing with in the following sections.

2. Theoretical approach We study the parent-child relationship from an intergenerational perspective. In doing so, we consider the present parent-generation as a 'switch-generation', forming a link between two generational era: During their own youth and adolescence in the fifties the ideological and personal significance of a gender-specific standardbiography was still especially manifest in the Netherlands. The subsequent cultural revolution that emerged and culminated in the 'roaring' sixties and seventies, can be characterized as a transition from a command household to a negotiating household (de Swaan, 1982). The balance of intergenerational (parents vase, children) and gender-related (man vase, woman) power relations tends to become more settled. In other words, this particular generation of parents, which itself was brought up within the framework of essentially hierarchical structures present within the family as well as at school, at work and in the church, is now faced with the task of becoming 'negotiating parents' to their children as well as negotiating partners to each

The role of parents in the transition period of young people

75

other. What is more, these parents are confronted with an outlook on life which is characterized by the tension between a standard life-course and what we would like to call a choice-biography. Dutch surveys indeed clearly demonstrate a process of ongoing liberalization of values and norms (Halman, 1991; Winkels, 1990), and yet it has never been thoroughly studied how 'switch-generation' parents incorporate these values into the daily practice of child-raising and how a negotiation culture actually works. 2 Cultural change never progresses at an even rate. In adapting new cultural values, there will always be the ones up front and the ones who follow behind. The same goes for child-raising. It is reasonable to assume, along with such theorists of modernization as Elias (1939/1978&1982), Bourdieu (1979/1984), Beck (1986/1992) and Zinnecker (1991), that the cultural upper strata do in fact pave the way towards a negotiation-oriented, individualized upbringing. Therefore, although the liberal type of upbringing has become more and more of an everyday reality, we should still expect to find class-bound differences between the various strata. 3 When we look at the overall process of cultural modernization, w e do not only distinguish between vanguard and rearguard with regard to social class, but also with regard to gender. From an intergenerational perspective, the male life-course has remained fairly stable, whereas many of the women of the 'switch-generation' w h o took (some) part in the second feminist wave or were more generally involved in the emancipatory process of democratization, benefitted from it in that they gained more control and power over their own private and public lives. Accordingly, the female life-course has been affected far more delicately by these developments. As for the generation of our mothers, this does not altogether hold, though. A majority of them are still influenced by the fact that they made life-decisions at a point in time when the old regime of the normal life-course model was still valid. Yet as women they do identify with the increased range of options their daughters benefit from. One should bear in mind that today's generation of Dutch girls is the very first to complete an education that by and large - and especially at the secondary level - is equal to a b o y ' s and also the first to enjoy the benefits attached to it in terms of equal chances. As a result, a gender-specific approach of child-raising has by now lost a great deal of its significance, especially with negotiation-orientated upper strata households. As a new strategy in child-raising, negotiation to parents is matter of free choice only in part, as it is to young people. Since the average life-course of young people has become less and less predictable in terms of the immediate future, the standards of child-raising are equally unstable. And in as much as multiple solutions and action strategies are readily available, degrees of permissiveness and distinctions between 'normal' versus 'abnormal' behaviour are open to discussion. Parents nowadays are at far greater variance on these topics than they used to be. Some parents would find it completely natural if their son or daughter decided to take 'some time o f f after finishing school and not yet commit him- or herself to any specific further education, whereas other parents would immediately interpret such a decision as a problematic

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or even threatening event. In terms of support, young people are far more in control of things nowadays than they used to be: They participate in lively peer group cultures which in the process of negotiation with their parents will offer constant points of reference: "Why does my friend get more pocket money than I do?" or "Why does my friend get to stay out late?" etc. As a result, a parent's approach is continuously put to the test and has to be adjusted to every new situation. So, in some respects, contemporary parents are better off, since they can share parts of the responsibility of child-raising with their children and base their decisions on a reliable communication. On the other hand, child raising has become more difficult because parents cannot be so sure any more whether their approach is the 'right' one or not. It could very well be that all major cultural change simply takes more than one generation of parents to get accustomed to or at least to grasp its consequences in terms of ambivalence and uncertainties. Research on youth-centrism demonstrates that adolescents do not generally turn their backs on adulthood and, similarly, that most parents are favourably disposed towards their children (Maassen & Meeus, 1993; Watts, Fischer, Fuchs, & Zinnecker, 1989). Yet it might be the case that such findings do not sufficiently account for the latent concerns and the selfcontemplation most parents are indicating. So far, no elaborate theory of the interrelations between parent-child relationships on the one hand and structural processes of modernization on the other has been formulated.

3. Method of research and research sample To study the research questions concerning the modernization of parent-child relationships, we use semi-structured biographical interviews with both parents and young people. This approach is based on the assumption that parent-child relationships need to be studied at both ends: No concept of negotiation can be of use without incorporating the notion of both sides adding meaning to the relationship as a whole. That is also why we explicitly questioned the parents about their own upbringing: The importance of that experience for their present actions as a point of reference, producing either continuities or discontinuities, must not be underestimated. During the first round of interviews (1989-1991), we questioned 60 mothers and 60 fathers. As we did in the youth-interviews, we entered at length into the subject of their youth phase, the nature of their experience and the relationship with their own parents. At this stage of the interview, we actually treated the parents as a youthgeneration transposed in time. Next, we questioned the parents about their role as educators, their child-raising perspectives and actions with regard to various educational areas: education and work, relationships and sexuality, interaction with peers, family rules and standards of decency, and children moving out. Next we singled out 72 of the parents for a follow-up that involved a more elaborate discussion of the

The role of parents in the transition period of young people

77

supporting aspect of their roles as parents in the transition period of their sons and daughters. W e also entered into the subject of the need of educational support from outside. The follow-up interview was held with both the father and the mother, treated as couples. During both interviews all parents, mothers and fathers, responded with equal enthusiasm and spontaneity, a sympathetic, open attitude prevailed. On average, the interviews lasted for two hours, some even longer and were conducted at the homes of the respondents. Afterwards, a vast majority of parents indicated

that

they had very much appreciated the thoroughness of the interview and had found it stimulating to discuss their youth and the act of child-raising with a third party for once. On the whole, we have no reason to assume that at any point during the interviews did the parents formulate socially suitable answers, not even when confronted with 'tricky' questions concerning individual problems with child-raising. Within the given framework of our research, 4 we assembled a group of parents with an even distribution as to the three social classes: upper, middle and lower (18%, 44% and 31% respectively). W e not only determined social class for each respondent individually; we also calculated an average family-score for each parentcouple. 5 The educational level of a majority of mothers turned out to be exceptionally low, only one fifth having passed higher or highest forms of secondary education. Most of them were or are housewives during the youth phase of their children (and/or during the early childhood of younger siblings). Only a small number of them held or hold part-time jobs. By the time of the interviews, 54% did not hold paid jobs, 31% worked part-time and 14% worked full-time (again). The comparatively

high

educational level of the fathers clearly reflects the traditional role of the husband as breadwinner: 33% has passed higher or highest forms of secondary education and almost all of them (87%) work full-time. 13% Do not hold paid jobs, due to (early) retirements; only a very small number is unemployed. Most of the parents belong to the cohort born between 1938-1945 (43%), one fourth was born between 1946-1953, and the rest was born a few years earlier or later. So, the vast majority of parents was in their forties by the time of the interviews. 6 Nearly all of the parents are married, 10% is divorced, one mother is a single parent and one is a widow. Most families consist of a father, a mother and two or three children (44% and 35% respectively), 7% have one child only, 14% have four children or more. Although our parent-sample is not representative statistically, it still offers the ample and differentiated representation of problem-areas needed to adequately tackle the above-mentioned questions in the sense and the tradition of a 'grounded theory' approach (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Strauss, 1987).

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4. Parent-child relationships in the youth phase of the parents Starting from the notion of a long-term development towards negotiation as a leading principle in intergenerational interaction at the level of the family, we set out by inviting the parents to compare their own upbringing to the way they raise their children (cf. table 1). As we had expected, a majority of mothers (i.e. 37 out of 60) and fathers (i.e 40 out of 60) stated that they bring up their children along (far) more liberal lines than they were brought up themselves. None of them maintains that his or her own upbringing was less restrictive than the one they give their children. Only a small minority (12 mothers and 17 fathers) profess to see no major difference between attitudes towards child-raising then and now. Especially the mothers go to great lengths to get across in exactly what way they approach the upbringing of their children differently. We interpret this as being an indirect affirmation of our assumption that mothers (i.e. women) are more concerned with a constant 'up-dating' of child-raising than are fathers (i.e. men). Also, we find certain class-related differences: As opposed to upper-class parents, lower- and middle-class parents experience a deeper contrast between child-raising then and now. Table 1. Degrees of correspondence between the upbringing as received by the parents and their own parental style, according to social class Mothers Lower Middle Upper

Fathers Total

Lower Middle Upper

Total

1

1

2

4

-

4

4

More liberal

13

13

7

33

11

12

9

32

Much more liberal

8

Similar (neutral)

2

7

3

12

3

11

3

17

Otherwise

3

5

3

11

2

-

1

3

Total

19

26

15

60

16

27

17

60

During the youth phase of the parents, all social classes had fixed rules of conduct. These affected all areas of daily life within the family as well as outside the family. Observing table manners, dressing properly, giving a hand in the housekeeping or the family business, going to church, being polite to the elderly, choosing one's friends carefully and on no account entering into premarital sexual relationships (a rule that concerned girls in particular): These were the standard values and expectations according to which boys and girls were prepared for the gender-specific life-course model then. From the parents' youth-phase reports we can make out four basic approaches to child-raising that characterized the existing parent-child relationships of the day (du Bois-Reymond, 1991; du Bois-Reymond, Peters, & Ravesloot, 1990; Peters, 1992): 1. Obedience was self-evident but if necessary enforced by the parents by means of (the threat of) corporal punishment or moral sanctions;

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The role of parents in the transition period of young people

2. Obedience was accepted as a natural fact, both parents and young people observing a clear-cut set of rules; 3. If necessary, transgressions were discussed (instead of imposing a punishment) as a means of convincing the child of the necessity and the justification of parental demands with regard to behaviour; 4. Opposite opinions and transgressions were discussed to reach an agreement, the rules being negotiable (within limits). Table 2 summarizes the data of the parent-respondents:

Table 2.

Parental style as experienced by the parents during their upbringing, in absolute numbers

Enforcing obedience Taking obedience for granted

Fathers

Mothers

Total

51

38

89

-

15

15

Justifying authority by discussion

5

3

8

Negotiating

1

4

5

Otherwise: Non-familial

3

-

3

Total

60

120

60

Throughout the social classes, the approach of enforcement in child-rearing practices predominated, whereas the approaches of discussion and negotiation hardly ever occurred. A mere 13 out of 120 respondents indicated a more negotiation-orientated parent-child relationship. On the whole, we can clearly differentiate between mothers (girls) and fathers (boys). This points towards a gender-specific upbringing back then: The enforcement of obedience was something that boys encountered far more frequently than girls did. Boys used to be more rebellious and received physical punishment more often. Girls on the other hand responded to obedience more easily. Only five respondents (four mothers and one father) stated that they could in fact discuss matters and negotiate with their parents. All five had upper-class parents. W e should keep bearing in mind that all data originate from retrospective

inter-

view material which reflects the way contemporary parents identify with their own youth period and events that occurred thirty or forty years ago (Behnken, du BoisReymond, & Zinnecker, 1989; Niethammer, 1980). Large-scale studies have also established the predominance of strongly hierarchic parental attitudes in the fifties (Meeus, du Bois-Reymond, & Hazekamp, 1991; Reuband, 1992). Finally, it is worth mentioning that all parents explicitly stated that they had never experienced their upbringing as something unusual, even if it had been extremely rigid, or harsh to today's standards. This finding again points to the divergent experiences of the "switch-generation (not only) in the field of upbringing.

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5. Parent-child relationships from the perspective of young people Our characterization of the "old upbringing" was confined to the point of view of the parents exclusively. To distinguish between contemporary parent-child relationships, however, we need to study cases from the double perspective of both parents and young people. From the interview material we deduced four types of child-raising approaches that cover the whole range of the relation-ships reported by both categories of respondents. We did so by two subsequent studies: one of the expectations and educational demands of mothers and fathers respectively (parents' perspective) and one of the interpretations of and reactions to such expectations by their children (young people's perspective). Furthermore, we studied both perspectives in relation to a number of specific areas of life and child-raising 7 - family standards of decency, sexuality and relationships, leisure activities and interaction with peers, education and work and leaving home. Finally, we arrived at the following typology: 1. The command household. The parents' main objective is to get across who is in charge. In return, this attitude is interpreted by young people as imposing limitations on their freedom of action. Still, contemporary 'command' parents are far more inclined to discuss matters with their children than they would have been able to one generation earlier. Physical punishment is applied far less frequently and the room for negotiation has expanded considerably. But in the end the parents expect their standards of behaviour to apply no matter what and, conversely, it is expected of the youth to observe them. The degree of conflict within these households strongly depends on whether and to what extent young people live up to such expectations. 2. The non-interfering household. The parents are inclined to leave decisions up to their sons or daughters, irrespective of the nature of those decisions, including such matters as sexuality or educational career. The approach of non-interference is promoted either by a strong interest in the life of the youth or by detachment. Young people appear to be well aware of this duality. The non-interfering approach hardly ever causes conflicts. 3. The ambivalent household. This parental attitude is generated either by a contradictory attitude between the parents, i.e. the mother being permissive and the father forbidding - or vice versa - or by the fact that both parents feel equally uncertain as to the best way to deal with the situation. Carried to the extreme, this might even result in a feeling of being totally unable to manage the educational task. The youth responds to such an ambivalent parental attitude by trying to benefit from the situation. The ambivalent parental approach easily gives rise to conflict. It is worth mentioning that none (!) of the parents reported having experienced any ambivalence in their own upbringing; ambivalence was clearly incompatible with to parental styles based on authority. 4. The negotiating household. This approach is based on the awareness of both parents (and notably mothers) that they cannot and should not impose their will on

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The role of parents in the transition period of young people

their children. It reflects both the readiness to discuss matters with young people and the firm belief that every quarrel (which as such is not usually taken as a threat to family harmony) can and should be settled. Negotiating parents take a strong interest in the everyday life of their children and take great pains to understand it. On the whole, they respect the views and the behaviour of their children, but, in addition, they expect them to keep thoroughly examining their own views and decisions, just as well as they themselves feel obliged to do. They feel that their children are ultimately responsible for their own decisions regarding future education, work or matters of courtship. The youth recognizes the parental approach and is prompted to express his or her opinions and share experiences, even if it might not exactly please the parents. First, we shall examine the perspective of the youth. In table 3, we present the data from the first and last round of interviews: Table 3.

Parental styles 1988/1990 from the perspective of young people, according to social class 1(1988) Lower Middle Upper

111(1990) Total

Lower Middle Upper

Total

29

24

9

62

9

10

2

21

Non-interfering

5

15

7

27

26

37

29

92

Negotiating

1

5

9

15

-

3

-

3

Ambivalent

5

4

6

15

-

-

-

-

Missing

-

-

1

1

3

-

1

4

40

48

32

120

38

32

120

Commanding

Total

50

From the table we can discern a number of general trends: 1. A longitudinal effect: As young people grow older, they come to think of their parents as less strict (Friebel, 1990; Hartrup, 1989; Grotevant & Cooper, 1985, 1986; Paikoff & Brooks-Gunn, 1991; Steinberg, 1990; Youniss & Smollar, 1985). This effect is sustained by a sharp decrease in the reports of the command approach. During the first round of interviews, the respondents were about to pass their finals and, as a consequence, they were under considerable stress and the relationship with their parents had become somewhat tense at that time. Similarly, age plays an important part: At the age of 16 to 18 young people face the point at which they will soon detach themselves from their parents. Some enter into their first sexual relationship, others go out a lot or consider moving into lodgings. Conversely, the parents have to adapt to such needs of their adolescent children and permit increased independence. To all young people, finishing school means an equally significant step towards autonomy. In 1990, a mere fifth of the youth-respondents characterized their parents as commanding. By then, most of them have acquired the freedom of movement that

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they feel belongs to their age and the parents mostly go along with this. Up to that point, important decisions have been made, for instance, about the choice of further education; sometimes after having to overcome great doubts and uncertainties (cf. also Peters in this reader, p. lOff.). Many young people live on their own by now, and, as a result, tensions have been relieved. The experience of going through this transition period has deeply influenced parent-child relationships in that an increased number of young people characterize their parents as 'non-interfering' by now. So, by the time they reach the age of twenty, the intergenerational balance of power has settled and young people no longer accept a restrictive parental attitude. This also becomes apparent from the virtual 'disappearance' of the ambivalent approach. 2. Influences of social class: Although parent-child relationships have indeed relaxed generally, this does not exclude differentiations between the social classes. Negotiating family cultures usually coincide with the upper social strata, whereas young people from the lower strata more often think of their parents as 'not open to reason'. Respondents of the latter category often follow short- or medium-range educational trajectories. In comparison to the upbringing in the youth phase of the parents, social differences have increased: A command household used to be practice in all social strata; now it is restricted to the lower classes. So, over the last few decades, parentchild relationships have differentiated considerably. Upper-class young people today have a far better chance of growing up in a negotiating household than young people from the lower classes, irrespective of the considerable autonomy they too have gained. 3. Gender-specific influences. Another trend needs to be mentioned: We did not detect any differences in the way boys and girls characterize the parent-child relationship. This means that the institutionalization of the youth phase at large has affected girls as much as it has boys. On the whole, girls do not perceive their parents as stricter than boys do. Still, this does not mean that child-raising today remains unaffected by gender-specific differences. Notably in the field of their corporality (sexuality, courtship) girls tend to experience more parental control before they gain their independence (cf. also Ravesloot in this reader). But as opposed to the youth phase of their mothers, girls prove far more self-conscious nowadays and they no longer automatically conform to any restrictive gender-specific demands. This has mainly to do with the fact that they have actually caught up with boys in the field of education. Also, they spend more time with peers outside the family. In this respect, girls have gained comparatively more independence within contemporary parentchild relationships than boys have. Conflicts Conflicts may emerge in command households as well as in negotiating households. Furthermore, conflicts may arise in some life-areas but not in others and the relationship may be tenser with one parent than the other.

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83

The relevant data we will be presenting are all drawn from the second of the three rounds of interviews. At that point, a year after they had passed their finals, most of the youth-respondents had made up their minds about their further education. Sixty percent report no longer having any (serious) conflicts with their parents, whereas ten percent report having ongoing conflicts of all sorts. Whenever conflicts occur within the household, they usually reflect disagreements on matters such as the time to be in at night or standards of decency which involve dressing properly or being polite. The choice of friends or partners, leisure activities and, surprisingly, the choice of further education appear to be far less conducive to conflict. Parents and young people equally recognize the crucial importance of qualifications and proper further education. Command households are far more frequently confronted with conflicts than are negotiating households because the parents tend to interfere much more in areas such as leisure activities, courting and choosing o n e ' s friends, and will demand decent behaviour. The youth, however, is ever less willing to automatically accept this kind of interference or ordering about. Young people from command households quarrel with their mothers more than they do with their fathers (39% and 26% respectively). This is closely connected to the fact that, on the one hand, (lower-class) mothers are often housewives and spend most of their time at home, and, on the other, they are more deeply involved in child-raising as a result of the traditional gender-specific life course. Consequently, they are more openly exposed to controversy. At the practical level, boys and girls appear to react rather differently to (questions about) the subject of intra-family conflict: Boys report more (serious) conflicts with their parents than girls (15% versus 6%). The girls from this 'conflict-category' predominantly quarrel with their mothers, the disagreements covering all areas of life. Conflicts between sons and fathers usually concern matters of conduct and, as a rule, occur in command households exclusively. Conflicts between daughters and fathers mostly concern sexuality and relationships. Whether young people actually have conflicts with their parents or not, none of them ever complained about their future expectations or plans being frustrated by their parents. They apparently feel completely free to choose an education or an occupation of their liking and to decide how they will balance (future) occupational and domestic tasks, even if their parents hold widely different views on these matters. This may sound too superficial to mention, but when one comes to think of the amount of coercion experienced when making the choice of education by this generation of parents when they were young themselves, let alone the amount of influence emanating from family tradition and gender-specific expectations (the son taking over the family business, notwithstanding his personal ambitions; the girl attending domestic science school, for she would be married anyway), it becomes sufficiently clear how drastically patterns have changed in the course of just one generation and how much more autonomous young people have become nowadays.

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6. Parent-child relationships from the perspective of the parents How exactly do the parents perceive their relationships with their children? How does their perception match the overall picture of the preceding section and to which topics do the differences relate, if any? In table 4 we present the data from interviews with the mother and the father, per social class. Table 4. Parental styles of fathers versus mothers (N=l 20), according to social class (absolute numbers) Fathers

Mothers

LowerMiddle Upper Total

LowerMiddle Upper Total

Negotiating

Total

1

7

2

10

7

9

11

27

37

Non-interfering

11

9

8

28

9

10

3

22

50

Ambivalent

2

5

7

14

2

4

1

7

21

Commanding

2

6

-

8

1

3

-

4

12

Total

16

27

17

60

19

26

60

120

15

W e can identify the following trends: 1. Self-perception:

Most parents think of themselves as tolerant educators, whereas

only twelve of them admittedly prefer a fairly strict approach. The parents who perceive themselves as ambivalent educators are also few, but still they outnumber the command category. 2. Differentiation

between

fathers

and mothers:

Mothers tend to perceive their

approach as liberal more often than fathers do (49 against 38), whereas as many fathers as mothers (14 against 7) feel they belong to the ambivalent category of parents. 3. Social differentiation:

The commanding approach does not occur in upper-class

families, whereas the negotiating approach is common throughout social stratification - but relatively more so with middle and upper classes. Surprisingly many fathers from the upper classes (7) feel ambivalent about their educational task. The finding that parents do indeed generally perceive their own attitude as one of considerable tolerance should not be explained away by assuming socially desirable answers to please the interviewers. Rather, it involves an intergenerational contrast: Compared to their own upbringing, they actually do have a more liberal approach. Nowadays, parents are part of a society in which the media and popular educational literature are incessantly stressing the importance of independence and emancipation as the primary educational goals. W o m e n appear especially sensitive to this and more easily perceive themselves as true negotiators than men do. Which makes it all the more interesting why upper-class fathers are the main representatives of the ambivalent category. These men are all still trying to cope with their traditionally biassed

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notion of child-raising while they are at the same time confronted with the new sets of values that their wives and children are already putting into practice. Although they generally go along with new demands, they still do not feel comfortable with the situation. Furthermore, as we are dealing with the negotiating household pattern in most of these cases, fathers indicate being constantly judged on their attitude by wife and children. Conflicts As most parents expect their children to observe domestic rules and norms as long as they live at home, of all educational areas the familial context is the most liable to give rise to conflict. But parents differ widely as to what they regard as ( ^ a c c e p t able. What may be taken as a matter of fact by some parents, like a sloppy appearance or careless dressing-manners, may well offend another parent. What is important here, is the extent to which parents establish a connection between their own norms and the adaptability of their son or daughter. Ambivalent and "conflictparents" insist on such a connection much more rigidly than negotiation-parents. According to mothers, house rules not only form the main topic of negotiation, they also cause the majority of conflicts and doubts. The fathers present a far more authoritarian picture: One third profess to demand obedience, against a mere sixth of the mothers, who experience ambivalence as well. Throughout the social classes, a vast majority of parents feel they should not and need not interfere with the private (sexual) lives of their sons or daughters, especially in the field of their expectations vis-ä-vis the combination of family-rearing and work. What is striking, is that (notably) mothers encourage their daughters to get a proper education, hoping they will one day find a job that will satisfy them. Lowerclass mothers tend to define the occupational careers of their daughters in terms of economical independence, whereas upper middle-class mothers concentrate more on the aspect of self-realization. Fathers on the other hand do not appear to take such an explicit interest in this aspect of self-realization in the future lives of their daughters. But in general, parents do show a similarly liberal approach to the educational and occupational choices of their children. They accept their sons and daughters as equal partners in discussing these matters and realize very well that ultimately the decision is up to them. Notably middle-class fathers seem to appreciate the status of careercounsellor in advising their sons (more so than their daughters). Very few parents interpret the process of their children becoming independent as a controversial or threatening development. The same goes for leaving home. Those who do find it difficult (18 out of 120), either fear the 'empty nest', or find their child simply too young to live on his or her own. A separate category is formed by the parents who would indeed prefer to see their children leave because of ongoing conflicts. In most cases, this applies to upper-class mothers. Even from the point of view of negotiating mothers, some young people simply claim more liberty than can be tolerated by them: Developing their own life-styles without allowing their parents

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a say in the matter whatsoever. Since mothers are more frequently confronted with controversial situations, they tend to be affected by such an attitude the most. Finally, we have a small group of mothers who also look forward to their children leaving, but for a different reason: They enjoy the prospect of having more time to themselves. This category coincides with the 'switch-generation' of mothers whose aim it is to further develop their abilities, be it by taking up a hobby or by doing voluntary work.

7. Parents and young people: A comparison of perspectives Basically, there are three levels at which to generate a comparison of perspectives from the data we have presented before. The first one is on an aggregated group level. For that purpose, we compare tables 2 and 3. This comparison enabled us to deduct a generational trend which serves as a complement to the parents' self-image of tolerance we established before: Young people generally think of their parents as being stricter than the parents think of themselves. For, in judging their own upbringing, young people do not and cannot refer to any past upbringing, but rely on their present lives and needs instead. Moreover, since the pursuit of independence is especially manifest during the life-phase they are going through, their judgement of the educational approach of their parents is often strongly biassed by those needs. Both generations equally value a certain amount of liberty in the upbringing, but parents far more readily interpret their approach as a form of negotiation. What is taken for positive negotiation on the part of the parents, is often interpreted as 'non-interference' by young people. This also suggests that parents find it much harder to adapt to the new culture of negotiation. To young people, the essence of negotiation lies in the very act of non-interference. In doing so, they easily ignore the effort it takes their parents to act accordingly in terms of communicative skills and degrees of permissiveness. The second level of comparison is the familial level. Here we matched the perspectives of the respondents - youth, and father and mother - using the smaller sample (cf. table 5). Table 5.

Confrontation of perspectives on parental styles: Young people versus parents Parental style as perceived by young people (1988)

Parental style as perceived by parents

Negotiating

Non-

Ambivalent

Commanding

Total

interfering

Negotiating

7

9

2

13

31

Non-interfering

2

5

4

12

23

Ambivalent

1

-

2

8

11

-

1

1

5

7

15

9

38

72

Commanding Total

10

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Out of 72 families, 19 show matching perceptions of the parent-child relationship. As expected, these largely coincide with negotiating households. The other 53 cases show a bias in the same direction as before: Young people find their parents stricter than the parents do themselves. And, again, parents very much see themselves as negotiators. As we used data from the first round of interviews, which took place at a time when the respondents were under a certain amount of stress due to their finals, we should bear in mind certain distortions that might have occurred because of a heightened susceptibility to parental pressure on the part of the young people: 38 characterize their parents in terms of command. At this level we can identify a considerable discrepancy between the 'authoritarian' impression young people get from their parents on the one hand, and the liberal self-image of the parents on the other. The parental strain we mentioned before - the extra effort it takes them to adequately communicate with their children and which is often neglected by youth in return - now intensifies on the familial level. In addition to a bilateral comparison of perspectives, we also differentiated between the perspectives of the various sub-categories on the familial level, viz. mothersdaughters, mothers-sons, fathers-daughters and fathers-sons. On the whole, this does not alter the general pattern. We find no more discrepancies between sons and fathers than between daughters and fathers, nor do we between boys and girls or fathers and mothers. Structurally, well over one fourth clearly share the same view, whereas barely three fourths of the respondents have an image of their parents that does not fit the self-image of the latter. Agreement on the upbringing usually occurs in the noninterfering and the command households. These two approaches structure the modern and premodern variants of intergenerational interrelationships respectively and are most unequivocally recognized by parents as well as children. Finally and thirdly, we compared parent - young people perspectives at the level of individual family cases. At this level, we were able to closely study the parent-child relationship in its everyday context and determine the way it changed over the years by an extensive analysis of the interrelations between the data from all three rounds of youth-, mother- and father-interviews taken together. For this purpose, we present two specific cases. The Mulder case exemplifies the ambivalent parent-child relationship: two conflicting generations having to cope with one another. It adequately demonstrates what kind of power-resources young people mobilize and to what extent parents are (un)able to counteract? Apart from that, the Smits family also represents the negotiating culture which extrapolates child-raising as a project of both parents and youth.

8. Two family cases The Mulder family: Two generations speaking different languages Johan (1969) and his elder brother (1965) both still live with their parents. Their father (1935) is a canvasser in the construction industry and their mother (1941) is a housewife.

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Johan sees himself as a self-assured young man and has always done so: "I just did as I pleased and as I was always up to mischief, my father used to give me a hiding quite a lot. But I deserved it, after all, I was wrong". His father usually took care of such matters "because he hit the hardest", whereas his mother instead protected him. Over the years, this pattern remains identical although his parents gradually begin to lose control over him. Johan tends to do as he pleases more and more, and his parents can do nothing about it. House rules and extra-familial rules Johan's parents insist on decent behaviour. Whenever Johan lets his hair grow long, his mother gets worked up about it and both his parents get extremely annoyed by Johan's wearing jeans all the time, notably when they take him to a restaurant. They had rather have him wear a jacket or a tie. Most of their disagreements, however, concern the time Johan has to be in at night. Disagreement in this area often leads to quarrels: "It only takes a little argument beforehand, but I'll stay out anyway. They tell me: Be in at twelve! And I tell them to stuff twelve o'clock." Still, at times he'll give in: "If they really insist, I think to myself, oh well, tonight I'll make it only one hour late ...". Mrs Mulder: "Well, his lordship simply decides for himself when to get home. And as we don't approve of it, we clash quite often (...) and then my husband will say something like: Okay, no pocket-money for you for a whole week." But she feels she can't leave her boy without a penny, so she'll give him money on the sly. In turn, this annoys her husband (when he finds out about it), because this way she'll undermine his paternal authority. About his son Mr Mulder tells us: "He does not like obligations and if we try to force him, it only makes matters worse." Johan's parents firmly deny ever having any major conflicts, but at the some time, they keep mentioning it. Mother: "We have our arguments, but no rows!"; father: "Like, from time to time they just won't listen, well, sometimes I get cross, because after all, as a parent you have a right to be right, don't you (...) but after five minutes I have usually forgotten all about it. I don't stay cross forever, you see." Whereas Johan's mother is afraid that being too strict might cause Johan to leave home. Home as a hotel In spite of all the arguing (going on), Johan does not consider leaving home and says that he feels "perfectly comfortable at home". As for his motives, they appear to be largely financial ones: "The fact is, it's so convenient; no worries, at least for a while yet. Not having to fork out a single penny." Johan will only consider leaving home as soon as he has the money to buy a place of his own, where he won't be bothered. Accordingly, he does not fancy the idea of moving into lodgings. As became apparent during the parents-interview, they are well aware of it that Johan calls on them for financial reasons only. As it is, they don't want to lose him as a son on the one hand, but on the other they feel offended by the fact that their son keeps asking

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them for money while at the same time holding a grant and receiving a salary from a sideline and having free board. Education and work Initially, Johan planned to do Higher General Secondary Education, like his brother, but he did not make it and decided to do Lower General Secondary Eduction instead. When we talk to him for the first time, Johan is about to enter Technical College for further education. At home, there is trouble. His parents feel Johan does not take his education seriously enough and spends too much time on going out and meeting friends. Mrs Mulder is always meddling and feels extremely frustrated because her son does not seem to appreciate her motherly efforts. Her husband attempts, to assert his authority every once in while, but that does not seem to make any difference either. One year later, Johan is attending Technical College and is not doing well. Meanwhile, his parents are pressuring him: "They keep pushing me, like, come on, get on with it!" He realises they have a point there, but "sitting there cramming day in, day out, that's not for me, no way. But eventually I'll just have to do it." One year later still, Johan has failed his first year exams at Technical College, although his marks were only one point short. "I am partly to blame, but my teachers did most of it". By now he appears fed up with school, but on the other hand he is not prepared to let go of his education altogether and find a job, for he realises the importance of proper qualifications. Johan has a friend who has not got any and still makes a lot of money as a construction worker. But how long will that last? To Johan, who is not particulary well-to-do, this friend sets an attractive example. If only his sideline at the P.O. would be more promising and "if college would be slightly more boring, I'd go for a full-time job at the P.O.". His mother feels deeply concerned with his educational career and as soon as Johan had finished Lower General Secondary, she struck the balance: "Now that he has passed his finals ... well, you might just as well say / passed them myself ... ." But now she won't have it any more: "That's over now. I mean, I've been doing it for five years ... so, I told him: You don't want to? That's fine with me. You just go and find yourself a job! But, as I keep pointing out to both of them (sons), you're young only once and you're going to get only one chance to learn these things ... I mean, the darned boy will be eighteen in December! When I was his age, I was already a grown-up!" Mr Mulder: "Me? When I was at school, I was already working! And what do we see now? Both still at school. Our eldest was already twenty-one before he had finished learning. Some people have a child and a family to look after at that age! At least, that's my view of things." Finally, when both parents express their view on the parent-child relationship, they say, rather hesitantly: "We think we are doing the right things, but we will only know looking back."

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The Smits family When we first meet Jeannette, she is eighteen years of age and about to take her Alevels. She has two younger sisters. Her mother (1941) is a housewife and her father (1940) teaches history at a secondary school. "Our family discusses" This is how Jeannette's parents characterize their familial culture and the communication between the family members in the parents-interview. In short, a negotiating household. Both parents and children, share this view and all the recorded evidence suggests that they are right. Still, this does not necessarily imply that they agree on each and every topic. As time goes by, we notice certain shifts of perspective and a gradual differentiation of the relationships between father and daughter and daughter and mother. A true turning-point in their mutual perception occurred when Jeannette left home and began her study in another city. From that point on, the old family culture of discussion transformed significantly. Especially between Jeannette and her mother, who used to discuss matters quite intensely, communication became increasingly detached. Jeannette lives a life of her own now and scarcely informs her parents of her doings. She wants to take decisions by herself and live an independent life at all costs. Jeannette's parents, and particularly her mother, regret the distance their daughter is creating. Her mother misses the intimacy of their former family life, even if she never actually intended to really hold on to her daughter. Jeannette's detachment has made her parents change over from an approach of 'cooperative negotiation' to one of 'non-interference'. In the course of the first interview, Jeannette told us that she herself has experienced her development towards independence as an even process: "Gradually you were allowed more", "they started discussing things with me (as a grown-up) more." Also, she gradually started to recognize her parents more as individuals, to become more aware of them. Her self-image then was one of "a person steadily becoming more independent". Accordingly, Jeannette's parents tell us that the upbringing of their daughters had always been a matter of stimulating them in accepting responsibilities and making rational choices in life. Mother: "We permit our children to speak their minds, even if they disagree with us or think we act foolishly as parents. Still, we expect them to approach us in a decent, normal manner. We won't have any swearing." Overall, both mother and father are quite content with the way the upbringing turned out. Still, the real 'touchstone' of that, according to Jeannette's father, will be how she is going to manage on her own. Education and professional career As for Jeannette's education, the parents have always shared her own demands: "Making it through secondary school and working hard on my studies after that." However, their agreement on the subject is one thing, but "they must never try and force me into it". She understands very well what makes her mother stress the

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importance of a proper education again and again: the fact that her own mother never got the chance to do what she had always wanted, study at university. Mrs. Smits readily acknowledges this during the interview. Hers is the standard-biographical account that is so typical of her generation: her attachment to her independence as a working woman (she used to be a secretary) and how she had to give it all up when she got married and had her children. Never would she let herself get rushed into 'either/or' decisions (i.e. children versus career) again, given the chance. After a period of time, she has in fact taken up a part-time job again. During the fatherinterview, Mr Smits confirms not having had any trouble with that. Thus, Mrs Smits offers a textbook example of the 'switch-generation' of women who transfer the freedom of choice they themselves have never enjoyed to the biography of their daughters. Again, her husband fully supports her. As he puts it: "Whenever one of our ladies (i.e. the three daughters) does not try hard enough ... well, I sometimes tend to lose my temper. (Q.: "What do you do?") I try to discuss the matter, (but) not by running the show or anything, but by trying to understand why s h e ' s being like that." Still, he realizes perfectly well that his communication with his daughters is not half as flexible as his wife's. Sometimes he even stops and realizes he is using "the words of my parents at home". He and his parents used to discuss and listen to each other, yet that did not mean they were into cooperative negotiation in the present sense of the word: "I just had to sit and pay attention to his (father's) point of view." As for her choice of study, Jeannette tells us during the second interview, she has discussed it with her father quite a lot and has taken most of his advice, but at the same time she was well aware of what her own choice would be all along: Business Administration. One year later, Jeannette complains about her parents (and her father) leaning on her quite a bit to make her finish her studies within a four-year period, whereas "I myself would prefer to stay the full six year term, I mean, I still have plenty of time to work, so why not make the most of it?" To her parents, the increased freedom of choice girls enjoy nowadays, creates the possibility of aiming for the highest level of education, something which needs to be carefully planned. Their daughter, however, takes the study for granted, and feels that she is entitled to a modern youth-culture which does not involve rushing things. Instead, life should offer the opportunity of investigating various alternatives and leave room to enjoy them. Jeannette now considers switching studies or even going abroad for a year or so. In the meantime, however, she remains true to her parents, who after all do pay for her education, and she intends to finish her studies first. Sexuality and relationship;

house-rules

During the first interview, Jeannette indicates that her parents did not think much of her going steady at fifteen because her boyfriend was several years older. They were worried about her educational career. Also, they warned her not to commit herself too soon, something Jeannette did not want either. Meanwhile she was seeing a new

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boyfriend from the same school. During that period, tensions arose with regard to the time Jeannette had to be in at night. The matter was settled by a compromise: She could stay out a bit later, but in return she would observe the times agreed. By doing so, Jeannette in fact benefitted from this settlement: She had insisted on a considerable exception to the rule and her parents had agreed to this on the condition it would not become a habit. As Jeannette's mother comments: "And if I ask her: at what time? and her answer is: at half past two, I tell her I find that too late. So we negotiate about it and we both give in a little, at least we usually do; sometimes we do not. She admits her husband is far stricter. At times he reacts rather 'abruptly' to his children even though he does not mean to. It often occurs that she has to mediate in the disputes. Eventually all conflicts are settled by means of talking. Mrs. Smits: "If you spend a lot of time talking with your children, you can make out what they are after at a very early stage of the discussion ... and vice versa, they know how we feel about it. As a result we don't have any major conflict at all, really." Sometimes, however, conflicts are also avoided by not talking to each other. We find this attitude in the area of sexuality. In the first interview, Jeannette complains of her parents "having no idea of what it's like to fall in love with a person ... that this boy is not just anybody ... they don't seem to get it". During the second interview she admits never having discussed the subject with her parents, and finally, by the time of the third interview, she feels: "They simply do not want to know." By then, Jeannette also feels that her parents have nothing to do with her private life. When we look at it from the parents' point of view, things are more complicated. Jeannette's mother is scared of the idea of her daughter courting different boys just to gain experience and then starting with sex too early because of that. It's 'fine' with her if Jeannette has different boyfriends (without having sex), but she considers it (far) too early for any serious relationships. Jeannette's father on the other hand is uncertain whether "it is still to come or she is at it already", but nevertheless he expects his daughter won't let herself get 'dishonoured'. If Jeannette's should be unacceptable to him, he "wouldn't exactly oppose to it in the sense of lecturing her", but he would rather be there for her if she wanted to talk the matter over. But at the same time he is not all that sure whether she would let him in on the matter (i.e. whether to sleep with a boy or not). Jeannette's parents suspect their daughter has a boyfriend at present but refuses to mention it. Living apart together Ever since Jeannette has moved into lodgings, she comes home for the weekends and once she is home, she does not feel like sharing everything with her parents. But "although they've lost most of their grip on my life in a year's time, on the whole they still know pretty well what I'm up to still." By the time of the third interview, her relationship with her parents has "improved", as her parents have reconciled

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themselves to Jeannette's coming home only now and again. Still, she would have asked for her parents' advice, had it been unavoidable, but up to now, she has taken care of her own business. Mrs. Smits admits that Jeannette's moving out has been far more difficult for her than she would have expected: "I did not like it at all, for Jeannette is good company and s h e ' s a girl with wide interests. I mean, she has a keen mind and it's great having conversations with her. She has just become a whole person and that's what makes her absence such a pity." This experience is also typical of the 'switch-generation' of women: putting all o n e ' s energy and all one's hopes into the upbringing - and all of a sudden it's all over. It makes one think: What have I done with my life, or, what's left of it? This mother did not ask for it; it was her daughter who made her step back. Discussion A comparison of both family cases clearly demonstrates how parent-child relationships crystallize in the contexts of 'pre-modern' (the Mulder family) and modern (the Smits family) households respectively: The Mulder parents appear to be strongly oriented towards the old ideal of parental control in their pedagogic actions, whereas the Smits parents appear to have 'switched' to the modern ideal of parent-child partnership. The Mulder family clearly experiences the pressure of modernity: Traditional pedagogic values seem to have lost most of their significance and their son is constantly challenging parental authority, something he feels free to do because increased means of power of today's young people provide the necessary back-up. The parents try to resist, but they hardly ever succeed. This very struggle forms the essence of the ambivalent pattern that is characteristic of this household. As we have seen, both cases reflect the increased importance that is attached to diplomas and proper further education nowadays. However, they do so at two separate levels. Both Johan's and Jeannette's parents insist on their child getting a (university) degree, but in the case of the Mulder family this causes a great deal of doubt and conflict - which, in the end, makes Johan see that finishing his education is the only proper thing to do if he is ever going to make it in society. The Smits case, on the other hand, indicates a strong consensus as to the value and the benefit of higher education. Still, Jeannette also insists on being ultimately responsible for her own educational trajectory. In the Mulder family, intense disputes about standards of behaviour and decency occur. Here we see a true clash of the generations of which the parents get the worst: After all, the youth persists in adopting the new values and practices of youth culture. Jeannette Smits and her parents indeed never overtly quarrel about the youth-cultural aspects of her life, but their relationship is not altogether relaxed either. This becomes apparent once Jeannette has moved out: Her parents have not had a say in the matter since. The prolonging of the youth phase causes problems in both households. But the parents respond to it in quite different ways: As the Mulder parents are incapable of

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'pushing' Johan towards adulthood - something which they once experienced as young people themselves

their son is prompted to use the parental home as a

'hotel' at which he is to spend a large part of his adolescent life. Jeannette Smits on the other hand has moved into lodgings in connection with her studies and has confronted her parents (especially her mother) with quite the opposite kind of problems: As they do not want to let go of their daughter as yet, they try their best to bridge the physical and mental gaps that have been created. After all, Jeannette and her parents do want to stay in touch, for they feel a close bond with each other even though Jeannette is living on her own. Although the Mulder family shows far more pronounced traits of the traditional parent-child relationship than the Smits family, the Mulder family is just as much dependent on negotiation for their 'survival'. The main difference between the two households lies in the fact that in the Smits case negotiation is a matter of free choice; a negotiation culture that was gradually formed by the efforts of the persons involved and which is fully consistent with the social position and ambitions of that particular household. Whereas in the Mulder case much more effort is put into the struggle for a 'historical compromise' between the old and the new pedagogic values.

9. Doubts - parental need for assistance in the upbringing T o d a y ' s parents are determined to raise their children to be independent persons, knowing just how much more unpredictable the future is for the youth-generation than it was when they were young. Meanwhile, today's youth is far more emancipated and ready to challenge parental authority. We wondered if this could in any way have unbalanced the parents. W e therefore asked both mothers and fathers if they had ever experienced any serious problems in their children's upbringing. In doing so, we consciously left it up to the respondents to decide on the exact content of the notion of 'problems'. For, to some parents, a young person talking back already poses a problem, whereas other parents would react much more relaxed. Apart from that we can assume certain differences in the way mothers and fathers define problems. Whether parents experience a problematic situation as a momentary or a lasting phenomenon will also be of influence. 8 As table 6 points out, the parents consider themselves to be rather self-confident educators. A majority of mothers and fathers state having hardly any problems with the upbringing of their children (41 of the mothers; 32 of the fathers). This finding is robust across the social strata. A substantial number of mothers (14) and fathers (14) experiences problems, sometimes of a rather serious nature. It must not be surprising to find the latter mainly in the category of ambivalent households. The Mulder case was a clear demonstration of that. Secondly, we find problems in the middle social strata. Tensions in the households belonging to this category often coincide with rather high pitched expectations on the parents' part concerning the educational

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Table 6. Child-raising problems as experienced by the parents, according to social class Fathers Lower Middle Upper

Mothers Total

Lower Middle Upper

Total

None

1

6

2

9

2

5

3

10

Few

9

9

5

23

10

13

8

31

Some

4

4

6

14

2

-

1

3

4

3

2

9

Quite a few

-

3

3

6

Many

2

5

1

8

1

3

1

5

Total

16

27

17

60

19

24

15

58

career of their children. Expectations tend to clash with the actual needs of the youth w h o often does not act as consciously as most parents would want him or her to. The problems, or sometimes even the experienced incapability of dealing with the child, should be treated within the framework of the more general question, whether today's parents consider the upbringing to be a problematic affair altogether. For, if the culture of negotiation has indeed progressed to the extent we think it has, the process of raising children must consequently have become less of a matter of course. It must have made parents reconsider the legitimacy of their pedagogic assumptions, values and actions. Our line of questioning was aimed at this very notion of reflection,

for we can safely assume that given the processes of moderniz-

ation and individualization, some (self-)reflection must have developed in the field of child-raising as well. The assumption appeared valid throughout: Actually we were amazed at how intensely the parents - mothers and fathers - reflect on their own pedagogic actions. Accordingly, a majority consider raising children a task which needs much consideration. This somehow puts the supposedly relaxed parent-child relationship into perspective: Overall liberalization of educational values and attitudes does not necessarily imply that the task of upbringing is likewise experienced as uncomplicated. This raises the question why nevertheless so many parents profess to see no major problems or conflicts in their own families. According to most of the parents (and their children) indeed no severe, undermining conflicts occur in the families. However, when we put the question about the task of upbringing in a more general, more contemplative way, the parents are inclined to mention not only their worries at some point, but also their endless conversations about their children and the effort it takes them to find the right solutions. This explains why a majority of parents respond affirmatively to the second question. At first sight, we cannot discern a clear relation between the (experienced) severity of problems and educational attitudes: Authoritarian parents report just as many (few) problematic situations as do ambivalent and negotiating parents. When we take

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a closer look, a relation appears to exist between educational attitudes and conflicts indeed: Once we differentiate between conflicts with younger children as opposed to conflicts with older children, negotiating parents appear to experience problems with younger children especially, whereas authoritarian parents have more problems with older children. Although the differences within our group are too minute to justify any far-reaching conclusions, we would still like to offer a possible explanation, based on the notion of an ongoing development toward a culture of negotiation: The authoritarian pattern shows parents who are determined to make it clear to their first (oldest) child that certain rules are to be obeyed and, likewise, that breaking these rules implies certain sanctions. As a result, the younger siblings take this example as a point of reference and 'obey'. Also they do accept that their older brother or sister is gradually allowed more than they are at their age: There will come a time when they will be allowed the very same. Besides, the traditional upbringing has always adhered to age-related standards as opposed to modern upbringing. Conversely, the context of the negotiating household offers the younger child an example of how rules are negotiated between an older brother or sister and the parents. In their behaviour they take example from this and give their parents a hard time trying to impose any restrictive rules in reference to their young age. Already at an early age they start demanding treatment that is equally serious as that of their older brother or sister. The ambivalent household category does not show any evidence of age-orientated differentiation. Perhaps this is due to a balance of opposite attitudes towards younger and older children respectively. After all, the ambivalent household is characterized by constant shifts between negotiation and exerting authority. By questioning the parents about the way they experience the problems of raising children, we almost automatically entered upon the subject of their self-image in terms of their role as educators. During the interviews, much to our surprise, the parents spoke quite freely about their shortcomings as educators. As such, this already is a clear sign of (self-)reflection moving increasingly towards education itself and of a shift of balance between the generations: Today's parents no longer consider themselves as omniscient educators and indeed do not hesitate to admit their shortcomings to others (the interviewers). By analyzing the shortcomings the parents mentioned themselves, we learned that indifference is a negligible factor. We take this as a manifestation of the ongoing (historical) tendency towards a greater intimacy in family life (Lash, 1977; van Setten, 1986). Instead, the parents frequently admit being too impatient or aggressive with their children. We interpret this as a sign of ongoing informatization in families, which means that parents more often tolerate and admit losing their temper (cf. the contribution of du Bois-Reymond in this reader p. 127ff.). Noticeably, authoritarian fathers state having been (too) aggressive or impatient. The significance of course being the fact that they admit it as such, not that they show this type of behaviour: By

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doing so, they indicate their own doubts about the compatibility of such behaviour and modern child-raising practices. On the whole, mothers and fathers have quite different self-perceptions regarding their role as educators. Every one out of three mothers feel they manage well, most of all negotiating mothers. The ambivalent mothers feel the least certain about their own actions. Fathers tend to take a more negative view of their role as educators. What they regret most, is not having been as involved in the upbringing of their children as they would have liked. Their reaction implies a wish to question the rigorous division of tasks which is tied to the gender-specific life course. We take this as a sure sign of ongoing changes in the role of the father. In spite of - or should we say thanks to - the critical self-reflection of the parents, a majority of them feel capable of solving the problems of upbringing within the family without having to rely on outside help, and of sufficiently supporting their children in coping with the tasks which have to be mastered during the transition period. In discussing problematic situations and possible assistance, the husband/wife still is the main partner. Typical of modern child-raising is the very frequency of such discussions. Especially in negotiation households, the children are also invited to participate: Whenever there is a problem, that problem is treated as a family affair exclusively and all members get around the table. Accordingly, third parties or authorities are hardly ever asked for advice. When we asked the parents in what area they valued assistance mostly, they singled out one in particular: the area of tutoring and professional career guidance. All parents had at some point had to deal with it one way or another; be it implicitly or explicitly, successfully or unsuccessfully. Career guidance is an integral part of the secondary education system which is provided by different authorities to facilitate the transition from secondary to higher education or the entering of the labour market (cf. the contribution of Peters in this reader). Upper middle-class parents either feel satisfied with the facilities available in this field, or they rely on their own knowledge and resources to be of advice to their children. In addition, upper middle-class young people show a tendency of prolonging their further education and, likewise, postponing concrete choices of future occupation. These young people either have made up their minds about further education already or they decide after deliberation with their parents, like Jeannette did in the Smits case. Finally, we find a category of middle upper-class young people who have not the faintest idea about the immediate future after finishing school. As a result of their indecisiveness, career guidance does not have much effect on these young people. In such cases, the facilities do not match the demands of the youth and their parents. Lower-class parents on the other hand seem quite content with the available guidance. They indeed prefer an orientation on the labour market early on in the educational career and the choice of subjects of their children. In further education, the primary concern then becomes a step-by-step guidance towards a future occupation.

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Manuela du Bois-Reymortd Middle-class parents form a separate category: Not only do they appear most of all

in need of proper career guidance on the part of the school, but they also claim not to be content with the available guidance program significantly more often than the other parents. They feel they do not get sufficient information and advice to give the right guidance to their children. Furthermore, they want to avoid making the wrong choices of education or occupation in the sense that the level might eventually prove too low for their children. Also, they are apparently more anxious about this than the parents from the other categories. Their prime concern is to make their children prepare and orientate themselves as well as possible before they enter on their careers. Since these parents make the most active use of the guidance available, they not only criticise it the most, they also value its benefits more highly. As for the young people, they generally evaluate the parental support as sufficient. They receive the emotional and material support they expect, and, very much like their parents, take it as a matter of course (de Regt, 1993). One important feature that modern young people have in common, however, is their desire to act as independently as possible. Under that condition, they expect (and receive) broad parental support and leave it up to their own needs to ask for specific help. Whenever they ask for specific help, it hardly ever concerns their private lives, but their educational and professional careers all the more. Generally, boys address fathers rather than mothers in matters of educational or professional problems, whereas girls (still) turn to their mothers more than boys do in personal-social matters (cf. also the contributions of Ravesloot and Peters in this reader).

10. Discussion In section 1 we raised the question of how today's young people and parents experience the parent-child relationship, and what this particular relationship looks like when we study the various areas of life (from the perspective of the youth) and the areas of child-raising (from the perspective of the parents) respectively. Our leading principle in doing so was the notion of an ongoing development towards a negotiation-culture which is typical of modern society. Furthermore, w e studied the parent-child relationship from an intergenerational angle to indicate in what direction such developments could possibly lead. In accordance with the civilization-model our basic assumption is that, like all human interaction, family life also tends to evolve from strongly hierarchical to increasingly equal relationships. Our data-analysis presents us with a complex state of affairs: This generation of parents grew up in times of drastic changes in ethics as well as lifestyles. After a period in which post-war society still relied heavily on traditional (pre-war) standards, the sixties and seventies in the Netherlands were especially 'roaring'. Processes of modernization - secularization, democratization, emancipation of women, to name a few - came as shocks that brought society to itself and started to under-

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mine the standard life course. To account for the influence these changes have had on parents and their approach to child-raising, we introduced the notion of a switchgeneration. When we look at the alternation of generations through the decades, we can safely state that today's parents represent a changeover between a period of order and discipline and a period of informality and negotiation. In reference to their own youth they need and indeed want to adapt to circumstances which promote a considerably prolonged youth phase and offer more and more choices and options to their children. In return, young people do not perceive parent-child relationships from a perspective of comparison through time but rather by an assessment of their actual experiences and needs. For that reason alone their perspective is essentially different from their parents. The young people in our research are all going through the life phase of transition to adulthood. Throughout this phase they are confronted with new developmental tasks and go through new status passages. To young people, these tasks and passages are all new. With parents, things are different: On the one hand they know a lot about it from their own experience, but on the other they do not know anything about the aspects that belong to the present youth phase, yet have to respond to it in their roles as parents. Which means that this life-phase is equally difficult both for young people and parents. From this, we deduced the question in how far the assumption of a generation gap is justified. We found no evidence to support such an assumption: By and large, young people appear quite content with their parents and parents prove themselves equal to the tasks of raising their children. Still, we had to adjust our findings in some respects. First of all, it became apparent that by no means all of the parents were negotiation-minded. Next, we introduced four types of family culture, ranging from the traditional authoritarian household to the modern negotiating household. As to the factor of social class, we differentiated between two tendencies: one being signs of negotiating strategies in all families. This finding points towards an ongoing actualization of negotiation as a leading principle of human relationships in modern societies. This was clearly demonstrated on an empirical level by a comparison of parent-child relationships as parents recall them from their own youth period on the one hand, and modern parentchild relationships on the other. The second tendency we discerned had to do with the relatedness of negotiation cultures and the upper middle classes. This points towards ongoing processes of differentiation within the general framework of modernization. In other words, the upper middle classes seem to 'take the lead' whereas (part of) the lower classes seem to follow at some distance. The experiences that young people from separate classes have with family life with regard to living together with an older generation are partly similar, but in some respects they differ widely. We found that status passages of today's young people have becomes significantly disconnected from the ones their parents have gone through and experienced themselves. All young people, regardless of social class or

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parent-child relationship, do in fact on the whole receive more education, their treatment of relationships and sexuality has become increasingly emancipated and their own conception of their future professional career and family lives are completely different from the way their parents used to be. But in spite of the fact that all young people (girls particularly) long for a life more modern than their parents' (mothers'), they still remain orientated towards family life and upbringing: e.g. upper-class youth, who have adapted to negotiating strategies, prefer an open outlook and take partnership and communication as its guiding principles. The mothers, who are generally more negotiation-minded than the fathers, play a decisive part in the adaptation to new values and approaches, especially vis-ä-vis their daughters. They keep stressing the importance of their daughters becoming economically independent, at least more so than they managed to be themselves. This encourages further modernization of the life-course plans of their daughters. At first, we did not think we would find gender-specific differences in childraising to the extent we would have during the youth of the parent-respondents. After all, this would perfectly match the notion of ongoing modernization of human interrelationships according to which women/girls make up for social drawbacks and lesser resources. On further consideration, however, parents do in fact exert far greater control over their daughters in the field of corporality than they do over their sons. No such difference can be identified in the areas of education and professional career. Gender-specific differences between the role of the mother and the role of the father tend to decrease as well: Fathers are just as much concerned with the upbringing of their children, even though they belong to a generation that was raised with the idea that they were supposed to be the breadwinners and their wives would take care of the child-raising tasks. And although it is still common practice that mothers are the main advisors on everyday questions and problems, and fathers are more concerned with their role as counsellor on matters of education and career, such a differentiation of tasks is far from common. Usually, problems are tackled by joint parental attempts and open communication, albeit not always without a certain amount of stress, like in the Mulder case. The increased frequency of discussion between parents is part of the ongoing development towards a culture of negotiation. As to the image of increasingly relaxed intergenerational relationships, we offered some adjustments by questioning the parents about the difficulty of child-raising. All categories, including the self-assured, appeared to experience some difficulty. We interpret these responses as an affirmation of our theory which defines the negotiating approach to child-raising as an expression of growing incertitude about child-raising norms and the future of the young generation on the one hand, and as an indication of the intergenerational relationship being perceived as more problematic by the parents than by young people on the other. Historically speaking, this could point to an unprecedented state of affairs. For, in earlier generations, young people were usually the ones who actualised a generation-gap (cf. also Meeus & ' t Hart, 1993).

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people

In as much as there is such a gap, it is indeed bridged by a negotiating culture. A n y notion of negotiation implies such a bridging, in as far as it involves (a trend towards) a balancing of intergenerational power structures. That implies that parents do not negotiate out of their own free will exclusively; they are also forced to do so by their children. T o s o m e extent, they are expected to 'voluntarily' negotiate with their emancipated children. What is striking, is the skill with which parents usually approach such matters. W e take this as a sign o f increased reflection

which they - as

members of the 'switch-generation' - need and want to develop. This has created mental and emotional

room for a meeting

of the generations,

which is characterized

by autonomy as well as involvement. Individualization of y o u n g people as well as parents is promoted by both aspects alike. What b e c o m e s clear from the social trend w e mentioned before, however, is that such room is not equally accessible to all parents and children and that its c o m i n g into existence is widely different from household to household. Whenever families reach s o m e kind o f balance between mutual respect (of each other's needs) and mutual demands, the balance will always remain fragile: It will have to be established by circumstantial negotiation and decision-making time and time again.

Notes 1. In the Anglo-Saxon research tradition there is a host of research on the parent-child relationship. This research is almost exclusively carried out by (developmental) psychologists and is not (yet) consequently linked to sociological theories of modernity. In the context of this article, we refrain from reviewing the American literature on the topic, referring instead to the review article of Paikoff and Brooks-Gunn, 1991. 2. In an article on "Rationality, cohorts, and values", Lesthaeghe and Moors (1992) present data from the international "Cultural Change Surveys". They demonstrate for the Dutch population in particular an ongoing progression to libertarianism and greater individual autonomy in moral and familiar, gender and sexual matters during the 15 years between 1970 and 1985. As to the effects of parental socialisation, they propose, much in line with our notion of a "switch generation", that the post-1940-birth cohorts made the largest leap in the direction of modern values of upbringing. 3. The systematic analysis of social differentiation of child-raising behaviour in a cultural context is remarkably rare in mainstream Anglo-Saxon-orientated research on child-raising approaches (Maccoby & Martin, 1983). Adams (1988) points to a research gap "that depicts the cultural or historical context within which parent-child relationships occur". He cites a study which points out that "adolescents' orientation to their parents has been curvilinear, being closer in the 1940s and 1950s, and again in the 1980s than in the 1960s and 1970s, although this is more true for boys than girls in the 1980s", (p.8) These changes somehow indicate a tension in the life-course expectations of adults and adolescents. In the 1960s and 1970s, the youth- and student-movements were at the height of their development, and, consequently, the normal life-course of the parent-generation began to lose its model function. In the 1980s, a large number of parents adopted the approach of a new generation of child-raisers that adheres to more liberal norms and values. Smetana, Young, and Hanson (1991) notice a growing interest in the relationships

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between parents and adolescents, but at the same time they regret the few substantial results that research in the field has come up with, and, notably, the absence of longitudinal research (cf. also Oswald, 1989; Paikoff & Brooks-Gunn, 1991; Sinnige, 1992). 4. The parents were recruited through their children. 5. Social class is here determined by both the highest educational level and the present occupation of the mothers and the fathers. Whenever major discrepancies between occupation and educational level of a parent occurred, the occupational level of the father was taken as decisive. With the mothers, most of whom became housewives after marriage, this would be unreasonable: Here the highest educational level is decisive. In all cases where major discrepancies occur, social class is determined by taking the highest educational and occupational levels into account. 6. Cohort-influences on child-raising approaches have not been systematically taken into account in this part of our study, because the sub-cohorts are too small numerically. Qualitative analysis shows that negotiating is much more dependant on social class than on the age of the parents. For a discussion of cohort-influences on the future planning of parents during their own youth period, cf. Peters, 1992. Furthermore, religious aspects also have not been systematically taken into account in the following analyses. 38% professed to be catholics, 43% protestants, 8% non-denominational and the rest other. A vast majority of parents indicated that they were not religiously active. 7. The child-raising approach from the perspectives of the youth, the mother and the father respectively were calculated from the average score for each area of life and child-raising. Furthermore, from the second parent-sample (the joint interview) we distilled an overall score from all mother- and father-scores to construct a characterization on the family level (from the perspective of the parents). In case of discrepancies between the parents, we estimated the dominant family type or we registered an 'ambivalence' score. Discrepancies between reported child-raising approaches in different areas of life were registered separately. These operations needed hundreds of codification-decisions which are based on the qualitative analysis of the interview protocols. In all cases, we had both an encoder and a counter-encoder at work. These acts of codification were the most time-consuming project activities and lead to further clarifications of our theoretical concepts. 8. Our questions concerning possible problems in child-rearing were mainly directed at the youth-respondents. Nevertheless, whenever parents came up with problems they had with siblings of the respondent, we accounted for that by incorporating the information into our codification of the child-raising problems experienced. Accordingly, we did not strictly differentiate between child-raising problems in the present and in the past.

Part II Modernisation of Childhood in East and West Germany and The Netherlands

4. The Impact of Social and Cultural Modernisation on the Everyday Lives of Children. Theoretical and Methodological Framework and First Results of an Inter-cultural Project Peter Büchner Marburg University, Germany 1. Introduction Children are "quite obviously children of their time, they are both reflecting and unmasking society" wrote H. von Hentig (1975) in his foreword to the German edition of Philippe Aries' "Centuries of Childhood". Today we know that this book (together with its foreword) was, at least in Germany, a starting point for looking at children as individuals "in their own right". Since that time, childhood is no longer considered to be - sociologically speaking - just a phase of transition, but a permanent social category (Qvortrup, 1993). Our project tries to support this new "child focus" and recent efforts to establish a sociology of childhood (du Bois-Reymond, Büchner, Ecarius, Fuchs, & Krüger, 1994; Chisholm, Büchner, Krüger, & Brown, 1990; Qvortrup, Bardy, Sgritta, & Wintersberger, 1994). By doing so, we intend to contribute to the "disenchantment" of research approaches concentrating almost exclusively on a notion of childhood as a time of preparation for adult life and focusing individualistically on the child as a future m e m b e r of society. Children are more than not-yet adults, they are also part of a changing present-day society and thus both objects and subjects of a general process of social and cultural modernisation. The sociology of childhood considers children not primarily as a homogeneous age group on their way to becoming adults, but it looks at children as a structural entity of society which underlies social and cultural change and exists in many variations and sub-groupings according to given social, cultural and

regional

conditions. In our project, we are following this kind of approach by analyzing the impact of current modernisation processes on the lives of present-day children in the context of a changing society as a whole. This contribution will provide the reader with some information about our research project still in progress by looking at the everyday lives of modern children in three different European regions (Western Germany, Eastern Germany, The Netherlands). T h e theoretical starting point of our project is the fact that childhood, and especially

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the everyday lives of present-day children, are influenced by general trends towards modernisation and civilisation which are almost completely neglected by mainstream childhood research. In particular, we share the assumption suggesting that there are trends towards a pluralisation of family composition and new forms of living together as well as towards an individualisation of (lived) biographies and family lifestyles which affect the lives of children in different ways depending on specific socio-cultural conditions given at a particular time. In our research project, we analyze - with reference to Beck's Risk Society (1986/1992) and Elias' The Civilising Process (1923/1978&1982) - the impact of modernisation (i.e. changing composition and changing structure of family and family life, changing standard childhood biographies ("normal biographies"), changing lifestyles, social power structures, forms of control and participation etc.) and of civilisation (i.e. social standards of behaviour) on the lives of children. Three main fields of analysis are of special importance: 1) We study the transition from childhood to adolescence and especially the "early biographisation" of the life course of children as it is postulated by Fuchs (1983); i.e. we try to understand the social logic (Thompson 1980) of a child's biographical planning and decision-making process and the child's role (both conceded to and imposed upon him/her) as an organiser of his/her own biography in the period of transition from childhood to adolescence. We compare the way in which children plan and manage this biographical stage in their lives on the basis of different resources and different outlooks (chances) on their future lives. 2) We study, in this context, the intra-family relations (parent-child-relations) against the background of changing family structures, family composition and intrafamily forms of living together, and we analyze the processes of negotiation between parents and children about the maxims and forms of everyday life inside and outside the family. 3) We study child cultures, as well as the structure, range and organisation of the child's out-of-school activities including formal and informal social networks, and we examine the significance of socio-cultural resources for the lives of children. In this theoretical context, our project compares biographies of children, child cultures and changing parent-child relationships in the three European regions of West Germany, East Germany and the Netherlands. To this end we are using, as a first step, our data collected in comprehensive case studies in order to work out typologies of patterns of biogaphisation, variants of child cultures and modes of parent-child relationships. The next step of our work (which is still in progress) consists mainly of conducting a panel investigation with interviews (every two years) with the children, who were originally 12 years old, until they have reached the age of 16. This part of the study will provide a comparative analysis of specific ways of growing up as a child in different European regions in order to present different co-existing degrees of "modernity" in the lives of present-day children.

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In this contribution, we shall start with a short outline of our theoretical and methodological background (section 2 and 3). After that, we are going to present a category scheme consisting of indicators for the description of modernity in the everyday cultural practice of children (section 4). Using these indicators, we shall then portray a modern child's cultural practice in order to show how we try to bring together macro-level social changes with the micro-level processes of growing up as a child in different social and cultural contexts (section 5). The concluding remarks (section 6) are intended to discuss the question of how our first results might be interpreted in the light of theories of modernisation in "risk societies".

2. Theoretical background Our research project tries to lay open elements of modernisation and social change as they affect the present-day lives of children. In doing so, we make use of theories interrelating structural change and social change with micro-level interaction (i.e. in the family or the peer group) as well as linking the notion of modernisation and civilisation with the level of specific cultural practices and habits of life. Beck (1986/1992) analyses modern "risk societies" in view of contradictions between the production of (economic) resources (wealth) and the production of social risks in wealthy Western industrialised societies, but especially in Germany. He is mainly concerned with the personal and social risks (costs) of modernisation which he locates in the breaking down of traditional support networks (of the family and the community), going along with an increased emphasis on the individual private world being based on the interests, ambitions and commitments of individuals rather than on class identity and collective (class) solidarity. Educational and labour market institutions stress individual success and encourage competitiveness, a tendency which is more and more a further dominating feature of private life. In consequence of the (partial) subversion of traditional class distinctions based on status ascription and traditional life styles and ways of life there is - according to Beck - a tendency towards individualisation. Individual status achievement processes are of growing importance and processes of diversification and individualisation of life styles and ways of life have been set in motion reflecting both more opportunities and freedom of choice and new forms of risks and constraint. Children are affected by this trend towards individualisation of the course of life in many ways: There seem to be more educational and leisure opportunities, but both educational institutions and leisure markets stress at the same time individual success and encourage competitiveness. The pressure of competition inside the school is extended to out-of-school life: Children get increasingly engaged in exclusive leisure activities, and leisure "careers" (Eckert, Drieseberg, & Willems, 1990) are the result of a high degree of distinctiveness even of the out-of-school life of children. This implies that young people must take responsibility for themselves at a very early age.

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Life thus becomes a "biographical project": Children are supposed to be able to seek - to a certain extent - their own pursuits regardless of parental direction. They can buy their own leisure and have to try to get hold of the necessary resources. However, there is not only more room for choice and autonomous action; there is also a permanent need for decision-making with risks, stress, uncertainty, status insecurity and a possible loss of traditional forms of group support (in the family or in the neighbourhood). According to Fuchs (1983), this process of "biographisation of the life pattern" has now encompassed the childhood phase. Social courses of life have become increasingly individual biographies. The most prominent changing feature of an individualised childhood is probably the child's earlier acquisition of independence across an ever wider range of fields, a trend connected with the individualisation of life situations, life styles and thus life courses. Close family ties and the direct control of children's everyday life by the parental home, are (partially) replaced by children's activities outside the family and by an increased orientation towards peer groups and leisure institutions. Examples of such areas of independence might include options such as deciding individually what to buy, planning and managing space and time, the selection and shaping of leisure "careers", determining media consumption patterns, displaying personal tastes, or choosing

appropriate

modes of communication

and social

activities.

Schools

similarly require the exercise of decision-making (e.g. planning the w e e k ' s work, engaging in project-oriented learning, choosing options); and schooling further presupposes an independence in establishing social contacts (which, in earlier years, have been bound within traditional neighbourhoods). Thus, it would seem that, on the whole, there are fewer and fewer compulsory components in the "normal biography" of childhood. The lives of children are marked by changes in material living conditions and thus, in socialisation contexts, captured in literature by the term de-standardisation of the life course, especially noticeable in the private sphere of family and gender relationships, partnerships and parenthood (Kohli, 1986). De-standardisation is accompanied by a decreasing commitment/attachment to the normative traditions of family life and leisure activities, and by a strengthened orientation towards values of self-realisation as opposed to the fulfilment of obligations to others (Klages, 1984). Individualisation processes thereby take root, offering both children and adults new perspectives of the possibilities for leading and planning one's life. W e can, with a degree of caution, suppose that the determining and orientating role of paid employment upon the course and style of people's lives has also changed - both for women and for men, if in different ways. Especially women have, in the past decades, reached more independence and thus gained a wider range of biographical options both inside and outside the family, since they are acquiring more (advanced) education and since they are getting involved in the labour market in larger numbers. This development goes along with demographic shifts: The family size is diminishing and the birth of the first child is postponed. Smaller families

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(fewer brothers and sisters) imply more intimacy and more attention is given to the individual child. Children are no longer a biological "necessity" but, with effective contraceptives available, they are planned and desired. Traditional family values such as the w o m e n ' s destination for motherhood are weakened and women have more scope for living their own lives (principle of searching for self-fulfilment). Marriages may be discontinued; more children grow up with stepfathers or stepmothers, stepbrothers or stepsisters. Against this background, other sources and types of biographic

orientation

increasingly compete with "work" since the modern "leisure class" (Veblen, 1899/ 1986) must be able to present more than just working qualifications in order to be up to date as a competitor. Thus, the biographic "fixed points" have shifted, and old familiar points of orientation have partly lost their significance. The new dynamism in the "normal biography" of childhood stems from the fact that vital parts of the process of childhood socialisation have become detached from traditional social contexts and are controlled by "market-based opportunity structures" (Kohli 1986: 204), i.e. through a great number of child care or leisure arrangements outside the family. Every child is thus increasingly expected (and, quite often required) to behave in an "individualised" way, so that s/he will always be obliged to decide one way or another for a particular biographical variant. Children are thus expected to recognise and exploit these possibilities for choice; this implies that children must somehow orient themselves to an anticipated life course. The more childhood in the (changing) family is eclipsed by influences and orientation patterns from outside the family (school, leisure activities, media etc.), the more independent the opportunity for (and drive towards) making up one's own mind, making one's own choice and taking one's own decision will become, when deciding between alternative life courses or ways of life. This development, described here in Fuchs' terms as biographisation of the life course, is one element of a de-standardisation of the life course against the background of plurality of forms and styles of life. The anticipation of o n e ' s future course of life requires farsightedness - a central prerequisite for civilised behaviour in the sense of Elias, whose theoretical approach provides our second basis of analyzing modern childhood. According to Elias (1939/1978&1982), a civilising process has been going on for centuries, demanding the modern individual to be socially well-controlled in all kinds of situations by getting and keeping his/her emotions under control in social situations as well as by increasing his/her ability to exercise inner self-control - which is considered to be a sign of civilised behaviour. Referring to modern society as a performance-oriented society, an "achievement society" (McClelland, 1961), Dencik (1989) reports on current transformations of everyday lives of parents and (pre-school) children in the Nordic welfare states. He shows in terms of the ongoing civilising process, as discussed by Elias, that many spheres of social life have the characteristics of market situations (the friendship market, the lifestyle market, the consumer market, the

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social markets of kindergarten, school, and family, and later in the labour or love market); and children who are confronted, at a very early age, with such market situations risk social failure (in the field of social interaction) unless they are able to exercise self-control, behave dispassionately and abstain from "childishness" and regression in public arenas. Dencik translates Elias' concept into a process

of

quickening "social acceleration", in which the prevailing ideals and norms governing the child's behaviour have shifted since the time when today's parents were children. Parents today cannot use the experience of their own upbringing as a model for their children's upbringing. There is a trend towards regarding children and parents as independent subjects with their own needs and rights and a legal status of their own which is affecting the quality of parent-child-relationships. The modern child is being regarded as an individual in its own right and the basic cultural orientation and social interaction pattern can increasingly be described as a trend towards both accepting and expecting the child's autonomy, self-regulation and self-control. Modern parents show more sensitivity for the child's wants and needs but, at the same time, they take it for granted that the child is able to cope with given situations (Preuss-Lausitz, Rülcker, & Zeiher, 1990). This may open up new opportunities for children but, at the same time, put pressure on them to develop adequate social competencies in order to meet the new social and cultural requirements of (civilised) behaviour. This might sometimes even include the help of professional therapists. Also with reference to the approach of Elias, de Swaan (1982) postulates that the parent-child relationships have changed over the last few decades from a basic pattern of restrictive parental direction and corresponding obedience of the child to a pattern of recurrent negotiation between parents and children (cf. also Büchner, 1983, 1985: 107ff.). This goes along with a shift in power balance in gender and generation relationships. W o m e n as well as children have gained more power in personal and social matters enabling them to give shape to their own course of life. More equal power balances thus give room for more options and less gender-bound life perspectives (Heinz, 1991; Hagestadt, 1991), a development which is connected to a levelling out of class differences - typical for modern Western welfare societies (Skolnick, 1991). Negotiation is a communication model which implies equal partners. Parent-child relationships are thus not primarily guided by traditional norms and values (fixed standards of education and status-bound authority), but they are more open for discursive negotiation and depending on specific situations and motives of the family members. Pre-modern forms of influencing the child's behaviour through (corporal) punishment is replaced by confronting the child with the consequences of his/her behaviour which may or may not deviate from the parents' position. Openly coercive measures to suppress undesired behaviour are no longer accepted as an educational strategy. In the course of civilisation not only education, but all other human

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relations as well, are increasingly governed by internalised forms of self-control (and no longer by external forms of control by other people and agencies). Gerhards (1988) points out that this new way of social interaction in the form of recurrent discursive negotiation is a reflexive-communicative process

requiring

verbalisation and cultural codification (e.g. as laid down in etiquette books and adviser columns) of emotions and action both on the part of parents and the part of children. This is to say that children must learn (at an early age) to manage their everyday lives by discursive negotiation with their interacting partners in a civilised way. According to civilisation and modernisation theories, not all social strata are affected by this culture of negotiation in the same way and at the same time. The higher strata w h o take over the lead in the course of civilisation and modernisation processes permanently try to set standards and create and hold social distance and distinction vis-ä-vis the lower strata, whereas the lower strata try to adopt, in the course of time, the standards of behaviour such as the modern family culture of negotiation. The results of these processes tend to be irreversible although there is no doubt that the history of modernisation and civilisation is also characterised by cultural counter-movements which lead to a revival of pre-modern philosophies of parent-child relationships, as can be seen in the present European discussion about more leadership in education (e.g. the "self-criticism" of parts of the former antiauthoritarian movement in Germany). This example shows that the trends towards social and cultural modernisation cannot be seen as a linear development in society but must be conceived as an intermittent and contradictory process with synchronous and asynchronous developments and a number of different cultural patterns co-existing all at the same time. In addition, the different degrees of modernity to be found in the lives of children do not reflect the impact of modernisation in a direct way either. They rather show that it is necessary to conceive modernity as a multi-dimensional construct showing the complexity of cultural and social modernisation processes not only in the lives of children.

3. Methodological background With mainly qualitative methods (case studies), we interviewed 106 twelve-year-old boys and girls and their parents, roughly about 35 in each of the three selected regions in the Netherlands, in East and in West Germany. The reasons for selecting these three regions are many-sided. Apart from the challenging task of documenting East German and West German child cultures in the course of the

German

reunification process we did not want to confine ourselves to just looking at the German trends towards modernization and civilization. Therefore we

included

another West European country into our comparison in order to be able to look

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across national cultures. We selected the Netherlands because of positive experiences with a former intercultural project (Behnken, du Bois Reymond, & Zinnecker, 1989). Last but not least we also selected these regions because they are within easy reach not only to the three universities (Marburg, Halle, and Leiden) in which the members of our team are employed but also in easy reach to the families to be interviewed. Since we are aiming to make use of a longitudinal approach we will repeat these interviews every two years when the children will reach 14 and 16 years of age. Therefore the problem of funding this kind of empirical research is, by no means, unimportant. For our case studies, we selected children (and parents) in a first step by using social indicators: We interviewed the same number of boys and girls and made sure that the different social background characteristics of the families in question (position in the social hierarchy) was controlled. By taking into consideration indicators such as occupation, level of professional/ vocational training and level of education of fathers and mothers, we obtained a social hierarchy classification divided into high, medium, and low position. A further selection principle for the children and parents interviewed were socio-ecological criteria, i.e. the place of residence (big city, medium-sized town, village) in the three selected regions. In a second stage, we selected further cases by applying the principle of "theoretical sampling" (suggested by Glaser & Strauss, 1967). This implies that we looked out for additional interesting and promising cases on the basis of theoretical insight into the case material as well as on the basis of first efforts of interpretation and first empirically supported assumptions found in the first set of cases. By doing so, we are aiming at discovering and documenting a spectrum of different case structures as wide as possible (i.e cases with maximum and minimum contrasts in the different fields of analysis). Thus, we tried to make sure that a great variety of different family structures, variants of child culture and modes of biographisation were represented. In our study, we combined different data collection methods. Our research techniques included narrative interviews with (at the beginning of the project) 12-year-old children and their parents. We wrote detailed synopses about the interview material for all children and their parents and documented, word for word, those passages which seemed to be of central importance for the whole project. In addition we used semi-structured "mirrored" interviews with the child and one of the parents in order to document the child's biographic steps into adolescence on the background of a specific intra-family life situation and given socio-cultural conditions. The interviews with the child and his/her father or mother both took place at the same time in the private home of the family. The interviews also included questions about parent-child relations, forms of social control, inter-generational conflicts, educational methods, intra-family rights and duties, scopes of independence as well as the child's everyday cultural practices and his/her out-of-school activities as well as plans for his/her future life. The topics discussed were mirrored in the sense that they deal with everyday life of the child as seen by the child, on the one

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hand, and, on the other hand, as seen by his/her father or mother. The innovative element of this approach can be seen in the fact that the viewpoint of children about the topics in question can immediately be confronted (mirrored) with the viewpoint of the parents. In addition to the interviews with the child and one of his/her parents, we documented the family's social data and the equipment found in the child's own room. W e also took photographs of the family and the family's house (inside and outside) and took ethnographic notes of specific points observed during our visit at the family's home. The interpretation of our case material with regard to the narrative interviews is inspired by the method suggested by Schütze (1983) for interpreting structures of the biographic process (for more details about this part of our study cf. Krüger/Ecarius in this reader). The analysis of the semi-structured mirrored interview material is based on the method of focussed comparative content analysis as suggested by Mühlfeld, Windolf, Lampert, and Krüger (1981), Lenz (1986), and Lamnek (1989). Case material documenting central facts such as modes of intra-family negotiation or the child's biographic steps into adolescence or specific elements of the child's cultural practices were completely transcribed in order to meet the technical requirements for the following process of interpretation and analysis. The other parts of the interview material were summarised in accordance with a given framework of (mirrored) analysis. Altogether we are aiming at producing family and child portraits along the lines of three typologies showing the identifiable variants of: a) intra-family inter-generational relationships; b) different modes of biographisation of the life course of children; c) variants of modern child cultures. These three typologies will also be a main point of reference for this article as well as for the two following contributions in this volume (M. du Bois-Reymond; H.-H. Krüger & J. Ecarius). Each of the three articles will contain comparative aspects about the inter-relationship of modernisation processes and the present-day lives of children in the three regions. In the remaining sections of this article, we shall now focus on one of our main fields of analysis: Is it possible to discover distinctive features or different degrees of modernity in the cultural practice of children? W e shall try to answer this question by looking at the cultural practice of children as it is reflected in our West-German case material. W e are going to elaborate different degrees of modernity in the everyday lives of children first in a given West-German setting. In a concluding section, we shall then summarise our results and include some first comparative aspects about different degrees of modernity found in the cultural practice of children in the three European regions studied in this project.

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4. A category scheme designed to describe modernity in the lives of children 4.1 Indicators for the description of modernity We shall now turn to the presentation of a category scheme designed to analyze the results of our case studies. The empirical background of this category scheme presented below is the case material of West Germany (38 children) and a number of other pieces of research done in this region. The everyday lives of children can be described according to the degree of modernity detectable in the children's cultural practices. Apart from controlling social background variables (social status and structural features of the family involved, status of employment of the child's parents, type of school visited by the child) which influence the cultural practice of a child, we look at other differences which seem to be appropriate for describing degrees of modernity in a child's everyday life. We examine whether and how present-day childhood is penetrated by the modern "leisure society" with its high demands for mobility and its market-like social relationships. To this end, we look at child cultures (in the sense of the everyday cultural practice and the habits of life of children) and concentrate on what we call the "activity profile" and the "social network profile" of a child. We use indicators in these two key-fields of analysis in order to typify specific variants of a child's cultural practice - according to its degree of modernity:

I. Activity profile

1. spatial & temporal dimensions infrastructure given in the neighbourhood of the child's home; design & use of home; own (play)room?/equipment of this room; degree of dispersal of activity spheres; possibility of autonomous movement (incl. transport access); temporal regulation/time use patterns (incl. making arrangements for meeting friends)

2. activity dimensions framework and range of activities inside/outside the home; participation in activity programmes (active/passive); degree of familial/institutional concentration of activities; degree of mobility

3. social control dimensions self-regulation/external control; self-determined/supervised; degree of planning/organisation; long-term perspective; degree of commitment; security/insecurity of future perspectives; achievement pressure; sense of competence

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II. Social network profile 4. social & friendship network dimensions individualised/collective orientation/social relationships; degree of commitment; autonomous (individualistic) forms of action/regulated by peers and/or parents; friendship pattern: family-based, peer group-based, sports/hobby-based; neighbourhoodbased/institution-based network 5. motivational/orientational dimensions satisfaction and pride or boredom/"action"; pressure/stress in the field of activities; individualised/collective styles/taste; status consciousness; instrumental/hedonistic activity orientation; deferred/immediate gratification patterns, importance of social relations; self-perception: strong/weak

4.2 Variants of child cultures according

to the given degree of

modernity

Using these indicators, we worked out variants of child cultures which are listed in the following typology. We constructed an axis of modernity with two opposite poles representing the range between a highly modernised and a traditional variant of a child's cultural practice. A child culture is scored highly modernised or traditional if both key profiles (activity profile/ social network profile) reach high or low ratings. Between these two poles, we find a number of partly modernised child cultures reaching lower ratings in one or both of the key profiles of modernity. It is important to note, however, that modernity is conceived as a complex structure of several dimensions interacting with each other. A highly modernised

and individualised

child

culture

With regard to the indicator dimensions and modernity profiles listed above, the highly modern pole of a child's cultural practice is characterised by: 1) well-furnished/well-equipped home/play-room; intensive use of play-room; good infrastructure in home region; easy transport access (incl. parental [mothers!] transport) to reach places of activity; high degree of dispersal of activity spheres; high degree of autonomous movement; elaborated leisure timetable management, frequent absence from home (incl. staying overnight with friends); 2) wide range and differentiated profile of activities as well as great intensity of active participation in programmes; specialised use of activity spheres; high degree of mobility; coverage of long distances, elaborated time use patterns and temporal (self-) regulation; high degree of planning and organisation;

long-term perspective;

self-selected supervised and/or self-determined activity profile; peer group-based and/or sports-/hobby-based activity pattern;

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3) high degree of (age-related) self-regulation; culture of negotiation, often only a low degree of commitment in relationships; indirect forms of control by parents; more institutionalised forms of social control; weak gender differences; 4) individualised and autonomously organised social/friendship network; individualised selection of social contacts; elaborated management of social

contacts;

self-determined social integration/ segregation; activity-related importance of social relations; low binding character of many social relationships; importance of (changing) friendship dyads; 5) individualised style/taste; sense of competence; long-term perspective; security of future perspective; status consciousness; deferred gratification pattern; "action"biased; high degree of satisfaction and pride; low level of stress/pressure; low/ medium achievement pressure; strong self-perception; high sense of competence. Highly modernised and individualised child cultures are often (but not exclusively) found in families with a high social status in urban (and sometimes rural) surroundings. Parental lifestyle variables (Bourdieu, 1979/1984) seem to play an important role with regard to the existence of a child's specific cultural practice. Traditional

child

culture

This is the other pole of our modernity axis. The child's cultural practice is characterised by: 1) urban or district-related or village-related neighbourhood; low/medium degree of mobility; activity spheres in the nearby neighbourhood; small own or shared room (playroom however often well-equipped with stereo set, t.v., computer [boys]); "street corner" orientation; unspecialised use of activity spheres; mainly outdoor orientation (boys); low temporal planning level; family-based (often father-oriented) time management; clear weekday vs. weekend/ holiday-differentiation; day-to-day orientation, low level of formal organisation; traditional time use patterns and family-based time regulation; 2) narrow range and undifferentiated profile of activities as well as low intensity of active participation in programmes (low degree of institutionalised activities); low degree of planning and organisation; short-term perspective; importance of family and neighbourhood networks; family-based and/or neighbourhood-based

activity

pattern; activity profile as given by circumstances; 3) low degree of (age-related) self-regulation; culture of parental

guidance;

stronger gender differences; medium high degree of commitment in relationships; brothers and/or sisters (if existing) of importance for orientation; direct forms of control by parents; high degree of social control over girls; father-son/mother-daughter lines of activity patterns; 4) collective social/friendship network; family-bound and neighbourhood-bound selection of social contacts; high binding character of relationships; importance of cliques;

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5) often low degree of satisfaction and pride; low (high) level of stress/pressure; low/medium achievement pressure; weak self-perception; low sense of competence; collective style/taste; insecurity of future perspective; no/low status consciousness; immediate gratification pattern. Traditional child cultures can be found both in rural and urban surroundings and are often related to bad housing conditions, a comparatively low social status of the families in question and a great number of brothers and/or sisters. Partial/selective degrees of modernised child cultures Between these two poles of the modernity axis representing a high or low degree of modernity, we find quite a number of partly modernised child cultures (with partial/ selective degrees of modernity of the child's cultural practice). Selective and partial modernisation of childhood (along the axis of modernity) can be found in a very specific way in East Germany (as a consequence of sudden social change processes following the opening of the wall between East and West Germany) but also in the other two regions. These variants of child culture are characterised by lower levels of modernity, either generally in most of the indicator dimensions or sometimes only in one of the key dimensions, thus forming specific patterns of partial/selective modernity. With regard to such cases of partial/selective modernity, it will be especially interesting later on to compare these variants of child culture with the indicator dimensions of the two other typologies (intra-family inter-generational relationships and degrees of early biographisation) in order to establish a theoretical and empirical connection between these different contexts. And last not least: If modern lifestyles and social behaviour patterns (i.e. a high degree of modernity of cultural practices) go along with more or less advantageous opportunities in an individualised meritocratic society, it will be interesting to examine the specific opportunity structures for children with different degrees of modernity inherent in their lives.

5. Trends towards modernisation and individualisation in the everyday lives of children: Selected results 5.1 The case of Sabine We shall now have a look at the case of Sabine, who is 12 years old and who lives in a rented house in the centre of Frankfurt with her parents and older brother. Sabine's everyday life is highly modernised and individualised and portrays in many respects modern childhood in a West-German city. It should be noted that we did not choose a girl purely accidentally for our presentation of a highly modernised and individualised child, since our material supports the assumption formulated in the

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context of other studies (Nissen, 1992) that girls seem to be more "modern" than boys concerning their leisure habits (activity and social network profile). Sabine is - in her own view - "a good girl and doesn't cause any problems". Her father, a senior staff member of the city branch of a Spanish bank house is very busy and away quite a lot. Sabine's mother, who holds a university degree in modern languages, does not question her role of "acting as a housewife as long as the family needs me". She is engaged, however, in voluntary work in the parish council. She also teaches the flute to infant school children free of charge, and she is a member of the parents' council in Sabine's school. The family moved to Frankfurt four years ago. Sabine - born in Spain - spent her early childhood in Madrid. After four years in Moscow and again some years in Madrid, she came to Frankfurt and finally entered a grammar school emphasising music as a main subject. Sabine's mother characterises the family as Europeanminded and Sabine tells proudly of the nine European countries where she has spent her holidays together with the family. The family plays an important role in Sabine's everyday life - but in a very specific way. Dinner time at 6 p.m. (after the father's return from work) and some common weekend activities are orientation principles. However, close family ties and direct control of Sabine's everyday life through the parental home is quite often replaced by Sabine's activities outside the family and by Sabine's strong orientation towards her peer group and leisure institutions. Even the weekend interests the family have in common are time and again neglected, since Sabine and her brother have their own programme. This goes along with a decreasing commitment/attachment to the normative traditions of family life and family-based leisure activities. It is rather inspired by a strengthened orientation towards values of self-realisation as opposed to fulfilling obligations to or expectations of parents or other relatives. Sabine's activity profile is very differentiated Sabine performs "quite well" at school and has no problems with doing her homework. She normally does not need more than 30 minutes for her homework. Other duties, especially domestic duties are kept "very moderate" (her mother speaks of "Hotel Mom"), so that Sabine has sufficient time to develop a very differentiated leisure activity profile. She has four fixed appointments per week: clarinet and piano lessons, private Spanish lessons and tennis training units. Mondays, she tells us, "is my day off". Sabine's week is thoroughly organised, and everything must be planned in detail, because she also has quite a number of other interests. Classical music is one of the main points of reference in Sabine's life: Apart from the private lessons twice a week, she practises both instruments three quarters of an hour every day. "Sometimes it is hard - but no pains, no gains" she argues. "At school, the music teacher also works a lot with us". Moreover, the whole family visit classical concerts frequently.

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Apart from classical music, she also likes modern music and, quite recently, she went - together with her mother - to a Michael Jackson concert. Tennis and other kinds of sports are a second focus in Sabine's everyday life. She hopes to qualify soon for the first junior team of her tennis club. Some of her free time left over she spends spontaneously playing volleyball or soccer with children in the neighbourhood. During the summer months, swimming is one of her favourite activities while she prefers (indoor) skating in winter. Last but not least, she tells about frequent bicycle tours with friends "just for fun". And between her fixed appointments during the week, she also likes to meet with friends for a chat downtown, where they just stroll around or have a drink or an ice-cream. In her own room we find about 120 books: She likes reading books. Her mother reports of Sabine's girl-like activities at home, such as keeping a diary, knitting or folding paper into all sorts of little things. The whole family also watches television during the evenings (programmes selected previously). And together with her brother, Sabine from time to time edits a little journal for neighbours and friends with short crime stories (including a section "letters to the editors"), with the solution to the plot in the following number. Sabine's social network is very complex In addition to her fixed appointments during the week, Sabine quite often meets her friends. These meetings are mostly loosely arranged beforehand and later confirmed by telephone. To have many good friends is very important for Sabine. She thinks of herself that she is very open-minded and sociable, and she is very proud of having many good friends. Inside and outside the school, she has different social networks and, in this context, she handles her social life very carefully. So she plans and organises her meetings with friends with the help of her leisure diary: Coordinated with everybody else's fixed appointments, Sabine and a friend arrange a place and time for the next meeting. Often, these meetings are activity-related, because they take place after one of Sabine's weekly appointments (e.g. music or Spanish lesson, tennis); this means that Sabine usually knows before, which activity is likely to be taken up on that occasion with this particular friend. Some of Sabine's friends are in a way music-related friends, with whom she arranges meetings before or after her music activities. Another group of friends are members of her tennis team; the joint training time is also an opportunity for "doing other things together afterwards" and, additionally, they come together for the tennis tournaments at weekends with quite some spare time between the matches. Another little network of special social contacts is linked to the Spanish Association where Sabine takes her private Spanish lessons. And finally, there are the children in Sabine's neighbourhood, with whom she meets "by appointment" for joint activities such as playing soccer or volleyball, or they just cycle around or go for a swim nearby, although, according to Sabine's mother, this kind of activities is getting less important in Sabine's life. And Sabine herself confirms this observation by insisting

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on more adolescent standards of behaviour: "We don't really play so much any more." In general, Sabine enjoys not only the "good social climate" in her school class but also, in the afternoons, she enjoys having many friends and she "does a lot" together with her five or six best friends. Her very best girl-friend she first met at the local swimming pool. This girl does not belong to any of the mentioned social networks of Sabine's. But the time for meetings with this very best friend seems to be limited, as Sabine usually meets only one friend at the same time. And since she also has a kind of weekly rhythm (after her Spanish lesson, after her piano or clarinet lesson, after tennis etc.) for her meetings with friends, she seems to be integrated into many separate social networks with a great number of relatively independent contacts. It is interesting to note that the different individuals/groups of Sabine's social network do not seem to be linked with each other very closely, because she interacts with them separately: Her birthday is celebrated more than once in the same year with a different group of friends invited for the afternoon in question. Sabine - a modern child in a modernised world The example of Sabine shows that we can find sufficient reasons for the assumption that the process of socialisation of 12-year-old children is increasingly - in more or less substantial parts - becoming detached from traditional social contexts (parents/ brothers and sisters, neighbourhood) and is related to numerous leisure institutions for children. However, the choice of activities and the choice of specific leisure institutions offering such activities are becoming a central point of importance for modern children. They must recognise and exploit their possibilities for choice. The intelligent use of leisure opportunities is becoming more and more a central norm for what could be called a successful modern childhood. Prestige among children is, to a great extent, linked with specific activity and social network profiles. Sabine's mother argues in favour of both an extended childhood phase (adolescent life styles should not be assumed too early) and an early (adult-like) autonomy of Sabine with regard to being able to make her choice and to give shape to her own unmistakable lifestyle, comprising manifold "interesting elements" of cultural practice. This goes along with standards of behaviour such as: "Don't waste your free time!" or "Get involved in distinguished cultural (or social) activities!" or "Get good school results, but also be good at out-of-school activities with the necessary staying power!" or "Compete with your peers but do not get arrogant!" Both Sabine and her mother support these standards of behaviour. They seem to be essential for a modernised and highly individualised life of present-day children in an "achievement society" with leisure habits which call for high degrees of distinctiveness.

The impact of social and cultural modernisation on the everyday lives of children 5.2 Children's

cultural practice

and social network

between modernity and tradition: Different

121 activity

profiles

The case of Sabine is typical for the highly modernised and individualised variant of a child's cultural practice. It shows a child culture reaching high ratings in both of the key profiles (activity profile/social network profile). If we look at the other pole of our axis of modernity, we will find children, whose cultural practice is characterised by a rather low degree of modernity, as detectable in the two key profiles. With the help of the indicators listed above, the specific cultural practice of the children of this category will reach only (very) low ratings in almost every indicator dimension. Between the two poles, we also find numerous partial or selective degrees of modernity concerning the everyday lives of children which will not be dealt with in detail here. The traditional variant of child culture is not traditional in the sense of oldfashioned or very similar to the child cultures of the 50s and early 60s. It is - in itself - also modernised: Mass culture and mass media influence this traditional variant of child culture as much as it is determined by social change in the field of housing or the level of consumption. Thus the impact of modernisation on this variant of child culture is both similar and different to the highly modernised variant of child culture at the same time. One of our main results with regard to differences between modern and traditional child cultures is not only the fact that the respective child cultures reach high or low ratings in almost every indicator dimension. Central to our question of whether and how we can (as an impact of general modernisation processes in society) find elements of modernity in the everyday lives of children is, among others, the observation of the changing role of the family and the importance of family life is very important with regard to the quality of cultural practices of children. It is true that both activity and social network profiles show, in cases of traditional cultural practices, lower ratings in almost every indicator dimension; but this happens as soon as the family (i.e. the parents) in question insist on traditional norms such as a far-reaching and matter-of-course influence of father (and mother) on the organisation of everyday life (time planning, forms of control, choice of activities etc.) and "enforce" (without opposition) a mainly family-based leisure programme. Individualised forms of leisure arrangements outside the family context can be observed less frequently and the prevailing social network profiles of more traditional children are still more neighbourhood-bound and of low complexity. In the cases of traditional children (with mainly family-based influences on their cultural practice), the cultural practice is clearly less controlled by leisure institutions and arrangements outside the family. Traditional children don't have substantial areas of independence from the immediate influence of the family: They only rarely decide individually about planning and managing space and time, about choosing appropriate modes of communication and social activities (often far away from

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home), about the selection and shaping of "leisure careers" (as a field for competition), about displaying personal tastes. Traditional children recognise and make use of their possibilities for choice to a much lower degree. Achieving a form of relative independence - (partially) free from parental control - largely takes place on the leisure market with its market-based opportunity structure. Traditional children often have access to this market only in a very restricted way on a mass consumption basis, i.e. under basic conditions which do not necessarily help to develop personal autonomy of action and distinctiveness beyond the family sphere. An earlier (partial) release from parental control and access to material and cultural resources can also be an overburdening, if, for example, a child has insufficient opportunity to exercise preferences, choices and decision-making options in low risk contexts which - in an indirect way - are often secured by a supporting home. A kind of helplessness-in-independence might follow, making the child, without such support, unable to deal with the uncontrollable tides of everyday life. Time and again, children even need the help of professional therapists in order to develop adequate individualised standards of behaviour. Therefore it is necessary to note that a child needs basic conditions supporting his/her "modern" cultural practice which are also sufficiently modernised. In order to be successful and to keep pace with the demands of social and cultural modernisation, a child must be able to do so under appropriate basic conditions (infrastructure, social/family background etc.). If a certain standard of "modernity" is not or cannot be guaranteed with regard to such basic conditions, the child may be threatened, in the worst case, to become marginalised. Therefore, it is necessary to come to a better understanding of the meaning of modernisation and individualisation of childhood, not only with regard to stress or strain, risks or given/refused resources and support but also concerning the reproduction of social inequality (cf. du Bois-Reymond et al., 1994).

6. The everyday lives of modern children: Concluding remarks and comparative aspects In this contribution, we have given a brief report about the theoretical and methodological background of a research project still in progress. We have presented a category scheme designed to analyze the impact of modernisation (Beck) and civilisation (Elias) processes on the lives of children. According to the given degrees of modernity, we have presented variants of child cultures along the line of key indicator dimensions. The case of Sabine was to illustrate a highly modernised variant of a child's cultural practice. So far, we have mainly used the West-German case material in order to elaborate and illustrate our typology of modern child cultures. But what happens if we enlarge our basis of comparison beyond the West-German case material: Can we find similar degrees of modernity in the everyday lives of children in the other two European regions?

The impact of social and cultural modernisation on the everyday lives of children Our first tentative results show that we can

find highly

modernised

123 and

individualised child cultures in each of the three regions. This does not necessarily mean that we have found high degrees of modernity in the majority of cases. On the contrary: W e discovered a very high degree of modernity only in a very small number of cases. However, we still think that our case material indicates in general a dominating trend towards modernised and individualised cultural practices in this generation of children in wealthy Western industrialised societies. This dominating trend may not even characterise the everyday lives of a majority of children, but it still has a trend-setting function. The modernised and individualised variants of cultural practice are most common in urban or urbanised centres with a favourable infrastructure and in families with both a social status above the average and a mentality structure supporting an "intelligent" use of activity and social network opportunities and facilities. But this modernised and individualised variant of cultural practice is more and more open for imitation and will set standards for the rest of this generation of children. Yet there are also counter-movements: Apart from the winners of modernisation being able to integrate modern lifestyle features into their everyday lives, there are also quite a number of children who can be called the losers of modernisation: They do not have the necessary material or personal resources at their disposal, nor do they have adequate support to live modern individualised lives. They are quite often threatened by risks and dangers of this development (new poverty, children with [ascribed] deviant behaviour, new psychosomatic syndrome etc.). In particular, this group of children is exposed to the permanent risk of marginalisation as soon as they cannot keep pace with the tempo of modernisation and civilisation. Especially in East Germany, many children are faced with processes of radical social change after the unification of Germany. Moreover, we found a great plurality and variety of different variants and profiles of children's cultural practices co-existing all at the same time in each of the three regions. This is reflecting the postulated trend towards individualisation of the lives of present-day children in many ways. In some respects, this helps to mask traditional class distinctions (standards of behaviour, lifestyles etc.). However, the dynamic force of modernisation and civilisation processes is affecting the everyday lives of children not only unequally and differently in general but also in a different way with regard to the specific socio-cultural context in the three regions. In West Germany, the trend towards highly modernised and individualised variants of child cultures is most strongly developed. This is true both for activity and social network profiles found there. In East Germany and the Netherlands, we still find more traditional elements of cultural practice, even though on a very different socio-cultural background. Due to a very poor infrastructure after the opening of the wall, the more traditional and often ambivalent patterns of cultural practice in East Germany is not surprising. Children cannot make use of the great number of facilities and programmes which

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frequently lead to "packed" leisure timetables and complex social networks of children in West Germany. T h e East German children's social network is far more neighbourhood-based and integrated into more traditional f o r m s of family life than is the case in West Germany. In East Germany, w e found a higher level of domestic help expected of sons and daughters and a dominating pattern of c o m m o n activities and relationships between children, parents and other relatives which are of a clearly more traditional nature than in West Germany. Due to the special function of (private) family life and (private) family relationships in the former G D R with her far-reaching state control system even of the privacy of everyday life, the propagated new and in many respects contradictory norms and standards of behaviour for individual self-realisation and individualisation force the East German family to change very rapidly. But family life (with its high degree of parental strain, stress and insecurity) has still a kind of key position with regard to the modernisation of the everyday lives of children. Much of the ambivalence found in East German variants of children's cultural practices can be explained by the effects of a rapidly changing context of family life in East Germany (cf. du Bois-Reymond and Krüger & Ecarius in this volume). The specific situation of Dutch children, whose cultural modernity profile is characterised by moderate ratings located in between West-German and East-German children (especially concerning their activity profile) was, at first glance, surprising. W e think, however, that there are some reasons to explain this observation. Our case material about the everyday lives of Dutch children reveals a very special family climate with adults showing more openness to children's wants and needs as part of what could be called a Dutch national culture. Most of the mothers whose children we interviewed are housewives, some of them with part-time jobs. (For East German mothers w e still find very high employment rates in comparison). But it is also a higher degree of informalisation of parent-child relationships (cf. du Bois-Reymond in this volume), being part of a traditional liberal attitude which seems to be typical for Dutch families and the more family-based cultural practice in the Netherlands. Another very important difference was discovered in the course of our comparative analysis: the specific filtering function of schools and school organisation with regard to the activity and social network profiles of children. Dutch children spend their first six years in a c o m m o n elementary school drawing its pupils from the immediate neighbourhood of the school (in Germany four years as a rule). It is only after having changed to the secondary school that Dutch children develop a higher degree of mobility (including a higher degree of dispersal of activity spheres and the need for more temporal regulation of their leisure activities). But even then, they still do not participate as frequently in leisure programmes as W e s t - G e r m a n children because they only return home from school in the afternoon and "lose" important time in trying to reach an institutionalised leisure activity level as high as we can find it in West Germany.

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The results of our first comparative analysis indicate that the process of modernisation and civilisation is taking shape with differences in degree and with regional (national-cultural) peculiarities in each of the selected three regions. Especially in East Germany, we find a development which might be analyzed using the concept of "selective modernisation" (elaborated by Gerschenkron, 1952 and adopted by Zinnecker, 1991). On the background of radical social change, we find winners and losers of modernisation processes, as well as contradictory/ ambivalent developments in consequence of overlapping "pre-modern" and "post-modern" trends and civilised standards at the same time. In West Germany, we find the greatest variety of modernised and individualised child cultures, whereas the Netherlands seem to develop in a similar direction on a slightly lower level of modernity, especially with regard to the children's activity profile. Both the activity profiles and social network profiles of children can be characterised as "market situations" (Dencik, 1989) which correspond with lifestyle and social life patterns as well as with modern family cultures of negotiation in wealthy Western industrialised welfare states. In summary, we think that we have sufficient evidence to support the assumption that the process of socio-economic and cultural modernisation is affecting modern childhood in many ways and has been proceeding most radically in West Germany and (up to now) in a very contradictory way in East Germany. The Netherlands can be placed somewhere in between, since we find here a surprising co-existence of more traditional and modern lifestyles and value orientations all at the same time. Both the modernisation of family life and the increasing institutionalisation of out-of-school leisure activities for children are very important "modernity" background variables which will have to be examined in more detail with regard to their impact on modern childhood. The comparison of cultural practices of children in Germany and the Netherlands has also revealed the importance of the interrelationship of school organisation and out-of-school life of children. In the future, school research and childhood research will have to co-operate to a much higher extent as has been the case until the present day.

5. The Modern Family as a Negotiating Household. Parent-Child Relations in Western and Eastern Germany and in the Netherlands Manuela du Bois-Reymond Leiden University, The Netherlands

1. Introduction After a longer period of quiet, a vivid discussion about the state of the family today has broken out in the last few years. The reasons for this interest have their basis in the thrusts of modernisation which Western European - and since the changes end of the 1980s also Eastern European - societies are being faced with. The family as an institutionalised relationship of generations in practical life is being dragged into the turmoil of manifold changes and at the same time is structuring these changes. The following strands of development are mainly involved in changing the character of the family as it has developed in the (Western) European societies after the second world war; they are closely connected: - decreasing number of marriages; - increasing number of divorces; - decreasing number of births; - alternative forms of family; - increasing number of women in employment; changes in the role of the mother; - new values of life and bringing up children; - increasing economic burdening of the family; problem families. These tendencies have been becoming manifest since the 1970s, they transform inter-generative living together into new forms and practices. Interdependence between demographic and mental developments is close to such an extent, that explanations based on the principle of causes and consequences are becoming void, and the more recent debates on family sociology quite obviously show that straightline or global suggestions for theories - as in a follow-on to the approach of structural functionalism - are not made any more. All social scientists working in this field rather state that they are still far from any well-founded theory on the changes taking place in the family in modern times. And alternative forms of family are being given increasing attention in recent publications (Bertram, 1991; du Bois-Reymond, 1993;

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K a u f m a n n , 1990; Lüscher, Schultheis, & Wehrspann, 1988; Nave-Herz & Markevka, 1989; Schneewind & Rosenstiel, 1992). In this article, we shall examine the parent-child relations in three European regions in Western and Eastern Germany and in the Netherlands under the conditions of all these changes. The basis is a liberalisation of the relation between generations which is expressed in such a way, that already at an early age, parents expect of and grant their children a high amount of self-responsibility. Our interest will be focused on the effects of a differentiation of the 'nuclear f a m i l y ' on inter-family communication structures. The three regions of comparison will serve as a background, on which processes of modernisation in the familial area will be highlighted in various ways. This is a longitudinal qualitative study, in which processes of children's finding their independence over a number of years are to be examined. 1 In each region, approximately 3 0 families with at least one twelve-year-old child from different social strata were questioned. In this article, we are reporting upon the first round of interviews. T w o more rounds are to follow when the children will be 14, respectively 16 years old. T o start with, we shall compare between the three regions on a macroscopic and demographic level (section 2), and shall then enlarge upon the state of investigation on our topic 'parent-child relations' (section 3). Following on from that, w e shall develop our theoretical approach towards an analysis of the relation

between

generations in modern times (section 4). In section 5, we shall legitimise our method of investigation and our samples. In section 6, we shall develop a typology of parent-child relations. W e shall conclude our article with a cross-cultural discussion of our results (section 7).

2. Macro-demographic comparison A comparison between the three regions concerning the aforementioned developments in the social system of families results in a high degree of similarities in West Germany and the Netherlands on the one hand, and in similarities and differences to East Germany on the other hand. 2 T h e problem here is that the collections of data differ and can therefore not be compared directly in many cases. Decrease

in birth rates and numbers of

marriages

Before the changes of 1989, marriages in East Germany used to usually take place at an earlier point in p e o p l e ' s lives than in Western European countries. In both East and West, the family with two children has been the most c o m m o n form of family for quite some time. Future parents also see it as the ideal form, which means that the real-term birth rate in all three countries tends to be falling below the level of reproduction. In East Germany, the birth rate has gone down by 6 2 % in the period of

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1989-1992 - a reaction of families and women to their conditions of living, which have become unstable since the changes. In West Germany, the number of people who are single or have no children is higher than in East Germany, and also the average age at which women have their first child is noticeably higher. In this respect, the Netherlands are in the lead with an average age of 27.9 years. This makes it more likely for an increasing amount of women to remain childless. Estimates for the Netherlands presume that in future, 20 to 30 percent of women will remain childless (Vermunt, 1993). Divorce rates; step families In all three countries, the divorce rates of families with children lie between 10 and 20 percent. Before the changes in East Germany, more children were born from unmarried parents and more people with children got divorced there than in the two Western countries. There are estimates which calculate a rise of divorces in the future to up to 30 percent in all three countries. There is a trend in all three countries towards a situation where one or more divorces during the course of life of an adult will belong to a normal biography. Re-marrying, and therefore the number of stepchildren who grow up in complex family constellations have risen to a level of almost 30 percent in West Germany in the last 30 years (Schneewind, 1992). In East Germany, 13.4 percent of minors live in families with a step parent, compared with 8.6 percent in West Germany (Keiser, 1992). According to a Dutch estimate, approximately 2.5 percent of all family households with children between ten and seventeen years of age are step families (Spruijt & Gilgam, 1988). In the Netherlands, almost 90% of all children up to twelve years of age live with their own parents who are married, the rest mainly in single-parent (mother) families (Peeters & Woldringh, 1993). Nevertheless, here, there is also a trend towards a decrease in the number of children living in families where the parents are married, and an increase in the number of children who live in circumstances where the parents are divorced. Taking into account the development of new forms of families, one should remember that in official statistics and enquiries in all three countries, usually no difference is made between mothers with and without a new steady partner who is living with or (mainly) independently from the single-parent family and who therefore fulfils the role of stepfather more actively or more passively. This blind spot in statistics is a great hindrance to research on new forms of family. Women in employment; changes in the role of the mother It is a well-known fact that in East Germany before the changes, the female part of the work force was extremely high in comparison to the Western countries, practically every woman below retiring age was in employment or doing some sort of training. And whereas only a good quarter of East German women had a part-time job, in West Germany, of the total of 45% of women in employment, 55% had

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part-time jobs (Keiser, 1992; Schneewind, 1992). Care for (small) children was organised accordingly by the state in East Germany, whereas in West Germany, this is the case only to a very small extent. Since the changes in East Germany, mothers there are threatened with unemployment even more than fathers, care for (small) children is deteriorating, and Eastern women find themselves in a deep crisis as far as their perspectives on their further lives is concerned. In the Netherlands, the rate of women in employment differs not only from the rate in East Germany, but also from the one in most other Western countries. Although the number of working women has risen from a quarter to 55.5% in the last 30 years, 75% work part-time (Hooghiemstra & Niphuis-Nell, 1993). According to a recent, representative study, 62% of all mothers with children up to twelve years of age did not work at all and only eight percent worked more than 27 hours per week (Peeters & Woldringh, 1993). In this respect, the relationship between the sexes in the Netherlands modernised later than in other West (and East) European countries, nowhere else was a woman considered to be in clash with her duties to the family if she was working until so recently than in the Netherlands. Only for today's generation of girls, having now caught up with the level of education of boys, professional work, even as a mother, is beginning to be more natural (also cf. Peters in this reader). Whereas in West Germany and the Netherlands, public opinion and women's perspectives concerning the compatibility of family and professional duties have become increasingly independent of traditional ideologies, and therefore the idea of bearing the load of both family and profession has become a topic which is discussed widely, for East German women, this double load was a reality for decades. Despite the formal equality of women and men in the GDR, the traditional division of labour in the family, which practically exempted the husband from housework and having to cope with the children, was retained. This unilateral burdening of women can be seen as one of the reasons for the high divorce rate in the former GDR. New values In connection with the diversification of forms of living and family, the question of corresponding new patterns of values arises. Bertram (1992) states that there is a connection between education, age and family status and (post-) materialist values not only in West, but also in East Germany. Post-materialist values are influencing the relationship man-woman in a sense that particularly women are claiming a higher level of self-realisation. Persons with a post-materialist orientation who were questioned in both West and East Germany show a stronger tendency towards 'co-operative individualism' than those with a materialist orientation and on the whole are not in favour of an education aimed at duties and performance. Independence as a maxim of education correlates in a positive way with values such as autonomy and self-reliance, and little with ones such as sense of duty and obedience.

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An international study carried out in 1981 shows that new values of bringing up children are developing in all countries, although this does not mean that traditional values have lost their significance. Levels of education, the degree of urbanisation and age are playing their part in the modifications. A comparison between West Germany and the Netherlands (East Germany was not included) shows interesting shifts which point at the fact that as far as values of bringing up children are concerned, West Germany has undergone more substantial modernisation: If almost 60% of Dutch people see 'manners' as a positive value, only a good 40% of Germans are of the same opinion. A good 40% of Dutch people, but only about 30% of Germans find 'politeness' important. 'Respect' and 'obedience' show the same tendency, whereas 'independence' find important only just over a quarter of Dutch people, but almost half of the Germans. In contrast to that, twice as many Germans than Dutch find 'thriftiness' important (Halman, 1991: 340). Our short synopsis shows general similarities in all three countries concerning the reproductive behaviour, which is tending towards smaller families, later marriage, rising divorce rates and an increase in pluralisation of the family with a rising percentage of working women. New values of bringing up children and of partnership are breaking through in all three countries. In this, West Germany is in the lead concerning most indicators. At present, East Germany still has the largest number of children living in step families, the Netherlands the smallest number. This points at the fact that traditional family values are still rather widespread, which is connected with a later economic emancipation of women compared with East and West Germany; only in the last few decades, the rate of women in employment has gone up in the Netherlands, but of all three countries, the number of women who work part-time is highest there. New value patterns in the relations of partnership and bringing up children are found to be breaking through in all three countries/regions; the middle and upper social levels of society are leading here. For all these comparisons, it has to be taken into account that the situation of the family in East Germany is severely fluctuating since the changes there. The developments in East Germany in this respect are expected to adapt more and more to West Germany, but nevertheless several indicators show that the parents of the ' W e n d e ' era will turn out to be a special generation in many respects, once they will be evaluated at a later stage.

3. The current state of research on the topic of parent-child relations (crosscultural) It is surprising that in studies about the ' n e w ' , the ' m o d e r n ' or even the 'postmodern' family (Lüscher, Schultheis, & Wehrspann, 1988), on the topic of changes in inter-familial parent-child relations, hardly any empirical research which could

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provide information on concrete everyday life in families can be found. So how do the generations cope with one another under the conditions of different forms of family, of less brothers and sisters, parents' new concepts of bringing up children and children's growing demands for autonomy, a more strongly individualised partnership of husband and wife and mothers with desires for self-fulfilment directed at the outside world? What is modern family life like under all these influences? Research literature has very few conclusive answers to these questions. Not the least important of reasons can be found in the high degree of isolation of the different branches of social sciences from one another. If (Western European, particularly West German) sociology of children and adolescents of the 1980s was the forerunner in the development of a theory of the 'individualised biography of the adolescent' (Fuchs, 1983; Watts, Fischer, Fuchs, & Zinnecker, 1989), although it failed to provide detailed studies on the relationship between modern parents and modern young people, as well, developmental and family psychology still today orientates mainly on the anglo-saxon tradition of styles of upbringing and development tasks and on the classics in this area; reflections on theories of modern circumstances so far have rarely been taken into account here (for a critical overview, cf. Kreppner, 1989). Independently of the traditions of developmental psychology, more in the direction of approaches to cultural sociology and theories of modernisation, a new type of child research has developed in the last decade, which is aimed explicitly at describing and valuing the gains and costs of modernisation of children's lives in the domain of the family, as well; a branch of research which is flourishing particularly in West Germany. Existing studies document a general theoretical interest in changed prerequisites and values of bringing up children, especially in view of the fact, that independence and autonomy are values more emphasis is being placed on and which are being practised from an early stage, a development which is brought in connection with the beginnings of a negotiation culture (Büchner, 1983; Preuss-Lausitz, Rülcker, & Zeiher, 1990). Though there is little empirical fruit which is of any great value to our topic. There is very little known about the effects of complex forms of family on the fine structure of modernised family relations, either, not counting traditional divorce research, which mainly concentrates on the negative consequences of divorce on children from the points of view of social psychology, developmental psychology and family therapy. Walper (1993) modifies this perspective of cultural pessimism, she reports upon recent (mainly anglo-American) research, which investigates the 'advantages and disadvantages' of 'pluralisation in a child's relations' as opposed to 'normal relations' (Nauck, 1993: 161) in a much more differentiated way regarding the emotional and (pro-)social development of children. For the Netherlands, Spruijt (1993) has similar arguments, whereas Kabat vel Job, in an East German survey which only covers the period until 1988, states that 20% of 14- to 16-year-olds from step families have a disturbed relationship with their parents, compared to 3% of

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those who live with their own parents (1991: 65). Friedl and Maier-Aichen have recently (1991) published an excellent qualitative study, in which 'family dynamics and coping with everyday life in new family constellations' for West Germany is described with great sensitiveness. In East Germany, before the ' W e n d e ' , child research in the sense mentioned above was not practised at all. The Netherlands, after the decline of the 'phenomenological school' of M.J. Langeveld and others (Lippitz & Meyer-Drawe, 1987), have not yet found the path to more recent approaches to cultural sociology and theories of modernity in child research. Dutch child and family research, where it has not been taken up by developmental psychology, consists mainly of representative, descriptive surveys tied to a pedagogical and socio-ecological approach (Bakker, ter Bogt, & de Waal, 1993; van der Linden, 1990; Peeters & Woldringh, 1993). In these empirical studies, the parent-child relation is characterised as relaxed and satisfying for the majority of children (and adolescents - also cf. the contribution of du Bois-Reymond in this reader). 3 Dutch studies which investigate the relations between parents and children in various family constellations are extremely rare (Kersten & Terpstra,

1989;

Spruijt, 1989, 1993). Exploring the results known from research of adolescents, which state relations between the generations as on the whole relaxed, and transferring them to earlier periods of life, the picture in West Germany is approximately the same as in the Netherlands. Results from enquiries in East Germany (Behnken et al., 1991) show that East German adolescents (incidentally, already before the changes: Kabat vel Job, 1991) describe the relation to their parents as a rather more companionable one. Empirical studies which analyze parent-child relations more explicitly from the point of view of theories of modernity are rare in all three countries. If comparative surveys of adolescents in West and East Germany have become popular since the changes, cross-cultural and qualitative child studies which include other European countries have yet to be carried out. Already on a national level, the family is less accessible for child research than the school and leisure sector, because of its intimate character, and if this is one of the reasons for the rareness of qualitative studies, it applies even more so to cross-cultural research, which is burdened additionally with numerous methodical, contextual and language problems (du Bois-Reymond & Hiibner-Funk, 1993). Quite rightly, Bertram (1991, introduction) points out that cross-cultural comparisons, should be focusing less on large areas, but rather on inter-regional differences. Behnken, du Bois-Reymond, and Zinnecker (1989) have broken new ground in this area with a cross-cultural comparison of two cities (Wiesbaden / West Germany and Leiden/Netherlands), by reconstructing the (past) lives of children and families from a socio-historical and socio-ecological angle. Meanwhile, interest in cross-cultural research which is based on theories of modernity, is growing (Chisholm, Büchner, Krüger, & Brown 1990; Schönpflug & Fraczek, 1993). 4

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4. Theoretical perspectives Front the traditional command household to the modern negotiating household At this point it should be clear that we are searching for answers to our question of changed parent-child relations not so much in approaches of developmental psychology and in the discussion about styles of bringing up children, - although tangents can be found here - but rather in socio-cultural methods and theories of civilisation. A. de Swaan, a supporter of the civilisation theory of N. Elias, has made a suggestion to this, which we have adopted and which we are developing further: In an essay, written in 1982, he observes a long-term civilisational development in the macrosocial field and in inter-personal relations in the form of a transition 'from the command household to the negotiating household'. In contrast to research on styles of bringing up children, inspired by developmental psychology, which is founded on a basic anthropological and psychological relationship between adults and children (Siegel & White, 1982), the theory of the negotiating household implies a historicalcultural shift of the balance of power between the sexes and generations (Krumrey, 1984). Not only are women or wives, in the course of the last century, and particularly the last decades, gaining more influence and social power over men or husbands, but also children over adults or parents. Both the relation between the sexes and the generations are gradually becoming more balanced, and the family is the site where these two tendencies interlock (Brinkgreve, 1993; Brinkgreve & de Regt, 1989). Women are increasing their social influence and are becoming active in the re-structuring of the patriarchally dominated relation between the sexes by acquiring more education, participating more in the work process and detaching themselves from the traditional female biography - a development which was speeded up in Western European countries in the 1970s with the second women's movement. The generation of women who were young adults in the 1960s and 1970s, the period during which in Western countries a deep change in cultural and sexual values took place, has particular significance as today's wives and mothers. They have experienced and co-determined the transition from the command household to the negotiating household in their own biographies. This generation of women is the first one that was able and willing to apply in practice the new values of partnership and upbringing in a generally liberalised social climate. We therefore call this generation the 'switch generation'. Higher demands on and better opportunities of education lead to longer courses of education, the forming of peer groups of the same age level and an increasingly education-based structuring of childhood and adolescence. Children also participate in the raising of the level of wealth and consumption in Western societies. Thus, outside the family, they acquire resources of power which strengthen their position within the family.

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More intimacy in family life With families becoming smaller, the individual child is of greater importance, a child's rights are respected also outside the family (Neubauer & Sünker, 1993). French sociologist F. de Singly (1993) assesses in an empirical study the effects of egalitarian love between man and woman has on parent-child relations. The same thought is pursued by A. Giddens (1992) in his analysis of the 'Transformation of Intimacy'. Changes in the relations between generations and sexes come side by side with controlling o n e ' s emotions and reflecting one's own actions and their consequences for the person opposite. In a family where there are less children, and, correspondingly, more time to give the children attention, this development manifests itself in more intimacy in the relations between partners and between parents and children. Another effect is a reduction in the use of physical violence as a means of upbringing. Punishment is losing its reprising and threatening character. ' T h e relation of parents bringing up children is turning into a relation of partnership' (Schneewind, 1992: 14). This concerns not only the relation between mothers and children, fathers also have more intimate contact to their children nowadays and want to participate more in their upbringing than in former times (Fthenakis, 1985). Children are not only acquiring more of a right to have physical autonomy, but also the right to have their own ideas of taste concerning both their own body and its mise en scene through clothes, hairstyles, etc. and the decoration of their surroundings in the parent's home, their own room. This articulation of personal ideas of taste also has an effect on their image of their parents: The parents are seen and appreciated less as a moral example, but rather assessed, whether their outer appearance clothes, behaviour - is 'modern'. These aspects also belong to those values of upbringing which are directed at partnership, autonomy and self-realisation, replacing values of duty and acceptance such as subordination and obedience. Communicative

skills

The development of a culture of negotiation in the families is connected with the developing of communicative skills and the necessity for them: Modern parents wish to, but also have to explain and legitimise their attitudes and demands before their children. ' T h e part of the parents as educators has thus turned into the part of the "givers of reasons" ... the part of the parents mainly consists of talking' (von Trotha, 1990: 461; Rülcker, 1990", 1990"). In this case, 'talking' also means constant verifying from the side of the parents, whether they are performing their duties of upbringing adequately; they reflect their role as educators (du Bois-Reymond, 1991). Children experience this increasing preparedness and necessity for negotiating and communicating in a way which is different from their parents. If the latter, with a (historically) increasing level of education and thinking more on a long-term basis, see the main aim of upbringing in educating their children to become independent and competent people, then children still need to develop the ability to think in

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longer terms. They concentrate much more on the present time and the fulfilling of their immediate needs. Therefore, familial processes of negotiation do not take place in a power vacuum, despite a better balance of power. On the contrary: It is because modern children are allowed to contradict their parents, that there has to be even more talking and negotiating between the parties. A n d that children have acquired more power and rights in the course of civilisation does not mean that they have become more independent of the family context. On the contrary: They possibly can detach themselves from parental claims and expectations less easily than in the past. With families having become smaller, attention and ambitions of the parents are directed at the individual child, and growing family intimacy does not only result in emotional satisfaction, but also in emotional commitments, possibly even stress. Already at an early age, children are expected to 'think about things', do the duties allocated to them, m a k e their actions communicable, consider other p e o p l e ' s ideas. Negotiating makes it necessary for them to put emotions and motives into language, which improves long-term thinking and control of emotions, it requires rational and discourages spontaneous, irrational behaviour. Children can certainly pull out of these higher psychological demands to some extent - they clear off to leisure activities outside the family, go to see their friends, or they disappear into their own realm, their own room. But they can do so only for some time, conscious of the fact that negotiations and the balancing out of diverse interests in everyday family life will go on. Taking into consideration these growing psychological d e m a n d s made by a negotiating household, the argument springs to mind that the peer group has a relief function for modern children. In the presence of people of the same age, communication is less formal, less 'stressy', and it requires less self-restraint. The fact that children have a lot of rows with their brothers or sisters, but are very tolerant towards their friends outside the family, can be interpreted in connection with that: Within the family, negotiations are not limited to the parent-child level, but the parents expect rational behaviour of the siblings towards each other as well. Informalisation The generally higher demands on parents and children to treat each other in a foreseeing and empathetic way, not to ' d r o p out' of the permanent negotiation process and to keep emotions under control are being modified by a trend which goes in the other direction, called informalisation by a Dutch follower of Elias, C. Wouters (1990): T h e relations between people are becoming more relaxed, taboo topics can be discussed. This trend becomes dominant in Western European societies in the 1960s and 1970s, a period where traditional post-war values such as industriousness, sense of duty, order and moral values upheld by the church such as sexual continence during o n e ' s youth, conjugal faithfulness and a life centred on the family are loosened. They are penetrated by new w a y s of life and more liberated views of sexuality and work morale, which also have their effect on the bringing up of

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children. These are the decades during which divorce rates go up and less children are born, new f o r m s of partnership develop within and outside marriage (which is still something where w o m e n , as feminist research in all Western countries shows, neither statistically nor subjectively have opportunities which are equal to men's), culturally new f o r m s of life are experimented with and the Western social state facilitates a level of consumption for broader layers of the population which has never before been achieved quicker. These are, in brief, the decades, during which the transition from a normal biography specific to sex to a (tendency towards a) biography of choice regardless of sex takes place, and the upbringing of children is directed at this biography of choice. The development towards more informal norms and f o r m s of behaviour is not invalidating the great civilisational movement ' f r o m external control to self-control'. Declining differences of power and growing informalisation are still making high demands on people. They are supposed to control their emotions and reactions, social and family life remain tied to calculable behaviour, even if this behaviour is now coded differently, giving more individual leeway. Parents allow their children to 'let out' feelings and desires, if only because they want to liberate themselves from rigid norms of behaviour. In modern families, sudden, momentary emotional outbursts of both parents and children are tolerated. But behind these momentary outbursts, there is the ideal of controlled (controllable) rational discourse, of talking with one another 'sensibly' and ' c a l m l y ' (restraining emotions) to come to a compromise. Naturally, the parents here are under higher cultural pressure to mould their manner of upbringing according to this contradictory principle of informality and rationality than their children, w h o are still young. They want to enable their children to live freer and happier lives than earlier generations (and the parents themselves in their childhood and youth), but at the same time want to build up stable and emotionally satisfying relations. Upbringing

to be

autonomous

The centre of these new ideals of upbringing is the imparting of autonomy at an early age. T h e main aim there is not to relieve the parents in the practical sense, as was necessary in earlier times, but to give children the ability to become sure of their own preferences in life and to stand up for them argumentatively. By learning this, the children relieve their parents just as much as they place a new kind of burden upon them: A c h i l d ' s autonomy at an early age means on the one hand that self-control has to be learned early; this relieves the parents. But on the other hand, the parents have to accept that these autonomous children might develop a completely different lifestyle from their parents. Respect, which in former times was expected unilaterally of children towards the parents, has to be given to the children now, too.

138 Pluralisation

Manuela du Bois-Reymond of families

A more liberated climate of sexual culture, together with demographic developments and a growing plurality of options has dissolved the traditional family, consisting of a married couple with child(ren). In these diversifying families, new relations of dependence are developing between all partners involved, adults just as well as children. At the same rate as inter-familial togetherness is becoming more complex, inter-personal chains of interdependence are becoming longer, which calls for extended communication and negotiation between all parties involved. And that all the more, the less a separation of (married) partners is seen as a catastrophe in life, but as an event which may belong to a modern concept of life. Ex-partners do not necessarily turn into enemies or strangers any more, they may remain or become friends. Modern parents today remain together less because of the children (or for shorter periods) and make efforts of arranging their behaviour towards one another in a way which is of benefit to the children, even after separation. Children are not forced to limit their loyalty to one parent as much as they used to, instead, they are allowed to and have to live in the complicated netting of relations created by the adults. They commute back and forth between the new parts of the family, arrange themselves with the new partners of their parents and with their new step- and half-siblings and additional grandparents. New opportunities of satisfying needs and gaining power are open to them, when, for example, after their parents have separated, they have two well-equipped children's rooms at their disposal, or when one parent allows them more than the other. At the same time, demands on their planning skills, their autonomous behaviour, their tolerance of frustration and their control of emotions are formed: A child's commuting between two households requires planning arrangements which have to be kept to in order to keep the multi-family constellation going; children are granted the right to co-determine visiting arrangements; when there are conflicts between the people involved, they have to contribute to their solving. In this context, Friedl and Maier-Aichen (1991: 76) talk about 'bargaining families'. Thus, the emerging of new forms of families does not mean a greater measure of non-commitment, but on the contrary, more commitment. The new family in all its different forms can be characterised as a voluntarily chosen compulsory formation (du Bois-Reymond, 1993): Informalisation and new cultural codes increase the degree of freedom for adults, but only at the cost of new and voluntarily chosen dependencies, including, for example, the one of having to care for stepchildren, and possibly having to repeat the 'small child family cycle'; this severely limits the need for self-realisation of men, and particularly of women. Demands on children are also high, as they have to arrange themselves with their new step- and half- sisters and brothers.

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The risk of upbringing It is obvious that the risk of bringing up children under all these changed conditions is high. In family sociology, this fact shows in a heated discussion about 'the crisis of the family'. The topic is the disintegration of the old nuclear family (although recent investigations show convincingly that the 'nuclear family' historically existed for only a very short time in Western societies), a 'crisis of values' of norms of upbringing, children who are insecure and unstable. 5 So far, there have been no safe empirical or comparative diagnoses on this topic. Apart from that, the manner of looking at the plural family is heavily influenced by the points of view of the different scientific disciplines and by ideological principles. Our interest in researching these phenomena is not aimed at taking part in this discussion about values. The questions we ask in the course of our research are inspired rather by a curiosity of inter-generative forms of behaviour inside and between families, which initially is neutral to any values. In view of the fast social changes, particularly in the area of culture, relations and the family, it seems evident to us that these questions have to be approached from the perspective of a theory of modernity. Non-simultaneous developments One statement of civilisation theory implies the assumption that developments do not happen simultaneously and that at a given point of time in history, traditional and modern constellations co-exist in a society. Certain groups of people and in a population are 'forerunners', respectively, 'lag behind' or they deviate from major trends which are becoming generally accepted. In general it can be suggested for the cultural and family sector that representatives of the upper middle classes are pushing modernisations. A transition from 'the command household to the negotiating household' is made earlier by representatives of these milieus than by the lower ones (Zinnecker, 1986). In the course of civilisation, the command household is a model which is running out, it is based on the parents' (husband's/father's) position of power over the children (the wife) and was dominant in all social milieus until the 1950s/1960s, while currently it is being caught up with by the negotiating household, which is now showing a tendency of penetrating all social milieus. This is shown by both representative studies on the change of values and detailed empirical studies (Bertram, 1991; du Bois-Reymond in this reader; Winkels, 1989; Zinnecker, 1985, 1987). The groups which adhere to pre-modern standards of behaviour now stand out even more in the overall process. They are parts of the lower classes, whose living circumstances are often connected with material and socio-psychological deprivations. In our study, we shall investigate, in what way modernisations in family surroundings happen non-simultaneously, from a perspective of cross-cultural comparison.

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5. Method and samples Procedure The assumption of civilisation theory, that with each generation the balance of power between man and woman and between parents and children gets closer to an equilibrium, has methodological implications: Scientists must study what goes on in the family from the points of view of both parents and children. Assessment of the situation of upbringing is equally important from both sides. W e consider 'upbringing' to be an inter-human relationship, given a form jointly by parents and children. W e developed a guideline for a semi-open interview with parents and children. 6 The questions are designed in a way which gives parents and children space for their own answers and which avoids 'yes-no questions'. In each case, concrete examples from everyday family life are asked for. To make possible a comparison of perspectives, we centred the guideline around 'mirror questions' - questions of the same nature, presented to parents and children: The parent-interview mirrors the topics of the child-interview. If, for instance, we ask children about the nature and the extent of their independence by enquiring about rules of the family which are specific to their sphere of life, we also ask the parents the corresponding questions. To give a simple example: The question to the child 'are there certain set times when you have to go to bed, or are you allowed to decide for yourself?' corresponds with the question to the parents 'are there set times when your child has to go to bed, or is it allowed to decide for itself?' A comparison of answers allows us to register agreements and differences in parents' and children's perception of the handling of rules in the family. Apart from that, we also asked questions which encourage child and parents to see matters with the eyes of the other party. Example of a question to a child (following on from questions about its own definition and perception of its independence): ' d o you think your mother sees you as independent as you think you are?' - respectively: 'do you think your child considers itself to be as independent as you think it is?' These 'meta-questions' allow conclusions about the level of reflection of parents and child. As a rule, we interviewed mother and child, in exceptional cases father and child or both parents. 7 Although mothers are not as much the persons who mainly bring up the children any more as in former times, they still are to a greater extent than fathers in concrete everyday life, in spite of larger numbers of women in employment and because the numbers of men in employment are not decreasing. The topics of the talks with parent and child are concentrated around the following items: - definitions of independence; - everyday family life; forms of living together in the household; family rules and rules of behaviour; forms of negotiation and conflict management; - (in)formality of addressing each other; existing or non-existent bodily and sexual inhibitions; tenderness or distance in the family;

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- respect of the private sphere of family members; the children's room as an individual realm for creativity and withdrawing; - rules and family culture concerning the child's spare time and its contact to its friends; consumption behaviour; - educational aspirations and ideas for the future of parents and child; - (for parents only:) assessment of own achievements in upbringing; reflection of the own attitude towards upbringing; feelings of insecurity about upbringing; - (for the child only:) evaluation of how and what for the parents appreciate it; image of the parents. The talks with mother and child were done in the parents' home during the period 1990-1993, by two interviewers for each case simultaneously to make the answers as unbiased as possible. On the whole, the interviews lasted for an hour and a half for both conversation partners, in exceptional cases for three hours and more. Both mother and child had given their consent for the talk before, and both (particularly the child) were guaranteed discretion. The conversations were recorded on tape and condensed in detailed protocols with key quotes in regard to the main points of content. A number of interviews were transcribed literally for further evaluation. Each of the regional project teams discussed their materials in regular project meetings and worked out case-relevant interpretations in which the case material was checked for contrasts and correspondence according to the method of comparative analysis (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Strauss, 1987), within each regional sample as well as in cross-cultural comparison. The problem of dependence of the data on contexts emerged: What, for example, does it mean for family life, that East German mothers have or had a (different) professional career than West German and Dutch mothers? In what way should statements on the autonomy of the child be assessed in respect of the facts of different economic, social and cultural developments in the three countries/regions? - W e shall return to this topic for our cross-cultural comparison. Samples The search for the families in the three regions was carried out according to the principle of theoretical sampling (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Lamnek, 1988, 1989; Strauss, 1987). For reasons of research practice, we approached this principle using the snowball method; initially we established only a few general indicators, such as age and sex of the child (equal numbers of boys and girls), social status of the parents 8 and urban/rural living environment in the respective regions. As in the course of the project, our theoretical interest in specific varieties of the modern family grew, we began to search systematically for the appropriate families. We thus recruited approximately 30 families with the indicators mentioned above in each region (38 families in West Germany and the Netherlands; 30 families in East Germany).

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We consciously limited our search to 'normal' families, i.e. families who are not in any way 'significant' in the clinical or social sense, for example families in therapeutic treatment or other types of care. Our project is mainly concerned with statements about changes in the parent-child relations which are taking place in mainstream society.

6. Typology of parent-child relationships From the interview material collected during the parent-child talks in the three regions and from previous research, we constructed a typology of parent-child relations, 9 basing on the theory of a transition from the command household to the negotiating household portrayed in the previous section. The indicators of modernity developed there are now operationalised on an empirical level. This means that our typology has empirical foundations, it has grown gradually from the analysis of our case material. The different types therefore reflect real ways of behaviour between the generations, not ideal types, all features of a type really exist in the families examined, although, of course, not all features collected in the respective type are always present to the same extent and in the same way in every individual case. The typology proved to be sound for all three European regions, which indicates that processes of modernisation in the family have a global effect on these regions/countries in a similar way, even if there are individual inter-cultural differences, as will be demonstrated later. We differentiate between four types of parentchild relations which can be given an order on an imaginary trajectory of modernity, whose one end represents the pre-modern mode, the other end the advanced mode of modern parent-child relations: The traditional command household against the open negotiating household. The modernised command household has a mediating position between these two extremes, old and new values of upbringing blend in it. As a fourth type, we registered an ambivalent parent-child relation. To what extent ambivalence is a sign of modernity, pointing out a loss of power of the parents and a general increase in autonomy of children, cannot be generalised. 10 We shall now present the individual types of parent-child relations we found: The traditional command household There are many rules in the family. The child has no, or only very little influence on them. The rules concern practical things, such as helping in the house, as well as principal maxims of upbringing (a child must be polite). These rules are mainly set, but may also be modified, depending on the mood the parents are in. A rule is not adapted to the child's needs by the parents, who do not react flexibly when a rule is broken by the child. In this respect, the parents are not child-oriented and they do not justify their measures before the child.

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If the child breaks a rule, the parents react with punishment, which is mostly set (no going out, no television), but can also be impulsive (slap in the face). Serious physical punishment does not happen (any more). There is no discussion between parents and children. Who is right or not is defined by the status of the person, not by arguments to the matter. Adults are right, because they are adults. The child is not encouraged to utter its opinion, particularly not when it differs from the parents' opinion. It is no serious partner for communication to the parents, negotiation is impossible. The parents pass very little foresight and a poor view of the world on to the child, they do not make it familiar with differing opinions, norms and values, and if they do, then in a condescending way ('it's impossible what your friend is allowed to do by his parents!'). They plan a normal biography specific to sex for their child. The child's school career should proceed without trouble, the parents have no ambitions in that direction (and, with a few exceptions, neither has the child). The parents either keep pocket money and the amount of child-specific consumer goods low, or they give unnecessarily much, in any case, they do not expect responsible consumer behaviour of the child. The child's leisure activities are tolerated, but the parents are not bothered about any access to cultural offers (or have no access themselves). The child feels limited in its actions, it reacts to such a regime with one out of three attitudes: - protest - evasion and secretiveness - obedience; passiveness. In a traditional command household, the level of conflict can be high, or particularly low, depending on which of the three attitudes dominate in the child. If it is obedient, the conflict level is low, family life is harmonious. The parents are satisfied, the child is, too, to the extent that it feels it is nevertheless getting its own way (more or less). If the child protests, there is a lot of quarrelling; in certain cases the mother may take on the role of negotiator between child and father. Conflicts can partly be avoided if the child evades its restrictive parents by retreating to its own room or by doing things in secret. The resources of power of the child are low, but it can increase them through acquiring capital at school or social capital, for example by getting very good marks at school which demand respect of the parents, or by taking refuge in its peer group. The family climate in a traditional command household can be warm or cold. In families with strong local roots (village; community), with traditional (church) values, it often is warm, the parents have the best intentions for their child and want to provide all opportunities for its future, by bringing it up 'the proper way'. Depending on the circumstances, the child experiences the family climate as one of security or as distant, the latter if the parents do not express any physical emotion-

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ality towards their child ('it's not proper for such a big girl to still be sitting in someone's lap') or if smouldering conflicts, financial and other worries burden the family. In any case, the family climate is informal only to a very small extent, it is dominated by traditional norms of morality. The private sphere of family members is not respected ('my child doesn't have/is not allowed to have secrets before me'), possibly cannot be respected because of cramped housing conditions. The child is allowed to realise its own ideas of taste (room; clothes) only to a very limited extent. New and complex family constellations do not belong to this type, traditional man-woman and marriage relationships are dominant. 'Traditional divorce patterns' with formalised visiting regulations (or regulations which are interrupted by remarrying and the wish to be 'a completely normal family' again) occur. To the type of the traditional command household, there is the variety of the subproletarian-chaotic household, which is created by upheavals in the family which are experienced and suffered as influenced from outside, triggering off or further influencing overburdening: The partner (mostly the man/husband) abandons his family; unstable new partnership constellations develop; chronic illness, poverty and an insecure employment situation increase stress and make family life chaotic. Upbringing behaviour cannot be called purposeful; parents and children try to make ends meet. The modernised command household On the whole, the child has more opportunities for development than in the first type of family. Nevertheless, the parents are in charge. The regulations which rule the child's and family life are set in this case, too. There may be many or few, according to family culture, in any case, they are obvious and known to the child. The parents consider the rules to be sensible and therefore do not see it as necessary to give the child reasons for them again and again. Their behaviour towards upbringing is ruled by ideas about the child's course of development (influenced by everyday pedagogics): 'You're not old enough for that (you'll be allowed more later)'. They are consistent in their upbringing and in their insistence on the family rules, their behaviour does not depend so much on spur-of-the-moment moods. Rules may be adapted to the situation, for example, the child has to do the washing-up at its parents request, but they (not the child!) may also decide: 'You don't have to help today, you'd better do your homework'. If the child breaks rules of behaviour or of the house, the parents' reaction depends on the seriousness of the break. In most cases, punishment is immediate: a reprimand or warning. In more serious cases, the parents talk to the child, explain that it has broken a rule, which one and why this is not acceptable (enforcement of rules). Only as an exception, the child can convince the parents of its opinion and right, but it is not allowed to negotiate with them to achieve a change of the rules. Children react to such upbringing in two ways: - protest - acceptance.

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As the rules are made clear to the child, it sees their sense and there is enough manoeuvring space, acceptance is much more common than protest. The child knows that its parents 'want its best', 'diving o f f , as it happens in restrictive families, is rare. The conflict level in these families is therefore low, and when there are conflicts, then only for a short time, and they are solved quickly, the child (once again) adapts to the parents' expectations and (once again) receives their sympathy for that. Basically, the child does not have many resources of power, it has to conform. But as the parents' basic attitude is open, also towards the outer world and other people 'live and let live' - the child can make good use of its degree of freedom, if it behaves 'properly' and gives its parents the feeling that it knows how to behave responsibly within and outside the family. The parents consider a good education important and actively support their child in pursuing it; they possibly even push their child into greater efforts of getting good results. For its future, they have in view a modernised normal biography, where girls are also expected to acquire a good professional training. The family climate in this case can also be warm or rather distanced, this depends, just like with other types of family, on the parents' own socialisation. If they themselves come from a 'warm spot' - often in the sense of a large family of origin with a large network of relatives -, they transfer these experiences to their own family. If they are 'dogmatics', possibly prudish (by upbringing) themselves, the climate is more likely to be distanced. In both cases, the family climate, just like for the first type, shows a low degree of informality. The child's private sphere is respected not so much because the parents think it is important, but only if the child insists upon it. In most questions of taste, the child has to adapt to the parents, and does so as a rule. For this type, the parents' solid basic attitude towards questions of upbringing and life is characteristic, also expressed in the wish to make their child competent for its future life (in a sense defined by them). Being adults, they know what is good for a child. This also concerns developing an attitude towards consumption: The child gets what it needs, no more and no less; it is encouraged to save, and the parents supervise its consumption behaviour. One variety of the modernised command household is overprotecting: The parents are so worried about the well-being of their child that they cut down on its freedom. The child reacts passively or (growing older) with protest. Complex new family constellations do not belong to this type, the rule is a traditional relation of solidarity between married partners. Ambivalence (helplessness in upbringing) This category consists of relationship and upbringing constellations of different kinds, the behaviour of parents and children varies accordingly, so do the children's resources of power.

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We distinguish between: - Ambivalence as a result of an ambiguous attitude of the parents towards spheres of life. In this case, parents may be very liberal (and the child autonomous to a high degree) concerning leisure, but very strict and demanding concerning school results. The child reacts with adaptation or protest to strictness in the specific area and uses its resources of power accordingly; - In their whole attitude, the parents hover between liberal and rigid upbringing, they are not sure to what extent they should give in to the child's wishes. Sometimes they react with strictness, in other cases they give in. The child does not know how to behave and reacts with confused protest or confused passiveness; - The father is liberal and tolerates a lot, the mother is strict and sets rules, or vice versa. The child exploits these discrepancies to its advantage; Helplessness in upbringing can be the most extreme case of an ambivalent attitude, and may result from a more tolerant or from a more restrictive style. In neither case are the parents in a position to develop a consistent attitude. Finally, we include in this category the rule-less family household: The parents renounce their authority of upbringing more or less voluntarily, and thus the balance of power in the house ceases to exist. We should like to point out that this variety occurred only once in our case material, in East Germany, as a post-'Wende' reaction: The parents (and the child) feel insecure because of the new situation and (for the time being) let everything ride. We shall not make any statements on other indicators of the family relations, as these depend too much on the variety of an ambivalent family household. The negotiating household A negotiation-oriented household can be of one of two varieties: - the negotiating household directed by rules - the open negotiating household. These two varieties are nuances, without great basic differences. They are much more similar to one another than, on the one hand, the traditional to the modernised command household, and, on the other hand, the latter to the negotiating household directed by rules. Let us begin with the negotiating household directed by rules: The child has a lot of space for free development of its personality, family rules are usually defined in mutual talks, not by the parents alone, and they can be changed from both sides. Depending on family culture and family constellation, there may be many or few rules. Some rules are imperative (until further notice), e.g. doing homework at set times, others are developed out of situations and abandoned when not needed any more (e.g. the child needn't go shopping any more if the mother's working hours have temporarily changed to her advantage). The basis for setting a rule are the consequences the behaviour of the child or parents have for everyday life of the family or for the child's development.

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If the child does not keep to the rules agreed upon, the matter is talked about. If it has good arguments for its behaviour, the parents take the arguments into account, possibly the rule is adapted or the parents adapt their expectancies to the needs of the child. If the child does not have convincing arguments in the parents' view, they 'punish' with an admonishment. In the last instance, the parents reserve the right to establish or change a rule for themselves. They justify it before themselves and the child with the argument that they are responsible for their child's upbringing and that they have more experience in life. There are conflicts, as the child has the confidence to express its (different) opinions and wishes, but they are not violent, because both partners know from experience with one another that a solution can be found, where nobody is the only one to give in. The child's resources of power in the negotiation process are large, the parents take it seriously as partner in a negotiation, and the more they do so, the less manifest borders between being grown up and not yet being grown up become - although not to the extent of the open negotiating household. The child is expected by the parents to imagine their life situation, to pay attention to their worries or wishes and to behave accordingly. They see it as a task of upbringing, it is their philosophy of upbringing, to give the child insight into completely different opinions and forms of living at an early age and to make it respect these differences. On their part, they respect the child's wishes, even if they differ from their own, if, for example, their child wants to go to a particular school, because its friends go there, even if the parents would have preferred a different school. They bring up their child to be conscious about behaviour towards consumption, the child is supposed to and allowed to learn how to deal with money at an early stage, it is allowed to spend pocket money on whatever it wants and does not have to save. The child experiences its upbringing as liberal; although it knows that there are limits, it is always confident enough to express its opinions and can be sure that these are taken seriously by the parents. There are children from these type of households that feel overburdened by their parents' rational attitude towards upbringing. They would sometimes prefer to discuss less, to be more subject to their parents' wishes. And the other way round, parents over-stress themselves in their efforts to interpret even the smallest stirring in what goes on in the family. The family climate is warm and informal, there is open talk about everything, even taboo topics such as sex, drugs, etc. Parents and children cuddle, there are no rigid age limits for this like in the traditional command type, no physical taboos, either because the parents themselves come from liberal families or because they suffered from these taboos themselves during their childhood and got rid of them (cue: 'switch generation'). If at all, then rather the children set up borders of shame with

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the beginning of puberty. Respect of the private sphere of every family member, young or old, is a high family value, the child's autonomy is taken seriously also in questions of taste. It is supposed to and allowed to develop its own taste concerning clothes and furnishing of its own room. In the second variety, the open negotiating household, the proportions of power between parents and children (and between parents/partners among themselves) is even more well-balanced. The child independently decides about its behaviour and life within the negotiated rules and limits. This can mean that it can convince its parents of a decision or behaviour without their being of the same opinion, for example, that they do not stop their child from seeing a friend, although they do not like him. In such a case, they will nevertheless not keep quiet, but will give reasons for their doubts. 'Punishment' would be for the child to find out through 'trial and error', what consequences its behaviour, its decision has - not only for itself, but also for others (e.g. rejection of the friend by brothers or sisters). In a case of conflict, both partners 'clash', the child represents its point of view confidently. Structural conflicts are rare, as the parents' tolerance limits are wide, the child's space of freedom is large, anyway. Rational arguing, empathetic behaviour, well-developed long-term thinking, (allowing) the making of experiences, are basic values for the attitude towards life and upbringing in these sort of families. The parents talk less about upbringing, more about living together in a friendly and rational atmosphere. The child is given a part in all questions and decisions which concern the family as a whole, it is addressed as a partner, albeit a junior one. Syndromes of overburdening may occur due to too much negotiation and expected rational behaviour for the parents as well as for the child. And even more so, if the family constellation is complex, the mother works, the household consists of many persons/children (e.g. from new partnerships), etc. The child experiences its parents and upbringing as very liberal and free. Its image of itself is that it has a lot of influence on the organisation of family life and that to a great extent, it can live its life the way it wishes to. Even in a case when demands made upon it are (temporarily) excessive, the child does not experience the climate in the family as cool, it always feels the sympathy of the parents and other persons of reference. In both varieties of the negotiating household, the parents are responsible and interested in pedagogics, they take great care over the choice of school and the school career of their child, possibly choose alternative schools, because they consider state schools to be lacking in pedagogical variation. Their child's wishes concerning this are mostly taken into account. They expect good results, but do not torment their child if it does not always achieve them or is unable to. Its momentary happiness is most important, and performance is not everything in life. They have an open concept of life in mind for their child, based upon a biography of choice, they want it to go its own way, even if it doesn't always use the direct route (in its educational career). At the same time, they want it to have its part in decisions for the

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Overview features of family cultures Traditional command household

Modernised command household

Negotiating household

Social status

low; father is main provider

high, middle, low; father is main provider and/or support from wife

high, middle; middle, low; father main provifather main der, possibly partprovider and/time work; mother or support works part/full-time from wife

Housing conditions

mostly cramped housing conditions

adequate housing conditions

adequate or spacious housing condit.

no distinguishing feature

Consumption

ad hoc consumption

restrained consumption

long-term and ad hoc consumption

no distinguishing feature

Family constellation

traditional form or trad, divorce; trad, visiting regulations; trad, manwoman relationship

traditional form; divorce only as exception; traditional relationship of solidarity man-woman

marriage partnership; plural, complex forms of family; joint custody of the child

no distinguishing feature

Degree of informalisation

low; private sphere not guaranteed or not important

low; private sphere rarely guaranteed or not important

high; private sphere guaranteed to a high extent

low; private sphere rarely guaranteed

Self-control imposed from outvs. control side imposed from outside

self-control (possibly elements of imposed control, e.g. church values)

high degree of selfcontrol

varying

Family climate

warm or cold

warm or cold, more likely to be warm

warm, possibly distanced because of high emphasis on rationality

varying

School/ performance

usually low expectations from parents; possibly child has high expect. & performance potential

level of expectations oriented on child's abilities

medium to (very) high level of expectations, oriented on child's abilities

medium to high level of expect., possibly not oriented on child's abilities

Child's autonomy

little

not much, but also not too little

much

varying

Child's satisfaction

mainly dissatisfied

satisfied

(very) satisfied

varying

Values of upbringing

duty and obedience, upbringing specific to sex

duty and performance, step-by-step upbringing towards independence, not so distinctly specific to sex

upbringing towards individuality and co-operation; upbringing independent of sex

varying betw. upbringing towards duty and performance, and individuality

Concept for the future

normal biography specific to sex

modernised concept of normal biography

open concepts; biography of choice

concept of normal biogr. (with open tendencies)

Ambivalence

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future as early as possible, for example, the choice of an adequate school, in order to promote its autonomy in this aspect, as well. Apart from intact marriages with egalitarian values which direct the husband-wife and parent-child relations, there are numerous varieties of complex family constellations in the negotiating household. Concerning modernisation, the most far-reaching is the one, where after separation, the partners maintain solidarity in their upbringing and visiting regulations are negotiated according to the needs of all partners involved, particularly those of the children. Contact between the ex-partners is friendly, the children commute between two family households which possibly include new partners and new step- and half-brothers and sisters. In the following passage, we shall take a closer look at similarities and differences in the parent-child relations in our three regions which give the typology culturally specific qualities.

7. Inter-cultural differences in parent-child relationships: Discussion 7.1 Preliminary

remarks on the method

An inter-cultural comparison of the complete case material invokes considerable methodical difficulties, as now the specifically cultural context in which the cases are situated has to be taken into account. This applies not only to the Dutch compared to the German context, but also to the West German compared to the East German one. The family upbringing and relation typology worked out jointly proved valid for all three countries, but not without complications. In dealing with the East German members of our project, we were faced with the fact that the concept of the negotiating household stems from the Western European modernisation debate. They first had to become familiar with the concept to be able to apply it to East German family circumstances. The assumption of this concept is based on apply to the former G D R and the new post-'Wende' federal states only to a limited extent. The shifts of cultural modernisation which in Western Europe had the effect of individualising children's and adolescents' lives and parent-child relations, did not happen in the GDR, or happened later, or selectively, and in any case in a different way. Difficulties with context-dependence of data arose not so much on the concrete level of the interview questions: The questions 'worked' for all three regions, as they aimed at 'thick descriptions' (Geertz, 1973) of everyday life in the families. The difficulties had to be faced during comparative interpretation. For example the tendency of East German interpreters to see those forms of family contact as tolerant and based upon partnership which are not obviously rigid. The question now was whether we should accept the partially different criteria of attribution to the family types or insist upon attribution according to 'Western standards'. In principle, we decided for the second solution, for 'strict' attribution. So we went through all cases in the three regions once again, discussed doubtful cases a further time and attributed

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them to the different types. This procedure gave a first result of our inter-cultural comparison, which should be presented here in advance: Our typology has a 'Westbias', this was brought about by the typology's being based on a theory of modernisation developed in the West and suited for Western welfare societies. Despite the fact that comparisons between the Netherlands and West Germany are easier, cultural differences have their part here, too, they give children's autonomy a different shade of meaning.

7.2 Results The direction of non-simultaneous developments All types of family we distinguish between occur in the three European regions, although in different variations. This means that in none of the countries processes of modernisation go on in a straight line - i.e. in the sense that we would not be finding any more command households in West Germany -, but non-simultaneously. In all regions, negotiation-oriented parent-child relations dominate, and traditional command households and ambivalent families are rare. So in spite of cultural differences, processes of modernisation seem to be going in a certain direction, discouraging hierarchic structures in families, with no indication of a situation where possible costs of modernisation result in a great amount of ambivalent parent-child relations or over-protectiveness. As a tendency, we find the expected pattern in all three countries/regions: Hierarchic structures dominate in the parent-child relations in the lower rather than the upper middle social classes, but negotiation-oriented styles also occur on the lower levels. The upper middle classes are beginning to lose their role as forerunners in the modernisation process in this area. At the same time, certain professional groups and groups of the population are being marginalised as a result of profound restructuring in the political and economic field of the kind which has been happening in Germany since the changes. In what way these processes will have an effect on East German family life and the relations between generations in the long run is still uncertain. On the whole, we found less differences between the Dutch and the West German region than between these two and the East German region. Areas of autonomy In the regions we investigated, children have most autonomy in the organisation of their leisure time, in all types of family. Parents and children are equally conscious of the fact that modern children have a right to their own leisure time, that leisure time is not something the parents can administer (cf. P. Büchner in this reader). Nevertheless, differences which are typical for families and countries exist: As was to be expected, negotiation-oriented parents grant their children the most far-reaching autonomy, both inside and outside the house. In these families, the children inform

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their parents where they are going for the afternoon and what they are intending to do rather than asking for permission (or even having to). They arrange their spare time independently and out of their own accord, and expect acceptance and support for their leisure projects of their parents. They see their own room as their realm, to be arranged according to their own taste, where they do what they want - and this is appreciated by the parents within the (wide) limits agreed upon. Commanding parents keep more of an eye on places and times of their children's leisure, possibly do not want to see certain friends in their house and interfere more with arranging and using the children's room. Compared to Dutch and West German children, East German ones, especially girls, are (so far) much more involved in household duties which cut down on their spare time. This is connected with the fact that the mother works, with w o m e n ' s double burden. East German mothers have the tendency to pass part of this double burden on to the children rather than to their marriage partners. The question is, whether and how quickly this ' G D R pattern' of relations between generations and sexes will dissolve in the post-'Wende' era, to adapt to Western circumstances. If one takes a look at how quickly children's leisure activities (media, toys, clothes Büchner, Fuhs, & Krüger, 1993) have adapted to Western standards, the same could be expected for help in the house, particularly when East German women are out of work, therefore have more time for the family. On the other hand, East German mothers, due to their erstwhile socialisation practice, are much less prepared to negotiate with their children about the organisation of family life and leisure time than West German and Dutch ones. They are burdened with new tasks of adaptation, which influence the way parents and children deal with one another. Much more cramped housing conditions and on the whole a lower family income limit East German children's opportunities of creating a personal realm in their rooms. They often have to share them with siblings - a situation which has become an exception in West Germany and the Netherlands and which is considered a deprivation in comparison with other children of the same age. And although tastes and wishes of East German children do not differ much from the ones of West German and Dutch kids (any more), they are limited more often by a lower family budget. From the point of view of modernity, the higher degree of practical autonomy which is expected of East German children and which forces them to give up part of their freedom, is a pre-modern form of autonomy: The circumstances demand it. In the former GDR, autonomy was propagated as

a high value of upbringing, but it

cannot be compared to the Western situation, where parents are more likely to insist on their children's helping in the house for pedagogical reasons rather than actually being dependent on their help. This practical (and imposed) autonomy of East German children is independent of the respective family type, whereas in West Germany and the Netherlands, this is not the case: In those countries, this aspect of child autonomy is found more often in

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restrictive families from lower social classes, helping for pedagogical reasons is mainly found in modernised command households, whereas parents of the negotiating type mostly include their children as partners into the organisation of family life. Pluralised

families

A particularly interesting question is the one about the connection between complex family constellations and endangered or demanded autonomy of children. A first result is that we found a smaller number of complex family constellations in East Germany than in West Germany or in the Netherlands. W e do have families where the parents are divorced among our East German sample, but hardly any ' n e w ' families in the sense of relaxed relations between ex-marriage partners and of jointly negotiated and practised responsibility of upbringing. The most advanced examples of new family constellations - from integrated family parts which developed after marriage partners were divorced, to lesbian mothers could be found in the Netherlands." Complex family structures promote a child's autonomy in two ways: On the one hand, it is given an active role in the organisation of family life both in the ' m a i n ' and in the 'secondary' family. On the other hand, it is expected to act out this role well and confidently. On the practical as well as the mental and psychological side, the child has to be able to handle the situation: It has to be able to organise and look ahead in its plans when commuting between two parts of the family - take the right things; adjust to a different family and week rhythm; bridge the emotional gap between the separated parents; adapt to varying systems of rules and persons of reference, etc. There are cases among our samples, where the child lives to equal parts of the week with the mother (with her new partner and step- and half-brothers and sisters) and the father (with his new partner and step- and half-brothers and sisters); in one exceptional case, the child moves back and forth over a vast geographic and cultural distance between its Eastern mother's family and Western father's family (with his new partner and child). The children in our samples gave us the impression that they are capable of meeting these complex demands, although not without effort. The further in the past their parents' separation, which is definitely experienced as a shock, the more self-confidence and confidence in others the children have concerning the newly created forms of inter-generative living together. For this task, they find active support from their parents and possibly the parents' new partners. The adults are well aware of how much they are expecting of the child. It comes as an advantage to these families that they possess a great amount of cultural and pedagogical capital - in our samples, they are mainly negotiating families from higher social levels. Particularly in East Germany, we found 'traditional' divorced families, where the procedures of separating were often painful and have not been digested emotionally by the parents (mother) and child. In these, a different kind of autonomy is expected

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of the child, or respectively, the child is granted it: The divorced mothers treat the children who live with them after the divorce more as partners, possibly burden them with their financial and emotional problems. They demand - rather implicitly than explicitly - loyalty, and by doing so, create conflicts of loyalty for their child. In our samples, there are a few divorce cases from sub-proletarian environments, where the family structure is more likely to disintegrate than to consolidate; overall development of children seems endangered. Informalisation and the right of privacy We found an obvious connection between informal manners and family types: In negotiating households, the degree of informality is much higher than in traditional and (still) in modernised command households. This becomes apparent for family life itself as well as for behaviour towards strangers (the interviewers). The most impressive aspect of informality is sexuality without taboos: In the families concerned, all facets of 'sex' (hetero- as well as homosexuality; masturbation; incest) are topics which neither parents nor children avoid, everything can be talked about, and not only sex, but also other taboo topics such as drugs, suicide, racism. Children and adolescents (older brothers or sisters) in these families are granted physical autonomy and a protected private sphere to a great extent, just as much as the parents make use of this autonomy themselves. We discovered one Dutch case, where the children are explicitly allowed to masturbate, if they do it in their own room. So the children are given the right to live their physical needs, under the condition that they are able to control themselves. A liberalisation of taboos is connected with the self-imposed restriction not to violate the borders of shame of others (family members). Such openness in the sexual sphere is not imaginable in traditional families. The granting of physical autonomy in negotiating families also extends to other areas: The child is not forced to eat what it does not like; it is allowed to arrange its bedtimes for itself, within negotiated limits; it is allowed to choose its clothes for itself (both when buying new clothes and for daily wearing); it can decide which hairstyle to have; it needn't be afraid of physical punishment; it can be sure that its parents will not intrude into its private sphere (reading letters and diary; coming into the child's room without knocking). We also got information about the level of informality in a family by asking parents and children, whether they shout at each other in highly emotional moments, and which swear words they use. Already the fact that the parents accepted this question and gave examples hints at a relaxing of standards of behaviour. We found that it is quite acceptable in modern families for children to call their parents 'stupid cow!' when emotionally aroused, and for parents to shout 'go to your room, you're getting on my nerves!'. The parents always pointed out that such concessions to their children's manners are in no way to be seen as carte blanche for letting them become

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a rule. The children are conscious of that: They pointed out that they rarely swear at their parents, they told us how, even in great anger, they keep themselves under control. In modern command households, such (momentary) outbreaks of emotion are much less acceptable. Concerning strangers, informality manifests itself by an open, even cordial attitude towards the interviewer, allowing him to take part in the informal sound of the family without feeling embarrassed. Processes of becoming autonomous are encouraged by informalisation in several respects: The child learns about the fine differences between formal and informal contexts and how to direct its behaviour flexibly between auto-control and control from outside, whereas in traditional and modernised command households, supervision from outside dominates. It was to be expected that concerning informality, the two Western regions would be ahead of the East German one. In our material, this is expressed by the fact that the manner of talking between children and parents is still very much influenced by the pre-modern standard of politeness and respect towards the elder. The 'Sie' form of address (formal German, used as in historically ' y o u ' opposed to 'thou') is still much more widely used in East Germany than elsewhere (e.g. addressing the teacher formally; curtsying). Although loud arguments between parents and children occur also in East German families, they are experienced differently: more in categories of power and powerlessness, less as an agreement between partners over a safe basic consensus. The discussion of taboo topics also has a different significance in East Germany: It is provoked by the fear of infiltrating Western habits (sex, porn, drugs) after the ' W e n d e ' . Parents often explained that they have only now been talking (forcedly) about such topics with their children. Although the interviewers were mostly welcomed also in East German families, more preparation was necessary to get the families into a talk, and the fact that the interviewers were East Germans certainly helped with the gaining of trust; an internalised feeling of mistrust, left over from the times when state politics/police demanded it, has not yet disappeared completely. The most extreme examples of informalisation we found among our Dutch families. Here, interview arrangements could be made with the least effort, interviewers were addressed with a colloquial ' D u ' ( ' t h o u ' ) from the start, something which has become very common in the Netherlands since the 1970s; here, we listened to children's reports about experiencing a home birth (something which is inconceivable for East German kids); here, a mother was interviewed lying on the parents' bed together with the (female) interviewer, sleeping baby between them, lights dimmed, and considered it perfectly natural. And here, we found the greatest variety of new forms of family, which also indicates an advanced state of informalisation.

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We explain this with the hypothesis of the advantage of delayed developments, which in Dutch history has been applied to other phenomena, too: Until the 1960s/ 1970s, Dutch society was more traditionally inclined than the German one, among other reasons, because changes in social circumstances caused by the war took place in a less radical form. All the more severely Dutch society was influenced by the movements of cultural reform of the 1960s/1970s (secularisation; emancipation; democratisation), which since then are being supported by a developed welfare state. But at the same time, traditional values have not ceased to exist, we find them mainly in modernised command households. Family climate;

conflicts

A first striking fact is that the family climate in all families studied is rather warm than distanced; signs of an indifferent attitude of parents or children were not found anywhere. In comparison with earlier generations, the distance between the generations today has become less, something which can be also observed in the decline of the role of fundamental conflicts in families. We have indicated in our description of types that a warm family climate is not necessarily limited to the modern varieties of parent-child relations, and that a distanced climate can also occur in negotiating households. The family climate in itself, when only taking into account the dimension warm vs cold, does not provide sufficient information about modernisation of the family, it needs to be discussed in connection with other indicators. In this, an important aspect is that a warm family climate in pre-modern varieties of parent-child relations is tied to the child's acceptance of parental authority in upbringing and that it is more distanced if the child challenges this authority. On the other hand, a child's acceptance in the modern family varieties is not necessarily a prerequisite for warmth - it is the negotiating of positions of power which characterises these families, the child does not have to / is not supposed to obey unconditionally. In the latter case, a criterion is the degree of parental insistence on 'rational solutions', creating distance to the child's wish for spontaneity. Nevertheless, we did not find a single case in our negotiating families, where parental demands on the child of rational behaviour had a negative influence on a warm basic atmosphere. Informal family culture seems to encourage a warm family climate. But even in families with a low degree of informalisation, the climate is often particularly warm and gives the child a feeling of security (if it obeys). Family climate in ambivalent and traditional command families is the most problematic, but even here, w e did not find any signs of indifference. In our cases of complex family constellations, we did not find any inconsistencies in the family climate, of the kind where the child might be subject to radical changes from a warm to a rather distanced climate. Concerning conflict management, the strategy of 'cooling out' has had a breakthrough in all family types: In case of conflict - mainly clearing up in the child's

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room, a cheeky answer or quarrels between the siblings the child is sent to its room without further punishment or retreats out of its own accord. There was no case where a child reported that its parents are resentful, vindictive punishment does not occur any more. All families seem to be interested in a practical sense to get conflicts out of the way as quickly as possible, withdrawal of affection for pedagogical reasons - so typical for childhood in former times - has become rare nowadays, as rare as other long-term punishment, physically dangerous punishment or deprivation of liberty (locking up). Traditionally inclined parents may well still revert to old forms of punishment such as house arrest or no television, they sometimes cannot resist handing out a slap, but they are not consistent in their administering of punishment any more and quickly revoke their measures, if only because they are a nuisance to the parents themselves. In connection with this, some parents admitted to a certain helplessness concerning punishment: If the children's room is wellequipped, it often cannot count as punishment to send the child there, and no television would also affect other family members. It seems that, compared with German families, Dutch ones have a family climate particularly suitable for children, which is certainly due to the tradition of the classic role of the woman and mother, losing its influence later than elsewhere. Despite increased participation on the labour market, the mother is still 'there for the children' more than in other countries. A stressy and hectic atmosphere is rarer in Dutch families than in German ones, where stress stems from work more often. It is still a feature of Dutch everyday family life that the mother greets the children coming home from school with a cup of tea and consciously takes some time for them. And even further back in history, travellers in past centuries reported of the particularly intimate family life in the Netherlands compared to other countries (Schama, 1987). At the same time, also in the Netherlands, values of upbringing have changed in the direction of a child's greater autonomy, with the effect, that Dutch children have the benefit of both a delayed modernisation of the women's role and increased freedom. Long-term planning; concepts for the future With opportunities of and demands on education increasing, the area of school and schooling is playing an important part in all families. But we did find differences typical for families and countries: East German families are under the greatest pressure of having to face the comparatively higher demands of the Western school system. After the changes, parents and children had to adapt from a system of school careers directed by state and politics to free choice of schools, different curricula and to competition. The parents want to and have to encourage their children to go to the highest possible school forms in order to secure their future - and the children are internalising this pressure. Via their parents, they develop a premature long-term view in this aspect. Adaptation to a completely different education system with completely changed prospects for the

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future is something all East German parents and children demand of themselves, regardless of social level and family type. A 'normative biography' in the sense they were used to is anticipated by neither parents nor children under these particular historical-political circumstances. It remains yet to be seen, to what extent patterns specific to socio-economic classes will be (re-)established. As a contrast, West German children and parents are familiar with 'their' education system and have for quite some time been following the trend towards ever higher degrees, while at the same time there are ideas about normative, respectively individualised concepts of life specific to social levels. So our findings, that Dutch parents and children are comparatively less performance-oriented is all the more interesting. Although the level of degrees is rising also in the Netherlands, less children than in Germany are going to the highest possible schools, and in family life, school results on the whole have less of a significance. Even though particularly parents belonging to higher social levels pay a lot of attention to the appropriate choice of school for their children, they insist less on going to the highest possible form of school than in Germany. It seems that Dutch parents have a more relaxed attitude towards the value of school results. In addition to that, Dutch children have to make their choice of a secondary school only at the age of twelve, whereas in Germany, the usual age is ten. Concepts for the future at lower social levels in the Netherlands are more likely to be those of a normal biography, and open at higher levels. But in no case is longterm planning (concerning education) expected of children as early as in Germany. In connection with concepts for the future, the question arises, to what extent a modernised attitude towards upbringing discourages sex-specific upbringing. Our material makes us assume this, but also in this context we found differences according to family type and country: Formal equality of women in the former GDR was realised fully neither in the professional, nor in the familial field. More often than West German or Dutch ones, East German girls reported sex-specific demands and expectations made by parents for family life, especially concerning helping in the house. Sex-specific upbringing structures a child's life to a much lesser extent in West Germany and the Netherlands. This modernisation is most advanced in negotiating families. Corresponding parent-child perspectives; risks of upbringing We shall conclude our discussion with the impressive finding that in all three regions and in all family types, a high degree of corresponding views of parents and children of family life and of autonomy granted and experienced, could be found. An unexpected result, as we had expected correspondence to be at a high level in negotiating households and low in (modernised) command households. This is certainly connected to some extent with the age of our children: At the point of first interviews, they had not reached the stage of adolescence, creating their own lives of youth culture and sexuality. The typical (even if not serious) conflicts between the

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generations during later adolescence are still latent in our age group. As a tendency, the level of correspondence is lower in ambivalent and traditional command families than in negotiating and modernised command households. Relationships in upbringing have obviously changed to their advantage for most children. They are dealing with parents who, in spite of varying attitudes towards upbringing, allow them an acceptable level of autonomy. With these standards becoming more common, contrasts in assessment of upbringing and

relations

between generations are becoming less pronounced. Seen as a whole, it is more the code of communication in which the family types differ, rather than the contents of what is granted or forbidden. In this sense, all families have modernised in the last decades and have adopted the idea of a modern child's life with more mobility, more freedom and earlier competence on the part of the child. Our material gives little reason for the assumption that the emerging of a negotiation-oriented family culture leads to greater risks in upbringing, on the contrary. It seems much more the case that such a risk is generated by dramatic influences from outside, for example for many East German families after the ' W e n d e ' . We have the hope that our contribution has attracted attention to the significance of historical-cultural changes for the study of inter-generative life together. Examining these transformations in an inter-cultural context seems particularly rewarding to us. For family research, we wish to point out in particular the results discussed in connection with pluralisation and informalisation.

Notes 1. 2.

For the overall design of the study, cf. the contribution of P. Büchner in this reader. We shall not enlarge upon the trend towards increasing economic burdening of families and features of problem families mentioned earlier. Detailed studies on this problem in East and West Germany, also in the Netherlands have been published (Bertram, 1991, 1992; Diekstra, 1992; also cf. Diekstra in this reader). Comparative evaluation would only be sensible under the condition that the respective systems of social security and strategies of intervention in the three countries are taken into account.

3.

Developmental psychologists and educationalists find approximately 10-20% of children with (serious) problems, which almost always point at a disturbed relationship towards the parents (Diekstra, 1992; also cf. Diekstra in this reader; Meeus & 't Hart, 1993; also cf. D e c o v i c & Meeus in this reader). The growing interest in comparative child research also manifests itself in recent foundings of magazines and setting up of projects: cf. C H I L D H O O D (since 1993), also the project 'Childhood as a social phenomenon' by the European Centre in Vienna, started in 1987, which has since then published 16 national reports with mainly data on social structures, consciously different from psychological and educational traditions (Qvortrup, 1991: 11, 1993).

4.

5.

For the American discussion, which has been dealing with this topic for a long time, cf. Jallinoja, 1992; Skolnick, 1991.

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6.

For further methods developed and used by us, also cf. P. Büchner and H.-H. Krüger in this reader. 7. Ideally, all family members should be interviewed, only such a multiple comparison of perspectives would give an adequate picture of what goes on in the family, even more so for complex family constellations (for this, cf. the study by Friedel and Maier-Aichen, 1991). For financial and organisational reasons, we had to limit the study to two interaction partners. 8. The social status of the family we defined roughly according to the levels of education and profession of father and mother as high, middle or low. High means on the whole an education level of university or professional college with the appropriate professions, low means unskilled work, middle corresponds with skilled workers and salaried employees. There was a number of difficulties for East Germany, as there used to be an education system which differed substantially from the ones in Western countries, also a different professional and mobility structure. The East German sample includes skilled workers in higher levels. 9. Typologies of upbringing have a long tradition in anglo-saxon research of family psychology. Mostly, a distinction is made between four attitudes of upbringing (Maccoby & Martin, 1983). They are derived from different combinations of two basic dimensions: the level of parental control and the one of responsiveness. The differentiation is between authoritarian style (control high, responsiveness high), authoritative style (control high, responsiveness high), permissive style (control low, responsiveness high) and indifferent style (control low, responsiveness low). These four types are defined from the parental perspective only, and they do not account for historical-cultural changes and modernisation processes. Steinberg (1990) immanently criticizes the American discussion of styles of upbringing, e.g. by pointing out that many scientists after Baumrind (1967) define the permissive style inaccurately and that other scientists make no difference 'between the psychological and behavioral control and their respective effects on the developing adolescent' (p. 273/74). Fend (1990: 41/42) develops four dimensions for an analysis of relations in upbringing as 'social support', which are 'supposed to define the general quality of parent-child relations', from the point of view of the child: intensity of punishment and ignoring: The child mainly experiences negative sanctions, which are justified by the parents with their low opinion of the child's self-responsibility and ability to make decisions for itself; appreciation and respect: The child experiences granting of autonomy and that its position is being taken seriously, parents are seen as trusting and in the child's eyes are prepared to correct themselves when in doubt. Nevertheless, they set up obvious rules and give reasons for them; inconsistency and licence: The child experiences parental behaviour as irrational and unpredictable; transparency and interest: The child experiences its relationship to its parents as open and confidential, it has the opportunity of talking about everything openly at any time. On a concrete empirical basis, our typology shows analogies to both the anglo-saxon and Fend's typology. But our approach differs substantially from these traditions through the included perspective of civilisation theory, which assumes the relation in upbringing to be socio-culturally variable, furthermore through consistently including both perspectives, child and parent, in the typology. 10. In our Dutch adolescents-parents project, the parents did not report any ambivalent style of upbringing for their own parents in the 1950s/1960s. 11. At this point, it should be mentioned that due to a particular scientific interest, we searched more intensively for such families for the Dutch sample than for the other countries/regions. But it is most likely that such new forms of families are still rare in East Germany.

6. Biographisation in Modern Childhood Heinz-Hermann Krüger and Jutta Ecarius University of Halle/Wittenberg, Germany

1. Introduction The focus of this contribution is on the transition from childhood to adolescence. We report upon the results of a biographical study that investigates how East German, West German and Dutch children in different life situations and with different prospects for the future find their way from childhood to adolescence. Our first step will be to portray in brief the theoretical discourse on the structural changes of childhood as a phase of life and research done in the field (section 2). A second step will be to explain our own methodical procedure (section 3). In a third step, we shall present a typology of the course of children's biographies which we have constructed on the basis of interviews with children in the three regions we investigated (section 4). We conclude by discussing the current state of children's biographies in East and West Germany and the Netherlands from the point of view of a cross-cultural comparison (sections 5 and 6).'

2. Biographisation of children's lives - theoretical discourse and the state of cross-cultural research With our analysis of the changes in children's normal biographies, we are following on from the discourses on childhood research oriented on social sciences, which have been crystallising in (West) Germany and Europe over the last decade (Qvortrup, 1993). Therefore, our theoretical focus is not on developmental psychology, whether its origins may lie in psychoanalysis, biogenetics, the theory of learning or cognitive psychology (Keller, 1993: 31). Until recently, developmental psychology has been dominant in theoretical debates and also in empirical studies on the transition from childhood to adolescence (Paikoff & Brooks-Gunn, 1991).

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We make the approach towards our topic rather from the perspective of childhood research oriented on social sciences, by attempting to trace the changes in children's biographies in the field between discussions around a de-standardisation

and

biographisation of the course of life (Fuchs-Heinritz & Krüger, 1991; Huinink & Grundmann, 1993), and socio-theoretical diagnoses on the long-term consequences of reflexive modernisation (Beck, 1986/1992, 1993). Subsequent to these discussions about individualisation and de-structurisation of the course of life, particularly Zinnecker (1990) and Büchner (1990), and recently Qvortrup (1993), have collected arguments for the thesis that the transitory period between the status of childhood and the status of adolescence has become shorter, that fixed points in biography have shifted, and that childhood is already characterised by processes of individualisation. Biographisation of a child's course of life is defined as the ability to make oneself and one's future life the subject of reflection (Zinnecker, 1990: 31). Children already participate in the rhetoric of discourses on identity (Ziehe & Stubenrauch, 1982). Biographisation presupposes autonomy at an earlier stage: Children are supposed to join in the organisation of their lives and to co-determine biographical decisions (Fuchs, 1983). At the same time there is an increase in the number of options and opportunities to choose, which can result in new potential burdening with problems and risks. Reasons given for the changes in children's normal biographies and for the fact that the differences in status between children, adolescents and adults have become considerably smaller, are, for one, the trend towards informalisation of familial relations between the generations, and secondly, the ability to make decisions concerning school career at earlier and earlier stages (cf. du Bois-Reymond, Büchner, & Krüger, 1993). Children's becoming autonomous earlier is also triggered off by the institutions which are "in control" of this phase of life, the leisure and culture industry. They control childhood indirectly and market-oriented, and by doing so, they give the signal for the end of a pedagogically protected childhood (Zinnecker, 1990: 30). Extension of the market and the media to children as customers and consumers turns them into independent consuming citizens early and makes information available to them, thereby reducing the importance of parental knowledge for orientation (cf. Büchner, 1990: 84). New pressure on children to become autonomous earlier also results from the tendencies towards fragmentised urban space, which can be diagnosed at least for life in large cities (Nyssen, 1993: 244; Zeiher & Zeiher, 1993: 393). Alongside the disintegration of city areas into parts which do not have a variety of functions any more, but merely serve as a space for single activities, come specially defined areas for child-oriented activities. The children's (street) world, in which age groups and social levels are mixed, is replaced by a peer group which is often supervised by adults and meets at institutions specially designed for children (kindergartens, day care centres, classrooms, clubs, societies, music schools, etc.). The number of contacts may well rise, but the relationships are often of short duration, rather

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non-committal and dependent on mutual fields of interest. Such organisation of a child's everyday life expects a high level of autonomy concerning time management. A diary for a timetable of spare time and corresponding practice for arranging dates are required at an early age (Büchner & Fuhs, 1993). Inspiring as these diagnoses of modern childhood may be, there has yet been no empirical investigation of the transition period from childhood to adolescence under the perspective of early biographisation. The few empirical childhood

studies

currently available either provide information which has only peripheral significance for the topic which is to be investigated here (cf. for example, Büchner, Fuhs & Krüger, 1993; Nyssen, 1993; Zeiher & Zeiher, 1993); or the passage from childhood to adolescence is researched with the focus more on developmental psychology (cf. Fend, 1990). The state of research on the topic of changes in children's biography in the exG D R is even more adverse than in West Germany. Although concerning adolescence research, since the mid-1960s, a broad basis of quantitatively well-founded research had developed, mainly centred around the Zentralinstitut für Jugendforschung (Central Institute for Adolescence Research) in Leipzig, childhood research was of merely marginal importance (cf. Friedrich, 1993). Out of the small number of studies, the Leipzig interval study on leisure behaviour of 9- to 13-year-old pupils (Günther, Karig, & Lindner, 1991: 192) and the Greifswald study on the image 9- to 13-year-old young people have of themselves (Krause, 1991: 95) should be mentioned. There has been an increase in German-German comparative studies in the field of adolescence research after the political changes in the G D R and German unification (cf., for example, Behnken et al., 1991, Fischer & Zinnecker, 1992), whereas childhood research in German-German comparative discourse is still leading a rather more shadowy existence (cf. as exceptions: Büchner, Fuhs, & Krüger, 1993; Nauck, 1993). As to the situation in the Netherlands: In the field of biographyoriented childhood research, there is no social science tradition. During the first post-war decades, the advocates of the so-called Utrecht school, Langeveld and his successor, Beckmann, had been involved with the topic of childhood from the point of view of phenomenological pedagogics. But no substantial childhood research oriented on theories of modernisation developed in this area in the 1970s and 1980s. Meanwhile, a few empirical studies with a biography-oriented focus exist, but mainly in Dutch adolescence research. In these studies, it is not the transition from childhood to adolescence, but the transition from adolescent to adult life which is researched (du Bois-Reymond & Oechsle, 1990; also cf. the contributions in part II of this reader). Even if there are hardly any approaches towards and results from sociological childhood research in the Netherlands and East Germany, a few hypotheses on trends concerning the changes of children's normal biographies in the regions chosen for investigation can be formulated on the basis of the small number of findings. Taking into account cross-cultural comparison, we presume on the one hand, that the

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changes in children's biographies in East and West Germany and the Netherlands will be characterised by similar trends of modernisation, but at the same time by developments which are specific to the respective region/country. Modernisation processes do not develop in a straight line, but are characterised by historicaltemporal heterogeneities (Rüschemeyer, 1971). Modern and traditional modes of childhood

exist alongside

one

another

in all

three

European

regions.

It

is

hypothesised though, that tendencies of an accelerated passage from childhood to an adolescent biography will be found in its most pronounced form in West Germany due to more speeded-up modernisation processes, whereas we consider the course of childhood in the Netherlands and East Germany to still be more oriented on normal biographies and traditional standards, albeit for different reasons.

3. Procedure 3.1 Methodological

reflection

The choice of qualitative methods is in full agreement with our theoretical view on childhood. Qualitative methods place the subject with its biographical course and orientations in the centre of the analysis. Then, exclusively from the point of view of the children, the question can be answered, how they organise their way from childhood to adolescence and what significance the family, the peer group and the school as institutions of socialisation have. In research so far, children as independent subjects either do not figure at all, e.g. in official statistics, where there is family, school or crime statistics, but no child statistics. Or they appear in official social reports (Buhr & Engelbert, 1989) as future adults, as collective future human capital of society, for which measures of child politics, e.g. the prohibition of child labour or extended compulsory education have to be developed. Another variety is to see children as an element of their parents' quality of life (Berger-Schmitt, 1986). The biographical course of children, their individual, personal organisation of life does not have a part in these studies. There are only few empirically designed projects which work with qualitative methods, although the qualitative field offers a wide spectrum of methods. What is used are mainly methods of ethnographical field research. The research work done by Oswald (1993), Zeiher and Zeiher (1993), and Behnken and Zinnecker (1993) can be seen as pioneer work. Oswald combines Trasher's approach (1968), devised for the analysis of cliques and street gangs with those of Sherif and Harvey (1964), who carried out socio-psychological experiments in connection with ethnographical field research. Using methods such as participating observation and topic-centred interviews, Oswald researched the group structure, the social network and the field of interaction of school classes. Zeiher and Zeiher (1993) also used ethnographical field research in the form of participating observation, to register both the structure and the

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forms of organisation of modern children's living space. Behnken and Zinnecker (1993) also use ethnographical methods to research children's living space and inter-generative relations between parents and children, e.g. participating observation and topic-centred biographical interviews. So far, biographical interviews have not been used for the analysis of the course of children's biographies. This methodical approach makes it possible to let the children say things for themselves, to recognise them as organisers and actors of their own biography. Thus, the outside perspective is initially omitted to a good extent, and the life described can be used as a basis and starting point for analysis. As methodical means for our research project, we chose the narrative method according to Schütze (1983). This method was almost exclusively used in the field of studies with adults (Schütze, 1977; Riemann, 1983; von Wensierski, 1994) and adolescents (Fuchs-Heinritz, Krüger, Ecarius, & von Wensierski, 1991). Using the biographical method for the analysis of children's lives, we are breaking new ground methodically, as children cannot simply be compared to adults or adolescents in this respect. Differences in the state of development of children can easily make the comparability of results questionable. Some children develop their cognitive competence and language abilities earlier than others. For them, it is easier to produce a biographical account. The manner in which children give their account does not merely express what they have experienced in reality and what they construct out of it, but also shows the different levels of cognitive and linguistic abilities. We have selected children of an age of twelve, as we consider young people of that age to have developed their linguistic and cognitive competence to a great extent, and basic abstract thinking to have been formed (Piaget, 1978). At this age, alternatives of acting are gone through independently of previous experiences (Trautner, 1978). What is the case, what could be or should be and what has happened are calculated through in context with social interactions and also in context with the personal previous life story and personal experiences, and allocated to the respective realities. We see 12-year-old children as competent speakers, who are able to produce a biographical account. In our opinion, telling the story of one's life does not depend upon whether the people telling the story have consciously developed a concept of biography, but life which has been experienced and the ability to tell others about it are sufficient to produce a biographical life story. In whatever way the biographies may be adapted from institutional patterns or the framework of the parents' upbringing and to whatever extent biographical self-reflection and steps of autonomy have been reached, we presume that the forms of transition from childhood to adolescence can always be determined from the inner context of the respective story of life which is told. In many ways, research with children is more difficult to organise than with older adolescents, adults or old people. This concerns the interview situation in particular. Our experiences with the interview material have shown that the majority of children questioned have, up to the point of the study, never told the story of their life or parts

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of it to anybody. From that, we draw the conclusion that children are generally not asked to tell about their lives and assess it. Questions concerning the future are more probable, what they want to become later and/or whether they want to get married. Retrospective questions are more likely to be addressed to persons who have already lived a larger part of their life and who can be presumed to have talked about that several times. Adults can be considered to have reflected upon their lives a few times and to have told others about parts of it. During private talks, at the pub, or during a job interview, passages of life are talked about again and again. With 12-year-olds, one cannot expect those sort of opportunities to have presented themselves repeatedly. For the children, therefore, the interview was often a situation they had never been confronted with before and which found them to be relatively unprepared. Events in life which give a reason to take account of one's life are relatively rare with children. Although 12-year-olds have already completed the first years of school, these generally provide little reason to take an account on life. Events such as finishing school or even the first great love will only happen in the future and therefore are not a constituting part of the biography at that stage. Other events, such as moving house, for example, are not self-initiated, but determined from outside. One can also expect that with 12-year-olds, the need for telling about their lives to one another is developed only to a low degree. Friends are there to play with and to organise leisure time more or less spontaneously. It is a different case with separation experiences, such as if the parents get divorced. These can become a cause for biographical reflection. An unusual course of life for a child, such as running away from home, also gives more cause for thinking about o n e ' s own life. But also in a completely normal child's course of life, there will be reflection on the story of life at some point or the other, at least in parts. Further aspects must be taken into account, if the narrative interview is used in the context of childhood research. The interview does not develop in the same way as with adults, who are more or less of the same age as the interviewer. In our research group, the interviewers were 10 - 28 years older, so that two different generations were facing each other. The relations between generations are connected with the allocation of competence and with social classifications. The children have the status of learners, of being inexperienced, of those who are directed and cared for by the older generation. The interviewers, in contrast, belong to the adult generation. They are granted the part of those who have knowledge and who direct. This brings us to another very central point. During a narrative interview, the relation of allocation of competence is reversed. Usually, it is the adults who pass on life experience to the younger, report upon episodes from their lives rich in experiences or tell the children their whole life story. The children are listeners here, the ones who receive knowledge through the story, and can indirectly learn from it. For a narrative interview, the children are asked to talk about their lives as competent representatives of their age group. They are addressed as experts and people who can

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inform. The adults as interviewers are the ones who are learning and experiencing in this case, and the children are the providers of knowledge. Because of all these particular circumstances which require attention, we prepared the interviews carefully. Not only were the interviewers made familiar with the narrative method as such, but also particularly with the constellation of interaction with children. Manners of behaviour, such as empathy and understanding were practised. It was important that the interviewers were able to learn to give up their role as grown-ups and scientists, to restrain themselves and to see the child as the main character of the event from the moment first contact is made. In short, the interviewers were expected to create a relationship based on equal rights, friendliness and openness. On the whole, we have made good experiences with the biographical method for this age group. If the basic rules of the method are kept to and the special situation of interaction is taken into account, then, despite the problems mentioned, the narrative method has one great advantage: The child who is talking is facing an unknown person, so that open talking is possible, without resentment and without the fear that very personal experiences may be used to the detriment of the child. Additionally, the relatively impersonal relationship facilitates detailed telling of the life story, while it is the interviewer's task to bridge the gap between consciously intended strangeness, and empathy on the other hand. The children told us about their lives willingly, they were able to report sequences from their lives and to differentiate between what they had experienced themselves and what they had been told by others (parents). The focal points in the stories differed greatly, just as with adults (Rosenthal, 1987). The children told us their life stories as a history of institutions (from kindergarten through each year of primary school) and/or in the form of highly detailed narratives with argumentations and accounts. Some of the interviews turned out to be rather short. One the one hand, we attribute this to the fact that some of the children didn't really know what to tell. But at the same time, as already mentioned as a principal point, children of that age have more life ahead of themselves than they have lived through. The biographical stories had a length of sometimes only two minutes up to half an hour. Most children told their life story in approximately 15 minutes.

3.2 Interview method and

assessment

For the choice of respondents, we used the method of theoretical sampling by Glaser and Strauss (1967) and the method developed by Znaniecki (1934) of selecting "diverging cases" from varying social contexts. For one, we were looking for "interesting cases", where we expected the children to be moving into the adolescent phase more quickly because of their unusual course of life. The basic assumption

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there was that children who do not have a "normal" course of life get out of the phase of childhood and enter the adolescent phase quicker than children who live in harmony with family and social surroundings. Secondly, we researched cases across different social classes which make clear the "normal" way from childhood to adolescence, i.e., we questioned children who live in an intact family and in relatively stable social surroundings. On the whole, we used these search strategies to try and find a spectrum of cases as wide as possible, to be able to describe different varieties of becoming biographically autonomous. The interview is divided into three parts: 1. the narrative interview, 2. the immanent enquiries (Schütze, 1984, 1981), 3. the guided interview. The narrative part of the interview was started with asking the child to tell the interviewer about his/her life from the earliest moment recalled. Every child got an initial stimulus, word for word the following: "I would like to know how your life has been going on so far. Please remember the time when you were really small. And then tell me about your life in detail from that time until today. I w o n ' t say anything for the moment, just listen to you". The open question provokes the child to emphasize individual and special details of life. After the children had started their story following the initial stimulus and finished with their version, they were asked immanent questions which followed the logic of the narrative, in order to get them to supplement by further details the parts which (to the interviewer) were of little plausibility. The next step was to ask the child the question: "If you sum up everything once more, what has your life been like up to now, in your view?", to ask for a biographical account of the child's life so far. The following question "If you now make an account, do you see yourself as independent already?" was directed at the degree of consciously experienced autonomy. To end the part of immanent enquiry, the interviewer asked a question about the child's plans for the future: "What do you think is going to happen in your life?". In that way, two different points of view on the child's life become available, one of what has been experienced, and a second one, which is an assessment of the experiences. There may be a homology between them, but not necessarily. It is possible that differences between the narrative and final assessment on life so far occur. The narrative interview was followed by a guided interview, which was to provide information on the dimensions of growing up in the family and at school and those of leisure time. Here, we also formulated the questions in a way which would give an incentive to tell the interviewer about concrete episodes in life and to give examples of situations experienced. After transcribing the narrative interviews, the first step of analysis was to concentrate very intensely on the interaction between interviewer and interviewee. This includes an interpretation of the conditions of the situation, observation of the exact formulation of the stimulus to start the life story and the children's reactions to

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it. The beginning of the interview situation in particular often determines the further course of biographical reconstruction, the interview situation is "negotiated" at this point. Then, the reconstruction of the life story was analyzed. The open phase of narration was divided up into the individual segments of the narrative, which could usually be distinguished by conjunctions such as "and then" or "after that" in the narrative. The main points of the analysis were reconstruction of the steps of the course of life and evaluation of the degree and meaning of autonomy experienced. Assessing their ideas for the future, our interest was focused on whether the children already have clearly defined ideas about their own futures, and if so, to what extent they connect with the life they have lived so far, or whether the future for them is a world of fantasy and dreams. Only during the last step of interpretation, the individual patterns were compounded into a typology. W e did so by searching for contrasting patterns, in order to get the whole spectrum of possible routes. The typology we have developed on the basis of one region (East Germany) turned out to be workable also for the other two regions (West Germany and the Netherlands).

4. Typology of the course of children's biographies The typology which presents the different patterns and routes from childhood to an adolescent biography is based upon the following indicators: 1. Competence for biographical reflection: - how does the child see itself situated in his/her surrounding world? - how elaborate is the child's narrative? - how explicit is the child's concept for his/her own future? 2. Degree and type of autonomy in the areas of: - organisation of leisure time and choice of peer groups - arrangement of own outer appearance (e.g. clothes) - money and consumption - planning of school career 3. Family ties: - parents' form of upbringing (open negotiating household versus traditional command household) (cf. the contributions by M. du Bois-Reymond in this reader) - degree of help demanded in the household - self-organised time vs. time spent with the family According to these indicators, we shall now discuss four biography patterns in context to our questions, in what way the transition from childhood to adolescence takes place and whether it is legitimate to generally talk about "premature" developments with present-day children, which many of the aforementioned social scientists presume to be happening in the course of modernisation. If in the following we are

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going to illustrate the types with cases, it should bee clear that in an article, this can only be done in very condensed form. The original case descriptions are between 30 and 50 pages long. Without such detailed case analysis, the methodical implications of which we have elaborated upon in the preceding section, it would not have been possible to develop the typology.

4.1 Type A: A highly modern way of becoming

independent

Type A shows a high degree of competence for biographical reflection, highly individualised and practical independence in family, at school and in spending leisure time, and a low level of being tied to family obligations. This pattern can be illustrated by the example of Karl, who at the time of the interview is twelve years old and who lives with his parents (father: trained male nurse; mother: hairdresser) in the town of Halle. He gives a long life story with reports on events he experienced in a highly detailed narrative, which he often assesses directly afterwards. He has a developed concept of his own biography and elaborates on his place in the world and on social conditions in general. He thus observes the unification of East and West Germany under the aspect of growing unemployment and disconcertion. He has also already devised an explicit plan for his future life. He has acquired a punk style, but is intending to give that up later. After school, he wants to find a regular job in order to have material security; he does not wish to die penniless in this society, and knows how difficult that will be. In a practical sense, he is as autonomous as he is wilful. As a punk, he determines his style in clothing and hair for himself. He is able to take care of himself. At the age of IIV2 already, he left his home town for Berlin with some friends and lived there in a gang of punks for a week. The conflicts with his parents over that did not, as could have been expected, lead to chaos, parental indifference or particularly restrictive upbringing behaviour, but resulted in processes of negotiation wanted and directed from both sides, about conflicting interests and lifestyles: Karl is allowed to go on having a punk lifestyle, but he is expected to and wants to keep to the rules his parents set. But he is still allowed to organise his leisure time quite independently, he decides for himself what to do with his pocket money, and to his parents he has a relationship based on equal rights, which could almost be called one between adults. In the interview, Karl points out that, despite all autonomy, he needs emotional support very much, particularly from his mother. Although Karl is an extreme case of becoming or being independent at an early age, we have found highly individualised biographies of children at that age in the other regions as well (less so in the Netherlands). We found this pattern mainly in negotiating households.

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Biographisation in modern childhood 4.2 Type B: A modern way of becoming

independent

The pattern of becoming independent in a modern way is the transition to the adolescent phase according to the normal biographical development outlined in childhood and adolescence research (Hurrelmann, Rosewitz, & Wolf, 1985). This pattern, with the wish to arrange life according to one's own ideas, we found less in explicitly negotiating families, but rather in families that allow the child some amount of freedom and take it seriously as a partner, but nevertheless see keeping to rules and accepted standards as important. The child is tied to the family rhythm accordingly, and there are more family duties than for the first type. Christiane tells her life in short form, in close correspondence to institutions such as her kindergarten and school as guidelines. Her "wonderful childhood" in a small town she has left behind her already, it is a phase of life she has completed. Her father was an employee and now runs a small restaurant. Her mother is careercounsellor. After a short report on her childhood, she elaborates on her current leisure activities (visits to the library, painting classes, interest in horses), of which she is very proud, as she has mainly chosen them herself. She also shows a relatively high degree of autonomy concerning the organisation of her life and leisure time in everyday practical life, partly a result of the fact that both parents work. In contrast to the highly modern type, Christiane is still tied to the family, and has to help in the house: Every morning, she makes breakfast for her brothers and sisters and helps her mother. She also subordinates her spare time more to the family's time budget. At weekends, she spends a lot of time doing things with her parents. During the week, when the parents are not available for contact, she spends her leisure time with friends. She hardly has any conflicts with her parents, and if, then they are negotiated argumentatively. Concerning taste in clothes and music, also ideas about her own future, Christiane has the same ideas as her parents, although she feels free to decide for herself. She anticipates adulthood according to the model of a modernized female normal biography.

4.3 Type C: Partial

independence

Type C, which we call "partially modernised independence", consists of two different forms. Under CI, we register biographies which are characterised by high competence for biographical reflection, but little competence for practical activity in everyday life. Family ties are strong. The C2 variant includes biographies with little competence for biographical reflection, but instead with high competence for practical activity in everyday life. Ties to the family and its time budget are weaker than for CI. The CI type has a competence for biographical reflection similar to type

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A. But this competence turns out to be rather "one-sided", as it does not have a practical counterpart in arranging everyday life. An example is the life story of Gregor, whose personal time is tightly connected with the family's time. Both parents hold academic degrees. Gregor is an active member of a Christian community; he loves nature. When he is on his own, he likes listening to classical music and plays the trombone himself. Gregor is a very competent speaker and gets above-average results at school. In the field of philosophical and religious questions, he more or less has the maturity of an adolescent. When talking, he alludes to the problems in developing countries, and compares them to his existence. But at the same time, Gregor is still very child-like. Even though he is not an outsider, he does not belong to a peer group and does not yet identify with the life-style of an adolescent. He also has not started to fight for more independence from his parents and to develop his own ways of spending time apart from the family's time. He accepts his parents telling him what he should do in his spare time, and generally does the things they suggest. In questions of taste, he agrees with his parents and allows his mother to buy his clothes for him. Almost all initiatives he leaves to his parents, although they practise a negotiating household and would gladly grant him more freedom. Gregor refuses to think about his future: "There are many possibilities, I don't know yet...". In contrast to CI, type C2 is characterised by little biographical reflection but high competence for practical activity in everyday life - particularly concerning leisure time, as can be shown by means of the example of Marc's life story. Marc is not yet able to reflect upon his life. He mainly talks about current events, especially about his adventures with his peers in the street and in the neighbourhood. His parents (father: blacksmith; mother: unemployed) are strict (traditional command household). Marc spends his spare time as much as he is allowed to outside the family with his many friends or at the judo club. By doing so, he avoids the command rule at home as often as possible. Concerning everyday practical life, Marc is relatively autonomous. He has, for example, already spent three days alone at home, looking after himself, while his parents were away. As far as possible, he also gets his own way with his mother for buying clothes (although she does not allow him to wear earrings). He is not allowed to decide for himself what to do with his pocket money, he has to buy materials for school out of it. He does not have any pronounced ideas about his future yet.

4.4 Type D: The traditional way of becoming

independent

Type D shows little competence for biographical reflection, little autonomy in everyday practical life and strong ties to family duties and the family time rhythm. Conflicts of detachment from the family are not yet in sight. The parents are in

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charge of clothes and pocket money, the school career and time arrangements. The peer group is small and fairly homogenous, and leisure activities take place at home. Pavel represents this type. He lives in a small town, his father is a central heating mechanic, his mother is a social pedagogue. His life story is centred around the family and school. He finds pleasure in these two spheres of life, his social ties lie there. His family orientation also shows in the fact that he does a lot together with the family, and likes it very much. In no way do the peer group and life outside home compete with his life at home and the leisure activities his parents offer. He is autonomous in the sense of everyday practical life. His ideas for his future coincide with those of his parents: He wants to have a decent job - without any further ambitions.

4.5 Variety of biographical

patterns

Taking into account the theory of modernisation, it can be said that different paths through life for young people are visible, namely a traditional variant, a partly modernised variant, a modern variant, and a highly modern variant. But we want to stress that elements of a modern child life are part of every biographical pattern. A modern way of arranging leisure time, modern school careers and prototypes of new constellations of family life form the background for all children that were included in the research. Even the pattern of traditional autonomy is broken up by modern elements. Within this spectrum, the highly modern and the traditional pattern form the most obvious contrast. The highly modern pattern shows all criteria of an individualised form of life. The children have reached a high level of biographical self-reflection, and an equally high level of autonomy in everyday practical life; they have already developed a mature biographical concept. They determine their outer appearance, use of pocket money and cultural consumption themselves. Date arrangements, time management and career decisions are made mainly without the help of the parents. The parents support their child's initiative. They accept the child as a relatively equal partner. In comparison, a low degree of biographical self-reflection and a poorly developed concept of biography are characteristic of the pattern of traditional autonomy. The degree of practical autonomy is also not very pronounced. The parents decide about clothes and consumption, the school career and determine time arrangements for everyday life. The network of contacts is limited and the greater part of leisure time takes place at home. The main factor of influence for traditional autonomy seems to be a parental attitude towards upbringing which is directed less at negotiation, but rather at a fixed set of rules the child has to submit to.

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The pattern of modern autonomy is situated between these two contrasting patterns, but closer to type A, and it corresponds with the model of a modern normal biography. Typical for this pattern is a good balance between family life and life in the peer group, and on the other hand individual leisure time arrangements and active co-determination

concerning school career decisions. A fairly high degree of

biographical self-reflection and practical autonomy is combined with submission to family duties and an orientation towards the parents. The pattern of partial autonomy, where either practical or cognitive autonomy prevails, is closer to the traditional pattern. Characteristic are either little competence for biographical reflection with a high level of practical autonomy ( C I ) or a high amount of biographical self-reflection with poorly developed practical autonomy (C2). Partial biographical autonomy in everyday practical life ( C I ) with varied leisure activities which may also include transgression of set rules for the sake of momentary satisfaction, with competence for biographical reflection undeveloped, corresponds with a male childhood in the streets of a classical proletarian milieu (Becker & May, 1986). Street space is used for playing, but also to demonstrate male strength in front of friends, for example by going shoplifting. In these families, a traditional or modernised command household dominates. The child is not allowed to make decisions on clothes, questions of taste or type of school for himself. This is a typically male way into an adolescent biography, whereas girls make less use of the streets as a place for their social life, and take part in this type of peer group life less often. Type C2, where a blend of high competence for biographical reflection and hardly individualised autonomy in questions of everyday practical life is observed, is particularly interesting for a theory of modernisation and childhood. Gregor, whose parents have a modern style of living and upbringing, does not make use of the potential opportunity of negotiating rules or to arrange his leisure time for himself. It seems that he wants to remain a child, and that he combines this desire with a strongly developed competence for biographical reflection - the latter being the modern aspect of this pattern. This shows that the conclusion "high competence for biographical reflection provides for a fast transition from childhood to an adolescent biography" has to be modified. A reflexive understanding of the world and of oneself in the world seems to be compatible with a child-bound way of life, as the cases of Gregor and other children of this type show.

5. Children's biographies in cross-cultural comparison As already indicated, we have found that the typology of biographies which resulted from an analysis of the East German case material is workable also for the two other regions of investigation. In the following, we shall work out the common aspects, and particularly the cross-cultural differences of children's courses of biography. It is

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also particularly interesting that there are trends towards modernisation of children's lives in the new federal states of Germany - until 1989 economically and politically belonging to the East European Socialist states - which in many aspects are comparable to Western European societies, although the society in the ex-GDR obviously developed under different initial conditions. In a way similar to Pollmer and Hurrelmann (1992), we consider comparable social forces to have determined the same direction in both German states, although these effects have partly manifested in different social and cultural phenomena (Büchner & Fuhs, 1993: 23).

5.1 Highly modern children's biographies are an exception In contrast to theoretical statements on de-standardisation of the passage from childhood to adolescence or even of childhood as disappearing completely (cf. Postman, 1983; Qvortrup, 1993), a faster transition from childhood into a long adolescence phase seems to be more of a fringe phenomenon in all three European regions. As expected, we found the largest number of highly modern courses of childhood in West Germany. These children generally come from socially higher milieux, they grow up in negotiating families and participate in the offers of a consumer culture for children at an early age showing a high degree of self-reflection. At this point, we include two more cases of highly modern children's biographies, one from our West German sub-sample, the other from the Dutch sample. Both cases show that type A is not restricted to urbanised centres as might be expected, but can be found in the countryside (West Germany) or in suburban areas (Netherlands), as well. Alexander lives in West Germany, near the town of Marburg, with his parents who are both doctors, with his three younger brothers and sisters, in a large and wellequipped house. Alexander does not only succeed in telling his life story in a detailed narrative, but also comments in detail on individual biographical steps of becoming autonomous. At the age of twelve, he already has a girlfriend in his school class, he organises his school and leisure activities mostly independently. He is member of four clubs: judo club, athletics club, CVJM (German equivalent of the Y.M.C.A.) and a woodwind choir. He has no problems with the situation that the school (grammar school) he goes to and his circle of friends are in a small town near by, he is sufficiently mobile to bridge the gap between these isolated living spaces. His parents do not only grant him autonomy, it is more or less expected that he looks after himself. This, and the strong orientation towards his peers account for Alexander's accelerated transition to adolescence. While having found five cases, four young female persons apart from Alexander, who can be registered as the type of highly modern autonomy, among the West German samples, we found two cases in East Germany, Karl's case, which has

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already been introduced, and a girl called Bonnie, whose course of biography fits the pattern. Although, at first glance, there seem to be similar constellations of conditions as for West German children, i. e. a high cultural milieu of origin, a negotiating style of upbringing practised by the parents and a wide spectrum of self-determined leisure activities, pronounced peer orientation and first friendly contacts to the other sex, conditions which also speed up the transition to adolescence, detailed analysis shows that it is mainly the consequences of German unification which accelerate East German children. For Bonnie, for example, the range of leisure offers from jazz dance to rock'n'roll classes has been available only since the introduction of West German consumer culture in the new federal states, something which Bonnie makes use of actively. And only since the inter-German border has fallen, it is possible for her to visit her father, who fled from the GDR before the political changes, and his new family in West Germany regularly during the holidays. Karl, who already at the age of eleven became member of a punk clique, has also only had new opportunities of experiences and activities at his disposal since the fall of the wall between the two parts of Germany, opportunities which he has made available to himself in the form of several visits to the West Berlin punk scene. In our Dutch sample, we have found only one case which can be attributed to the type of a highly modernised child biography. It concerns a boy called Hans, who lives in a small place near Rotterdam with his mother and fourteen-year-old brother. Hans' parents have been divorced for four years. But he still has regular contact to his father, who is a teacher at a grammar school and lives in the same area. The mother has a hairdresser's salon. Hans is still at primary school, which includes the first six years of school in the Netherlands. In his first biographical story he formulates a clear concept of his own future, namely, that after finishing primary school, he wants to go to grammar school and later on to the university. In his spare time, Hans visits a youth club, a music school where he learns to play the guitar, and he is member of a handball club. He has a large range of activity, e.g., he often goes to Rotterdam on his own, and during the coming summer holidays, he is intending to go camping together with his brother, without the mother. He is interested in hip-hop music and spraying graffiti. The motor for his early biographisation is, on the one hand, his active participation in his peer group and, on the other hand, the negotiation culture in his parental home, with hardly any rules or sanctions, based primarily on agreements between the members of family.

5.2 Traditional children's biographies are dominant in the

Netherlands

While the pattern of highly modernised autonomy is least present in our Dutch sample, the pattern at the other end of our typology, the traditional form of autonomy, where children hardly reflect upon their past and future course of biography at

Biographisation in modern childhood

177

that stage and where they still mostly spend their everyday life tied to the family context is most strongly represented in the Dutch group. These results are two sides of one medal. Reasons for stronger family concentration and more traditional patterns are: - a later and more moderate modernisation process in the relation between sexes, which can still be documented by the fact that 62 percent of all Dutch women with children up to twelve years do not work outside the household (Peeters & Woldringh, 1993), and that of the working mothers, a total of three quarters only work part-time; - a more contradictory process of urbanisation, during which on the one hand the urban settlement areas, particularly in the suburbs of the "Randstad" between Amsterdam and Rotterdam, have spread enormously, whereas on the other hand, two thirds of the area of the Dutch state are still used agriculturally, though it is highly technological agriculture (Netherlands, 1990: 30); - the existence of a six-year primary school system (in Germany: four years) which delays the decision about their further school career and future. A clarifying example for the pattern of traditional autonomy is the biography of Marten, who lives in a village between Delft and Rotterdam with his parents and three brothers and who currently goes to a Christian grammar school. His father owns a farm, his mother is a housewife. Marten is yet unable to give a detailed account of his biography. Looking back is still very difficult for him, he doesn't have any ideas about his future, either. Marten's everyday life is still strongly determined by the time rhythm and outside control of the family. After school, he has to help working on the farm. On Sundays, he goes to church with his parents and brothers, afterwards, the family play board games in the kitchen. His activities are strictly controlled and limited by his parents. His mother buys clothes for him, she wants him to look decent and well-dressed, and his father refuses to buy the hifi set or C D player Marten would like. The little spare time he has, Marten spends going for walks in the near vicinity with his friends or reading in his room, which he has to share with one of his brothers. The milieu of restrictive upbringing, the integration of children's everyday life into local rural life and a traditional children's culture are the central conditions which delay biographisation and promote the model of a familyoriented childhood, not only for Marten, but for many Dutch children we attribute to the type of traditional autonomy. In comparison to the Netherlands, the pattern of traditional autonomy is not as wide-spread in West Germany. The forced modernisation process in the erstwhile Federal Republic of (West) Germany since the late 1960s, which manifested in increased urbanisation of small towns and villages, erosion of traditional family and w o m e n ' s models and in a rise of working women to a current 45 percent (cf. Kaiser, 1992) can be seen as reasons. But even in the Federal Republic of Germany, this modernisation process was not unilinear, so it is not surprising that, similar to the Netherlands, we find the pattern of traditional autonomy in analogous conditions of

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socio-ecology and socialising, that is, rather with children from rural areas, who mostly grow up in a restrictive atmosphere of upbringing and in the context of traditional children's culture. The pattern of traditional autonomy is about as wide-spread in East Germany as it is in West Germany, but different factors are responsible for this situation. It is correct that the majority of East German children we have attributed to this type grow up in a milieu of restrictive upbringing, where young people are tied closely to the system of rules and duties of the family, as the example of Pavel's biography has shown. But in addition to that, there are some specific factors of the family situation in East Germany which bring about this family-centredness. Despite the fact that in East German families often both parents used to work and could only take care of their children more intensively in the evening, at weekends and during holidays, they nevertheless have central importance for the young people as persons they can turn to and trust (cf. Kabat vel Job, 1991). This can be explained by the recess function the family had in the times of the GDR. The family was often the only space its members had for self-fulfilment, which offered protection from the mechanisms of political discipline of the state which considered itself Socialist. But also after unification, the East German family has the important function of stabilising and being there to fall back on in view of the dramatic social re-structuring processes which are taking place on the labour market, at school and in the communal infrastructure.

5.3 Dutch and East German children have more space to roam about in public The pattern of partial biographical autonomy, where a low degree of self-reflection coincides with a high degree of autonomy in everyday practical life - mainly concerning leisure time - and which reminds of the model of childhood spent in the streets, we found in East Germany and the Netherlands more than in West Germany. This pattern, where the streets and local public areas serve as terrain for action and adventures with the clique the children spend their leisure time with, may be a more male-dominated way into adolescence, as illustrated on the biography of Marc from East Germany. But in the Dutch and West German regions, we also found some girls whom we attribute to this type: In the Netherlands, for example, a girl called Jose, who comes from a subproletarian milieu, who is into Elvis Presley and already has a boyfriend; in West Germany, there was Caroll Ann, for example, who lives in a socially problematic area of a medium-sized town, with her parents and brothers and sisters. She is already interested in older boys, and in her spare time, she likes roaming about in town with her (girl) friends. The reason why the pattern of partial autonomy is to be found less frequently in West Germany than in Holland or East Germany, may be connected with the fact that for the model of a childhood in the streets, the situation in the Netherlands is more

Biographisation

in modern

childhood

179

advantageous: Many of our Dutch children grow up in rural districts or on the fringe of small towns. The situation is different in the former GDR, or respectively, in the present-day new federal states. In view of the lack of economic resources, there has been no all over reconstruction in cities, at least until the political changes (Zinnecker, 1991: 18), so that even today, there are still possibilities of living an actionoriented childhood in local public areas of cities. In the Netherlands, the process of urbanisation has also been more moderate than in West Germany. Concerning policies of urban development, the providing of public bicycle paths and building of single-family houses even in city centres show that partly, the emphasis was placed on different matters than in West Germany.

5.4 Modern children in East and West Germany are going similar biographical ways The pattern of a normal biographical way into adolescence, which is connected with a relatively high level of self-reflection and steps towards becoming independent in family and leisure time which are adequate for the age, we have found in East and West Germany not only in analogous quantities, but also in very similar cultural forms. Thus, we have found a parallel case to Christiane from a small town in East Germany, who is going a typically female way into a normal adolescent biography. The girl in our West German sample is called Leonie. The two girls do not only have the same hobby, horses, although the possibilities of practising this hobby are not as good for Christiane in East Germany. Both girls come from a higher social milieu, they already have some competence for biographical reflection and express a similar concept for their future. They want to have a well-paid job in order to buy their own horse, something they have been dreaming of for a long time. Both are still rather family-centred, but on the other hand, they mainly plan and organise their leisure time themselves. They are interested in a wide spectrum of creative and cultural hobbies (e.g. painting classes, play acting) and prefer to spend their spare time in a circle of other girls. We also have such typical girls' biographies in the Dutch sample, but, in difference to East and West Germany, where the type of modern autonomy is similarly common and can partly be found in analogous cultural forms, this pattern of a way into a normal adolescent biography is not as wide-spread in our Dutch group of research. This is the most surprising result of our biographical analysis: In comparison to West and East German children, Dutch children on the whole seem to make their way into the phase of adolescence slower, i.e. they generally remain children for a longer time.

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6. Conclusive assessment To summarise the results of our cross-cultural analysis of the changes of children's biographies in East and West Germany and the Netherlands, two trends of developments which are going in opposite directions, are particularly prominent. 1. Highly modern and modern patterns of autonomy (types A and B) were most common among our material in the West German region. We found an explanation for this in the push of modernisation which took place earlier compared to the two other regions/countries, and a corresponding form of living for children. 2. Highly modern and modern patterns of autonomy could also be found in East Germany more often than in the Dutch region. We did not expect these findings at the start of our research, as the common picture is that of much greater similarity between the Western regions/countries than between the Eastern and Western ones. Our findings modify this picture, which shows how fruitful cross-cultural comparisons can be. Compared to the two parts of Germany, Dutch society has for decades been a society which rests in itself, on the whole a more moderate society (Zahn, 1984), although the Netherlands, too, have certainly taken part in the great modernisation movements of the European countries since the war, and particularly during the last few decades. Especially the relations between the sexes and in the family sector are more traditional in the Netherlands. The classic role of women and mothers was kept up longer, Dutch women still, despite increased participation in the professional world, have 'more time for the children' than mothers in Germany - and there particularly in the new federal states, where the majority of mothers still is at work all day and has to meet the challenge of new professional requirements since the "Wende". The pressure from West and East German parents on their children to get good results at school is not as pronounced in the Netherlands, which for the given age group also has something to do with the fact that primary school goes on for two years longer than in Germany. On this background, it is presumably possible to explain why Dutch children, in comparison with their West and East German peers, still live a more family-centred life and make their way into the phase of adolescence more slowly, at least in the age group we researched. The results of the second polling wave which has recently been started with the same young people, who are now fourteen years old, in East and West Germany and in the Netherlands will show whether our typology, which so far describes the spectrum of children's courses of biography in a cross section, will prove to be sound also in profile. It is possible that effects of age and changed social conditions will make further development or re-definition of this typology necessary.

Note 1. For the overall concept of the study, cf. the contribution by Büchner in this reader.

Part III Coping Strategies of Dutch and German Adolescents in Social Context

7 Internal and External Coping in Adolescence. Psychosomatic Complaints, Aggressive Behaviour, and the Consumption of Legal and Illegal Drugs Petra Kolip and Klaus Hurrelmann Bielefeld University, Germany

1. Introduction In recent years, increasing attention is being paid to the living situation of adolescents. While adolescence used to be considered, at least in opinion,as a happy and carefree time, living conditions for adolescents are now seen to have become much more difficult. Numerous risk factors can adversely affect healthy development. Particularly significant are stress factors in the areas of educational and vocational qualification. Policy reforms have improved educational opportunities for a large group of the population, but the realization of individual life plans has become much more difficult. While in the school year 1952/53, 79% of all 7th-grade students attended the extended elementary school or "Hauptschule", in 1992 it was only 32% (Rolff, Klemm, & Hansen, 1993). The proportion of students at grammar school or "Gymnasium" increased during this time from 13 to 32%. Parents and children regard a good education as an important condition for better chances in life. At the same time, the opportunities at the work place have distinctly deteriorated. The probability of finding a vocational training position is very small in view of increasing (youth) unemployment. Thus adolescence may be understood as a phase in life permanently exposed to bio-psycho-social stress caused by daily strain in school, family, and leisure (Hurrelmann, 1988; Mansel & Hurrelmann, 1991). Adolescents in the new Federal States have to contend with specific additional stress factors. After the so-called "Wende", marking the turning point toward the re-unification of Germany, the inhabitants of the former GDR experienced profound political changes, which had, and still have, great implications for their daily life and their values. The school system has changed, and adolescents are exposed to greater achievement stress. Before the "Wende", one was certain to find a vocational training position, although not always in the desired field, but today's adolescents are confronted by increasing youth unemployment.

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Before re-unification, both parts of Germany were highly developed industrial societies, characterized by the typical structures of secularization and urbanization. But for both parts of Germany, there are also specific conditions defining the contexts of socialization with regards to family, leisure, and job training. These specific conditions in turn place different demands on adolescents' coping capacities. For the majority, developments in adolescence do not take place without some friction, though they are generally unproblematic. However, recent increases in chronic illnesses, psychosomatic complaints, and psychosocial disorders for this age group may be considered an expression of increasing stress factors. Particularly chronic illnesses and psychosocial disturbances have grown in this age group. The rate of prevalence for chronic illnesses is approximately 10% (Petermann, Noecker, & Bode, 1987) and 12% for psychosocial disturbances (Remschmidt, 1987). The latter includes behavioral disorders, especially emotional disorders, antisocial and aggressive behaviours, food and eating disorders, problems in sexual development, as well as neurosis and psychosis. Approximately 13% of all 6- to 17-year-olds are in need of treatment or counselling for psychological disturbances (Remschmidt & Walter, 1990). This paper examines which ways of coping adolescents chose in the new and old Federal States three years after the re-unification of both German states. Various research efforts in the areas of child and youth psychiatry have attempted to cover the emotional and behavioral disorders indicative of unsuccessful coping with problems (cf. e.g. the multi-axial classification system by Rutter, Shaffer, & Shepherd, 1975). Specific diagnostics are usually summarized into two

broadband

syndromes. According to a classification by Achenbach and Edelbrock (1987), outwardly directed externalizing behaviour includes, for example delinquent and aggressive behaviour; while inwardly directed internalizing behaviour

includes

depressions and psychosomatic disorders (cf. also Lösel, Bliesener, & Köferl, 1991; Schneider, Walter, & Remschmidt, 1991). We will address those types of behaviour that cannot be counted as problematic forms of coping with problems, but are a part of the usual behaviour spectrum present in adolescence. Behaviour that endangers health, like alcohol, nicotine, or drug consumption, is interpreted in scientific discussions both as simultaneously harmful to long term health and as functional (Nordlohne, 1992). Thus Franzkowiak (1987) shows that harmful behaviour must primarily be understood in the context of developmental tasks and that it follows a subjective logic.

Health-endangering

behaviour follows a subjective logic and is evaluated in early adolescence according to social functions (Bültemeier, Franzkowiak,

Hildebrandt, & Wenzel,

1984).

Adolescents need to master various developmental tasks, such as accepting their own body, learning female or male sexual roles, separation from parents, as well as the development of emotionally satisfying relationships with peers (Havighurst, 1972). The controlled use of stimulants and intoxicants is not only a part of these develop-

Internal and external coping in adolescence

185

ments, but alcohol and tobacco consumption are also functional aids in coping with these developmental tasks. According to the above categories, smoking and alcohol consumption, as well as aggressive behaviour, may be regarded as externalizing forms of coping with problems, while drug consumption and psychosomatic ailments may be counted as internalizing ways of coping. The following study was conducted in the framework of a research program (Sonderforschungsbereich 227) on "Prevention and Intervention in the Childhood and Adolescence". 1 The research examines to what extent the different forms of internalizing and externalizing coping behaviour are prevalent in adolescents. The starting point is a wide understanding of the term health. The health situation of adolescents cannot be determined by morbidity or mortality statistics alone. Instead health and healthy development must be seen in the respective living contexts (Kolip & Hurrelmann, 1994). As defined by the World Health Organization (1946), health is more than simply the absence of illness; it manifests itself in physical, psychological, and social well-being. Therefore, we are interested not only in illnesses and ailments, but also in health related behaviour. In the context of coping with daily stresses in West and East Germany, we shall focus on the following questions: • How prevalent are internalizing and externalizing coping strategies in adolescence? • What weight may be accorded to psychosomatic ailments, emotional disorders, and the consumption of medication within the framework of internalizing coping strategies? • To what extent do adolescents from the new and old Federal States differ in their coping strategies? • How significant are the consumption of legal and illegal drugs and aggressive conduct as types of externalizing behaviour?

2. Sample and Methods We conducted a representative study of the health situation of adolescents. The "Youth Health Survey" presents a picture of the way 12- to 16 old adolescents assess their health situation. Designed as representative survey, this investigation covers, for the first time, health indicators that allow a comparison between East and West Germany. The study was concluded in spring 1993. The sample included 2 4 0 0 students from the old and new Federal States w h o were attending grades 7, 8, and 9 at the time of the interview. It w a s based on a quota system designed to select according to agegroup, type of school, and Federal State. With the help of physicians and psychologists, constructed

the standardized questionnaire

was

to cover all important areas of the health situation in adolescence. Self-reports

were used to psychosomatic complaints, emotional disorders, and aggressive behaviour, as well as the consumption of alcohol, nicotine, and medication.

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Petra Kolip and Klaus Hurrelmann

3. Results 3.1 Internal Coping

Psychosomatic Complaints Psychosomatic complaints were assessed with a list of 18 symptoms. The adolescents had to rate how frequently they had experienced the listed complaints during the past 12 months on a 4-point scale. The results show that only 28.3% had almost no complaints during the last 12 months: 28.3% of West Germans and 28.4% of the East Germans reported little or no experience of all 18 listed complaints. About three quarters of all adolescents reported having had one or more complaints, 23.8% named 3 to 5, 18.4% indicated 6 to 10, and 4.2% reported even more than 10. With regard to total frequency, no differences emerged between West and East German adolescents; respondents in both regions felt similarly stressed. A factor analysis of the items produced three scales. The scale of "Vegetative Complaints" included unspecific complaints such as nervousness, concentration difficulties, and sleeping disorders (7 items, Cronbach's a=.81). Specific localized complaints, for example, neck and shoulder pain or backache and back pain were combined in the scale of "AreaSpecific Complaints" (5 items, Cronbach's a=.74). The scale of "Physiological Complaints" included disorders like nausea, headache, and gastric troubles (6 items, Cronbach's a=.79). Table 1 shows the mean values and standard deviation in scale values for adolescents from the old and new Federal States. Table 1. Means and standard deviations of psychosomatic symptoms in East and West German adolescents New federal states

Old federal states

Mean

SD

Mean

SD

t

Vegetative complaints

11.73

3.99

11.91

4.14

1.02

Physiological complaints

10.64

3.46

10.96

3.69

2.03*

Area-specific complaints

7.51

2.71

7.56

2.81

0.40

* ρ s .001 East German adolescents differed significantly from West German adolescents only on the scale of physiological complaints. They reported significantly fewer complaints in this area. Table 2 classifies the results and presents an overview of the degree of strain for the separately listed complaints. It presents the percentage frequencies of those who reported experiencing complaints frequently or occasionally during the past 12 months. The most frequent complaint was headaches, with 39.4% reporting that they had suffered headaches occasionally or frequently during the last 12 months. Nervousness and restlessness wee frequently named symptoms at 30.3%, followed by lack of concentration (30.2%). One quarter to one fifth of adolescents suffered occasionally or frequently from backache or back pain (23.5%), dizziness (22.1%),

Internal and external coping in Table 2.

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adolescence

Psychosomatic symptoms of stress in adolescents from the old and new federal states (percentages of frequent and occasional answers; N=2392) New federal states

Old federal states

φ

Nervousness/restlessness

30.5

30.2

.00

Lack of concentration

28.6

30.9

.02

Sleeplessness

16.3

20.6

.05*

Nightmares

8.1

9.2

.02

Profuse sweating

8.2

8.4

.00

Trembling hands

16.0

13.3

.04*

Palpitation of the heart

18.4

18.1

.00

Headaches

39.9

39.2

.01

Dizziness

22.3

22.0

.00

Nausea

15.0

18.8

.05*

Gastric disorders

15.3

22.0

.08**

Vegetative

Physiological

Complaints

Complaints

Diarrhoea/constipation

5.8

8.7

.05**

20.1

18.9

.01

Lower back/backache

23.4

23.6

.00

Neck and shoulder pains

17.9

17.0

.01

Pelvic pains

8.1

9.4

.02

Chest pains

8.2

9.1

.01

Respiratory complaints

10.0

9.6

.01

Lack of appetite Area-specific

Complaints

* p s .05; ** p s .01; *** p s .001

gastric disorders (19.8%), loss of appetite (19.3%), and sleeplessness or sleeping disorders (19.2%). Adolescents from the new and old Federal States differed significantly in only five complaints. In four cases, the exception being trembling hands, the West Germans' scores were higher than those of the East Germans. These were: gastric disorders, nausea, diarrhoea/constipation, and sleeplessness/sleeping disorders. It is conspicuous that the differences particularly concerned disorders of the gastric-intestinal tract. These may have been due to different eating habits. The questionnaire also covered health-related behaviour. "Eating habits" included questions about the frequency of eating healthy (e.g., fruit, vegetables) and unhealthy foodstuffs (sweets, French fries, chips and cola), as well as the regularity of meals

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Petra Kolip and Klaus

Hurrelmann

and the frequency of hot meals. We discovered small but significant relationships between some of these variables and the frequency of digestive complaints. The regularity and irregularity of meals was particularly related to complaints. An index of "healthy" compared to "unhealthy" foods revealed, that only the consumption of healthy food had an impact, while unhealthy eating habits were less significant. Emotional

stress

Information about psychosomatic complaints was complemented by information about emotional stress. The adolescents were given a list of 17 feelings. They were asked to rate how often they experienced these feelings at the time of the interview on a 4-point scale. With factor analysis, these items could be assigned to three scales. The scale "Anomic Feelings" contained seven items (e.g., lonely, superfluous, senseless; Cronbach's α = .84); "Strain" contained 5 items (e.g. stressed, overtaxed, exhausted; Cronbach's α = .82); and "Aggression" contained 4 items (e.g. aggressive, angry, mad; Cronbach's α = .85). Table 3 lists the means and standard deviations separately for the West and East German adolescents. Table 3.

Means and standard deviations for emotional stress in West and East German adolescents New federal states

Old federal states

Mean

SD

Mean

SD

t

Anomic feelings

15.61

4.17

15.82

4.46

1.09

Strain

13.01

3.13

12.65

3.17

2.63**

9.32

2.63

9.85

2.73

4.60***

Aggression " p s .01; *** ρ £ .001

While West German adolescents reported significantly more frequent aggressive feelings, East German adolescents had significantly higher strain scores. Table 4 presents the specific results and an overview of the frequency of each emotional reaction. Many adolescents felt that they could not cope with to the requirements of this stage in their lives: 65.1% felt tired, over one half felt stressed (54.5%), exhausted (54.3%), and strained(49.9%). Anger and aggression also dominated the emotional situation in adolescence: 53.7% wee frequently or occasionally angry, half of them felt rage and anger (50.0%), and 45.1% felt irritated. West and East German adolescents differed in five areas: West German adolescents were more angry, aggressive, irritated, and enraged than East German adolescents, and, in addition, they had more feelings of guilt. The exertion and challenge in certain areas of life seemed to be greater in West Germany than in East Germany. West Germans probably have higher expectations regarding goals in life as well as a generally more demanding life-style. Failure can lead to greater disappointments and frustrations.

Internal and external coping in Table 4.

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adolescence

Regional distribution of adolescent emotional stress (percentages of frequent and occasional answers; N=2392) New federal states

Old federal states

Φ

Helplessness

19.4

20.9

.02

Uselessness

20.0

22.1

.02

Loneliness

25.0

25.8

.01

Senselessness

21.2

21.5

.00

Anxiety

27.4

26.4

.01

Jealousy

19.3

21.9

.03

Feelings of guilt

17.1

22.4

.06**

Disadvantage

29.3

31.0

.02

Exhausted

56.1

53.4

.03

Overtaxed

52.4

48.6

.04

Stressed

55.4

54.1

.01

Overstrained

42.2

40.9

.01

Tired

67.5

63.9

.04

Angry

50.2

55.5

.05*

Aggressive

23.3

34.8

.12***

Irritated

38.4

48.4

.09***

Annoyed/angry

45.4

52.3

.07**

Anomic

feelings

Strain

Aggression

* p s .05; ** ρ s .01; * * * p s . 0 0 1

Medication Drug consumption may be an indicator of unsuccessful coping with daily demands. Adolescents were asked how frequently they had taken certain medications during the past 3 months. They had to report their use of 13 groups of drugs (e.g. painkillers, sedatives and sleeping pills, appetite depressing drugs, and drugs for specific disorders) on a 5-point scale with the poles virtually daily and never. On average, East German adolescents took fewer drugs than West German ones. Their mean value on the aggregated total scale was 16.35 (sd=2.80), while the West German mean was 17.07 (sd = 3.41; t = 3.62, ρ s .001). East Germans took the following drugs significantly less frequently: heart/circulatory system drugs and drugs for headaches, allergies, or bronchitis/respiratory complaints. More frequent consumption related to more frequent complaints in the respective areas. There were

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no indications that West German adolescents differed from East German ones regarding the use of psychoactive substances. Adolescents from the old Federal States did not take stimulants, sedatives or sleeping pills more frequently than others.

3.2 Externalizing Aggressive

Coping

Behaviour

behaviour

As the results on the adolescents' emotional well-being showed, the range of aggressive feelings was considerable. We were also interested in the degree to which these feelings were expressed in concrete aggressive acts. We asked the adolescents whether they had, during the past 12 months, destroyed anything intentionally, hit or threatened someone, or taken something from someone forcefully. Results indicated that, although violence belonged to their behaviour repertoire, actual violent acts were rare. Only 1.4% of adolescents had destroyed things intentionally three or more times in the year prior to our interview, 3.3% had beaten someone up more than twice, 1.5% had threatened someone at least three times, and 2.0% had taken something from someone by force more than twice. In all four areas, West German adolescents scored significantly higher than East Germans. Alcohol

consumption

Most of the adolescents had experience with alcohol. Table 5 lists the frequency of answers to the question "Have you ever drunk alcohol?" A total of 82.2% had experience with alcohol; 42.6% had tried it, 38.3% drank alcohol occasionally, and 1.3% were regular drinkers. When those who never drunk and those who had tried alcohol were combined into one group, and occasional and regular drinkers into one, West German adolescents did not differ from East Germans. Table 5. Lifetime prevalence of alcohol consumption in a regional comparison (in percentages; N=2392) "Have you drunken alcohol once?" New federal states Old federal states

Total

No, never

13.9

19.6

17.8

Yes, but one sib only

46.8

40.6

42.6

Yes, occasionally

38.9

38.0

38.3

0.4

1.7

1.3

Yes, regularly

As anticipated, the lifetime prevalence of alcohol consumption depended on age, as shown in Figure 1. In Grade 7, the proportion of those who have never drunken alcohol was 28.5%, 50.1% had drunken alcohol once. The proportion of "teetotallers" decreased in Grade 9 to 8.5%; and "triers" to 32.9%. The proportion of occasional consumers increased from 21% in Grade 7 to 56.1% in Grade 9.

191

Internal and external coping in adolescence Percent 60-

Test totals 50Trier 40Occasional consumer 30-

Regular consumer

20-

10-

0 Grade 8

Grade 7

Grade 9

Figure 1. Alcohol consumption according to age group We also asked adolescents how frequently they had consumed specific kinds of alcohol in the past 3 months. Figure 2 illustrates the results for the consumption ranging from once to more times weekly or daily. Beer was the favourite alcoholic beverage Percent 15 η New Federal States ^

Old Federal States

10

0 Beer

Wine

Spirits

Cocktails

Figure 2. Regional comparison of alcohol consumption according to types of beverage

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Petra Kolip and Klaus

Hurrelmann

for adolescents: 10.6% of West German and 4.4% of East German adolescents who occasionally or frequently consumed alcohol had drunk beer in the past 3 months at least once a week. This was followed by wine and sparkling wine (3.2% of East Germans and 3.8% of West Germans), liquor (1.7% of East Germans and 2.7% of West Germans), and cocktails (2.1% or 3.1% respectively). Differences between West and East German adolescents were found for drunkenness. Among adolescents who reported occasional or regular alcohol consumption, 47.4% were drunk at least once in the last year; 36.1% of East Germans and 32.7% of West Germans were drunk once to three times; 2.3% of the East Germans and 8.9% of the West Germans four times or more. The proportion who had never been drunk was significantly higher for East Germans (61.6% vs. 48.4%, ρ s .05). Smoking The function of nicotine is to help cope with daily stress. To record the lifetime prevalence of tobacco consumption, we asked adolescents whether they smoked cigarettes or had previously smoked. Table 6 shows the results. A total of 46.8% had never smoked 37.7% had tried or given up; 15.5% were occasional or regular smokers. Table 6. Regional comparison of smoking prevalence (percentages; N=2392) "Do you or did you smoke cigarettes?"

New federal states Old federal states

Total

No, never

42.7

48.9

46.8

Yes, but tasted only

34.2

27.0

29.4

Yes, but stopped

8.8

8.0

8.3

Yes, occasionally

10.6

8.6

9.4

Yes, regularly

3.7

7.3

6.1

Occasional or regular smokers were asked how often they smoked. A total of 40.5% of the occasional and regular smokers smoked daily (26.8% of East Germans and 46.5% of West Germans); 30.5 smoked several times per week (38.4% vs. 27.1%); and 11.4% smoked once a week (9.8% vs. 12.0%). Only 17.5% smoked less than once a week. The distributions for East and West German adolescents differed significantly (χ 2 = 17.86, φ = .22, ρ s .01). East German adolescents smoked less frequently than West Germans. The answers to the question concerning the number of cigarettes smoked daily revealed a similar trend. The range extended from 1 to 30 cigarettes: 41.9% of daily smokers smoked 5 cigarettes daily; 34.8% smoked between 6 to 10 cigarettes; 20.8% smoked between 11 and 20 cigarettes; and 2.5% smoked more than 20 cigarettes per day. On average, East German adolescents smoked significantly less than West German adolescents.

Internal and external coping in adolescence Illegal Drug

193

Consumption

A further set of questions addressed the use of illegal drugs. The adolescents had little experience with illegal drug. The lifetime prevalence of illegal drug use was 4.4%; 95.6% reported that they had never smoked cannabis. Occasional and regular users were found only among West German adolescents (χ 2 = 34.78, Cramer's V = .12, ρ s .001). Of the 1.2% of occasional or regular users, 35.7% had never or only tried cannabis, 28.5% ( = 0.3% of the total sample) used cannabis at least once a month. Apart from the use of cannabis, we inquired about experiences with other illegal drugs in the past 12 months. Only a few adolescents among the investigated agegroups had experience with illegal drugs. The prevalence rates varied between 0.2 and 3.8% for the total sample. The prevalence rates for the West German adolescents were generally higher than those for the East German adolescents. This difference was statistically significant in three areas of illegal drugs (cannabis, inhalants, and stimulants).

4. Discussion Our study conveys an overview of the health and illness situation in 12- to 16-yearold adolescents in both parts of Germany. This is a first contribution to compiling a regionally comparative health report. Our results show that according to the adolescents' self-reports, the health situation and coping behaviour differ only gradually between both parts of Germany. The basic well-being of adolescents differs only in a few single findings. Where differences do exist, however, they present the same pattern throughout: West German adolescents record higher degrees of subjective strain in terms of illnesses, complaints and disorders. As the single findings have shown, the higher strain of West German adolescents can only be explained by more adverse conditions in their social and ecological environment: Lower social security combined with higher achievement and prestige expectations, a smaller range of social support and help, greater strain through ambitious and hectic achievement and social demands, greater pollution of air, water, and food could be keywords. The detailed relationships have hardly been investigated up to now, and our conjectures may only be characterized as plausible. Our findings show that long term health-damaging behaviour is also chosen to cope with daily strain. Internalizing and externalizing coping strategies are present to an equal extend. Externalizing coping behaviour shows a surprising range of psychosomatic impairments. Only one quarter of the adolescents have not experienced stress during the last 12 months. W e consider this result an expression of the strong subjective tension under which adolescents live today. This tension

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manifests itself in psychosomatic disorders and in disturbed emotional conditions, but is not compensated by excessive and uncontrolled drug use. The great amount of subjectively experienced stress is alarming. Over half of the adolescents feel stressed, exhausted, and tired. This result is also an indication that adolescents are feeling overtaxed by their situation in life. The only difference between West and East German adolescents appears to the disadvantage of the adolescents from the new Federal States. Compared to West German adolescents, they feel more strained and a greater demand on their coping resources, possibly due to their strongly changed way of life. However, this subjectively influenced condition has no consequences on behaviour. The high degree of aggressive feelings - approximately half of the adolescents are angry and irritated - does not find any analogy in the active use of force. Violent and aggressive behaviour, in contrast to the impression the media conveys, does not belong to the daily repertoire of behaviour. Adolescents do have aggressive feelings, but only an infinitely small group (under 5%) carries out violent acts. Furthermore, the consumption of illegal drugs is not a typical externalizing coping strategy. While almost 5% of the adolescents have experience with illegal drugs, particularly cannabis products, only 0.3% of those sampled record regular (i.e. once a month) consumption of marihuana. As could be expected, nicotine and alcohol consumption are a part of the usual behaviour in adolescence. Beyond numerous developmental functions - like the anticipation of adulthood or integration into the peer group - they also serve as a means of coping with problems. The majority of adolescents (more than 80%) have experience with alcohol. This is not surprising insofar as adults first introduce alcoholic "pleasures" at the time of puberty, such as in the first communion service during confirmation. The proportion of regular consumers is, at approximately one percent, relatively small, but at least one third consumes alcohol occasionally. Nicotine seems to be loosing its role as a typical youth status symbol. The share of smokers has levelled off in the last years at 15%. Only 6% smoke regularly. However, it seems that those who do smoke, smoke more. More than 40% of the occasional and regular smokers smoke daily, and more than half of them smoke more than five cigarettes. The differences between West and East German adolescents are small and permit the assumption that, though the strains may be objectively different, subjectively they are handled similarly. This is shown by the rather small regional differences: Even if health-related living and environmental conditions in East and West Germany were really different during the existence of the G D R and the old FRG, they are not very different during the investigation in 1993. Considering the previous studies in which 12- to 17-year-old adolescents in the states of Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia were interviewed, it is realistic to assume that the differences in health and illness between East and West Germany, which were not very great, but almost consistently significant at the time of unification, have decreased distinctly within a f e w years. If

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195

this trend continues, we can expect complete assimilation of respective data between East and West Germany shortly, as health-related living conditions will have further adapted in social and ecological terms. The East - West comparison shows very clearly the extend of somatic, psychological and social burdens, to which the young generation is exposed in industrial Germany at the end of the 20th century. If we compare the results of youth health survey with earlier studies from West Germany, an increase of prevalence values is obvious, particularly with regard to allergies, psychosomatic complaints and the intensive consumption of legal and illegal drugs. One of the most important tasks of youth health research should be to observe this development, to identify the underlying reasons, and to develop prevention strategies.

Note 1. The SFB 227 is supported by the German Research Association (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft). The data were compiled in the context of project Β 1 "Stress factors for adolescents in various living situations".

8. Demands for Help. Gender Differences in Informal and Medical Help-Seeking Wolfgang Settertobulte Bielefeld University, Germany

1. Introduction As adolescents develop towards adult status and identity, the need to be responsible for one's own problems, body, and health grows. Increasingly, young persons want to define their problems and their illnesses for themselves, and want to decide the threshold for confessing problems and the ways to call for help. This is equally true for seeking help from private social surroundings, informal support-networks, as well as from professional helpers, the formal support-network. The importance of parents in providing a shelter for advice and help in case of illness or problems decreases in the course of development; at the same time, people of the same age increase in their importance as a support-network for coping with various problems. Certain health problems and questions which emerge, for example adopting to sexual maturation and the initiation of the first sexual relationship, are often concealed from parents with shame. During these transitional years, health questions and concerns may remain unanswered, because individuals themselves must initiate contact with a doctor. As long as no new mutual relationship of personal trust towards a doctor is established, visits to the doctor will be avoided to the greatest possible extent (Settertobulte & Hurrelmann, 1994). Investigations of self-reported help- and support-seeking typically observe significant gender differences. That is, boys and men tend to visit the doctor less often than do girls and women. This result has been consistently observed in numerous publications examining help-seeking for personal problems and for medical care. Above all, the differences in the claim for medical care are often identified with the inequality of health and psychosocial risks between the genders. Regarding this, Verbrugge (1985) argued, that women and girls are more aware and sensitive to their own bodies, more accepting a disease status and more willing to talk about problems. Men and boys, however, have a higher tolerance with respect to physical and emotional symptoms.

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Gender differences in help-seeking behaviour result primarily from different formative role models and role behaviours for boys and girls. The traditional male role model does not allow for confessions of weakness, but rather encourages men to hide feelings of pressure and to deny that problems or difficulties exist (Hurrelmann, 1991). Because of their socialization, it is still easier for females to send out cries for help from their surroundings. Males, however, still have the internalized social norm that men should not be self-pitying and must cope with their problems alone (Bock & Wirth, 1993). Therefore, during adolescence, girls find it easier than boys to reveal their problems to others and to ask others for help (Holler & Hurrelmann, 1990; Settertobulte, 1994). In this phase boys are more likely to attempt to appear strong and invincible, which often excludes advice seeking. The adoption of such a male "strength ideology" includes high expectations regarding personal and coping abilities in boys. On the other hand this easily leads boys to deny personal problems when they do exist. Also, with regard to aspects of disease and illness behaviour, one can assume that girls and boys not only react differently to occurring hardship and diseases but that girls are also more likely to seek help from private and professional sources. Diseases and the need for help is often only admitted by boys when the pressure of pain becomes too strong. On the other hand, girls tend to go to see a doctor sooner because they have a higher sensibility in relation to their own body, a different awareness, and a higher sensibility concerning diseases (Vogt, 1993; Zenz, Hrabal, & Marschall, 1992). These postulated assumptions of support and help-seeking from private and institutional networks will be supported with data from a youth survey carried out by the Research Centre on Prevention and Intervention in Childhood and Adolescence of Bielefeld University.

2. Demands for informal and formal support and advice in case of personal problems: Results of a youth survey A representative sample of 2400 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 completed questionnaires. This sample was divided in three groups of 7th to 9th schoolgraders. The findings reported here are based on questions concerning different aspects of demands for medical and psychosocial help offerings and on help from informal support-networks. The relationship of frequency of demand with various prevalent diseases and personal problems was also assessed. First to measure their general willingness to consult others in case of a problems, the adolescents were asked whether they had consulted someone because of a problem within the last 12 months. Possible responses were as follows: "No, I had no personal problem", "No, though I had a problem I talked to no one about it", and

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Help-Seeking

"Yes, I have consulted someone because of a problem." Based on the answers, three different groups could be differentiated: 1. Adolescents who reported that they had no problems during the previous 12 months and who therefore did not try to get support or help. 2. Adolescents who actually mentioned one or more problems but who did not seek help or support. 3. Adolescents who mentioned at least one problem for which they consulted a person or an institution for help. Altogether 42.7% of the adolescents questioned (average age = 13.9 years) mentioned having had no problems. 13.5% of adolescents, in spite of having had at least one problem, did not ask anyone for support, whereas 43.9% did consult someone regarding their problem(s).

^ 28.6 Consulted someone for help

Problem, without support

No problem

Figure 1. Frequency of problems and demands for support (differentiated by gender; findings given in %; N=2392)

Inspection of figure 1 makes it clear that in general girls consult others more often concerning their personal problems, and also that girls report facing problems more often than do boys. Whereas 15.3% of boys aged 12 to 17 years consulted a non identified person concerning a problem during the previous 12 months, 28.6% of girls the same age did so. The group of those who tried to obtain support is equally large as the group of those who had no problems. In the case of adolescents who reported having no problem, the gender difference was predictably reversed: 16.9% of girls and 25.8% of the boys reported having had no problems. Very few adolescents with no problems did not seek any help: Only 6.2% of girls and 7.2% of boys reported having asked no one for help in case of a problem. Altogether a comparison of age-groups shows that with advancing age the probability of experiencing personal problems also increases. Therefore with advancing age the proportion of adolescents who reported having had no problem

200

Wolfgang Settertobulte

during the previous 12 months decreases. Within all age-groups, girls are underrepresented, which means they frequently had problems. Next, the group of adolescents who consulted someone for an informal or institutional support-network will be analyzed. Clear differences in demands for help are observed when adolescents of various age-groups are compared: While among the boys between the 7th and the 9th grade no decisive change in the demand for help emerges, a clear increase of 46.4% in grade 7 to 62.4% in grade 9 is observed among the girls.

2.1 Demand for informal support The adolescents in the survey were also asked, whom they consulted for support and help in handling their personal problems. With this aim, a list of possible persons to contact was provided, including parents, same-aged peers,as well as teachers, doctors, and different advisory services. Members of private support-networks were of great importance according to the statements of the adolescents. Among female respondents of all age groups, petition for help from friends was ranking highest, with 77.6% of those with problems selecting this option. Among male respondents with problems, however, mothers held the first rank (59.9%) but was closely followed by help from a friend (58%). In general it can be noted that between the observed ages of 12 to 17 years, the importance of the parents as a source of help or Table 1.

Use of informal support-network for the handling of a personal problem (divided by age groups; findings given in %) Grade 7

Sources of help: Female friend

Grade 8

Grade 9

Boys

Girls

Boys

Girls

Boys

20.5

69.4

28.2

80.0

38.6

83.5

Girls

Mother

63.5

56.5

61.8

47.4

54.5

49.4

Male friend

56.1

17.2

57.3

25.7

60.6

39.7

Father

52.0

25.9

41.8

23.0

39.4

18.4

Other family member

27.9

19.9

26.4

23.0

24.2

23.2

Other confident adult

13.1

9.2

9.2

12.6

7.6

6.4

Teacher

8.0

8.1

8.2

8.3

9.1

5.6

Doctor

4.1

3.8

5.5

5.7

6.1

4.9

Sports-coach or youth centre personnel

2.5

1.6

3.6

2.6

6.8

2.6

Social worker

1.6

-

-

1.7

1.5

0.7

Psychological counselling service

0.8

0.5

0.9

1.7

-

0.9

Counselling service by telephone

0.8

0.5

-

1.5

0.7 0.4

Gender Differences in Informal and Medical Help-Seeking

201

advice dwindles as adolescents grow older, and a tremendous increase of helpseeking from same-age peers occurs. This trend occurs in the private supportnetworks of both genders, but less pronounced among boys. Beyond informal sources of help, the next most often selected source of assistance to adolescents were teachers, selected by 8.8% of adolescents. In this case, as previously, gender differences can be observed: The importance of teachers as a shelter from personal problems increases for boys with the advancing age. While in the younger age groups a difference cannot be found, girls in grade 9 report a sudden decline of the importance of teachers as supporters for personal problems. Particulary in this age group, the 14- to 15-year-olds, the support of teachers was of greater importance for boys than for girls. Specifically 9.1% of the boys mentioned having sought advice and support from teachers, as well as 5.6% of the girls. A similar age and gender related distribution was found on an lower level for help-seeking from sports-coaches or youth centre personnel.

2.2 Model of demand for medical

care

Doctors held the highest rank among adolescents' demands for professional help, with an average of 5% of demanded help among those surveyed. Consequently, adolescents tend to rather seek the advice of a doctor instead of consulting a psychologist or a counselling centre in schools or in the community. Statements referring to adolescents demands for psycho-social help are spread unsystematically. Psychosocial helpers in counselling centres are only consulted by 1.4% of adolescent. In contrast to the doctors, then, these sources of help seem to be less important. Regarding the results, boys are more likely to consult a doctor with their problems than girls are. Surprisingly this result was significantly observed among the oldest investigated age groups, whereas among those in grade 7 and 8 there is no significant difference. The frequency of support-seeking from doctors generally increases with advancing age. Especially for boys, the doctor seems to be of growing importance in this context: While 4.1% of the boys in grade 7 consulted a doctor with their problem, 5.5% of the boys in grade 8 and 6.1% of the boys in grade 9 did so (cf. table 1). For girls another development was observed: While 3.8% of grade 7 girls report help-seeking from a doctor, 5.7% of grade 8 girls did so. Within this group the gender ratio changes. After this temporary increase of girls utilizations of a doctor, a decrease was observed for the oldest age group. The findings mentioned so far refer to statements concerning help in the event of personal problems. Similar results were found for the behaviour of adolescents in connection with consulting a doctor due to illness. In avoiding a visit to a doctor, which these questions also addressed, obvious differences between the genders emerged.

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Wolfgang Settertobulte

In response to the question of how long ago the last visit to a doctor was, 15% of the boys and 11% of the girls mentioned having not seen a doctor for more than one year. The trends develop in an opposite direction among the boys and girls with advancing age. While the rates increased among girls with advancing age the rates among the boys did not change. In particular 56% of the girls in grade 7 mentioned having been to a doctor within the last 3 months. Among those in grade 8, this was true for 57.3%, and among those in grade 9 this was true for 60.8%. At the same time, 51.3% of the boys in grade 7, 49.9% of those in grade 8 and 47.8% of those in grade 9 mentioned having been to a doctor within the last 3 months. Avoiding a visit to the doctor decreases continuously with advancing age among the male adolescents. Non-utilization of medical services was measured by the statement, having not been to the doctor for more than one year. This was true for 12.4% of the boys in grade 7, 13% of boys in grade 8, and 20.6% of those in grade 9. Not consulting a doctor however was slightly more frequent among girls, with 13.3% among those in grade 7, than among the boys of similar age but it decreased to 7.1% by grade 9. % 25 η

Male

20,6 20 -

15 -

13.3 12.4

10

0

13 12.3

β

Ii §§ is

7th grade average age: (12.7 years)

Female

8th grade (13.3 years)

9th grade (14.9 years)

Figure 2. Non-utilization of medical care within the last 12 months, divided by gender

2.3 Illness as cause for consulting medical

care

The demand for medical care-facilities for adolescents after all is not too poor in case of serious health disturbances. Reports by adolescents on the frequency of their visit to a doctor or clinic in case of illness can illustrate that a discrepancy between

Gender Differences in Informal and Medical

203

Help-Seeking

necessity of treatment and access to medical advice and treatment exists: In the questionnaire the adolescents were asked to indicate whether they had experienced a series of possible diseases, during the last 12 months, and whether these illnesses had caused them to consult a doctor. The diseases listed in table 2 represent the wide range of diseases which are typical during adolescence. Table 2. Disease and complain prevalence and consultation of medical care referring to the previous 12 months (self-reports; Ν = 2392) Girls

Boys Frequencies (A) + (B)

(A)

Cold, influenza

57.9%

1

1.5

75.3%

1

1.4

Fractures, injuries

26.7%

1.3

1

23.1%

1.8

1

Acne

16.4%

1

2

22.3%

1

1.6

Hay fever

14.2%

1

1

11.7%

1.3

1

Bronchitis

12.3%

1.7

1

17.4%

1.9

1

Allergic skin rashes

11.5%

1.5

1

15.9%

1.7

1

Symptom / disease:

Ratio between & (B)

Frequencies (A) + (B)

Ratio between (A) & (B)

Migraine

8.5%

1

2.9

15.0%

1

3.2

Digestive trouble

8.7%

1

6.9

10.5%

1

6.5

Rheumatism

8.3%

1

1.4

10.9%

1.3

1

Conjunctivitis

7.7%

1

1.2

9.6%

1

1

Other allergies

7.1%

1.1

1

1.3

1

Heart trouble

6.9%

1

3.6

7.6%

1

4.1

Circulatory disturbances

5.7%

1

1.7

15.1%

1

1.3

Asthma

4.2%

2.2

1

3.8%

1.9

1

Overweight

4.4%

1

6.3

5.0%

1

3.5

Bladder disorders

3.1%

1

1.8

8.1%

1

1.4

Neurodermitis

2.9%

1.4

1

3.9%

2

1

Gastritis

2.6%

1

1.8

3.1%

1

1

Underweight

2.5%

1

2.6

3.0%

1

1.7

Anorexia nervosa

0.6%

1

2

0.8%

1.7

1

1

2.1

1

1.4

All

—

11.1%

...

(A) category: "Yes, I have had this illness and I consulted a doctor for it" (B) category: "Yes, I have had this illness, but I did not consult a doctor for it"

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Settertobulte

In order to calculate the ratios between the probabilities of consultation and nonconsultation of medical care according to a specific disease in table 2, the frequencies of the statement, "yes, I had this illness, and I consulted a doctor for it" were divided by the frequencies of the statement, "yes, I had this illness, but I did not consult a doctor for it", or vice versa. (Doing this, it was possible to generate a ratio, which expresses the number of cases on one side in relation to one case on the other side). The specific diseases are shown in table 2 in the order of the rank of their reported frequency. These prevalences show that colds as well as fractures and injuries are the most frequent health-disturbances among the adolescent respondents. Acne, typical for that age, holds the third rank in frequency among 16.4% of the boys and 22.3% of the girls. Chronic diseases and allergies follow with somewhat lower frequency. Hay fever, bronchitis, and allergic skin rashes rank close together (ranks 4 to 6). The findings in table 2 show that the self-reported prevalence of most diseases among girls is in some cases tremendously higher than among boys. Exceptions are fractures and injuries, which probably appear more often among boys due to practising risky bodily activities. But also hay fever and asthma are more frequent among boys. This result has also appeared in recent epidemiological studies, which observed a higher prevalence of asthma among boys (Mutius et al. 1991). This study also discovers, consistent with previous research, a higher prevalence of atopic diseases among girls. Four of the exemplary mentioned diseases appear much more frequently among girls: Circulation and circulatory disturbances result in a male-female ratio of 1 : 2.6. The same ratio was observed for bladder disorders. For migraine, a male-female ratio of 1 : 1.8 was obtained. On average girls reported 1.4 times the number of physical symptoms and disorders. Two impossible to distinguish reasons for this findings are possible: It may be that the real disease rate for girls is higher. For the diseases which were mentioned much more often by girls, this is possible. On the other hand, it is possible that a certain distortion of adolescents' awareness of disease or physical symptoms also plays a role in the differences. For example, girls may give their diseases more attention and may be more likely to admit them as diseases, whereas boys may tend to ignore their diseases and symptoms particulary if they do not interfere seriously with their day-to-day functioning. Thus gender differences in the prevalence rated may represent real differences in symptoms, or may result from reporting differences. Besides the general prevalence rate of the various diseases among adolescents the age of 13 to 16 years, the results summarized in table 2 show that the occurrence of a disease does not necessarily lead adolescents to consult a doctor. The presented relation between consulting and non-consulting a doctor due to physical symptoms gives hints to this phenomenon. Minor diseases such as colds, digestive troubles, and acne are less likely to be presented to a doctor but rather to be treated by self-medication. This is also true for migraine headaches, heart troubles, being overweight or underweight, and circulatory disturbances. In case of these symptoms not consulting a doctor seems unwise, because a clarification of the reason for their occurrence may be medically necessary.

Gender Differences in Informal and Medical

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205

Those diseases for which a doctor is quite often consulted are distinguished by two characteristics. On the one hand, they are diseases of the respiratory system, for example bronchitis, hay fever,and asthma, which carry along a high limitation of the bodily efficiency. On the other hand, they are skin diseases which interfere with the outer appearance and are often accompanied by very annoying symptoms, such as itching in the case of allergic skin rashes, other allergies, and atopic diseases. These disease effects obviously cause great suffering and pain among the affected, which may partly offset an individual's reservation to consult a medical professional. A gender specific examination of the ratio between utilisation and non-utilisation of medical care in case of a disease shows a higher willingness of girls to consult a doctor. For them the composed ratio is 1 : 1.4 for avoiding a visit in contrast to a composed ratio of 1 : 2.1 for boys. Referring to specific symptoms or diseases only in case of hay fever (1:1 for boys; 1.3:1 for girls), rheumatism (1:1.4 for boys; 1.3:1 for girls), and anorexia (1:2 for boys; 1.7:1 for girls), reversed utilisation patterns can be observed. Obviously these diseases are differently distinguished in their threat. For example anorexia nervosa is rarely experienced by boys.

2.4 Summary of results To sum up, the findings reported lead to the following conclusions on the gender differences in help-seeking in general and for medical help-seeking in particular: In general, girls are mor likely to consult someone about their personal problems. With increasing age this help-seeking behaviour intensifies as part of the role-typical behavioral repertoire of girls. For this, mostly girls the same age from the circle of friends are asked for advice, while with advancing age the influence of the parents clearly decreases. This can be regarded as an indicator of separation from home. The development mentioned takes place among the boys as well, but it is less pronounced. For boys of the investigated age group (12 to 17 years), the mother at first plays a relatively important role as an adviser, but this role decreases with advancing age. Quite interesting is the result that institutional supports, such as teachers and doctors, generally play a more important role for boys' personal problems. The preferences for the source of support, nevertheless, have no effects on the general frequency of the demand for professional help. Rather the age trends in the investigated group shows that the demand for competent help among boys decreases with advancing age. This indicates kind of a gap in demand of medical care among adolescents, which is especially true for boys. One reason that may be suggested to explain the described divergence between males' and females' rates of consulting a physician is girls' first visit to a gynaecologist. The need to consulting a gynaecologist emerges as girls become older due to first sexual contacts and the need for contraceptives. However, the questionnaire data makes it clear that this reason cannot be maintained. First, visits to a gynaecologist play only a proportionally minor role among the girls, compared to contacts with other specialists.

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Wolfgang Settertobulte

Second, with advancing age the contact rates with general practitioners and other specialists increase as well. Gender differences in the demand for various help during adolescence run parallel to the temporarily divergent physical maturation rates among boys and girls. The different physical maturation processes also denote differences in the need for contacts to a doctor as well as in the appearance of age typical problems (Zenz et al., 1992). As girls mature physically considerably earlier than boys, this may affect their illness behaviour and consequently their help-seeking behaviour. Quantitative differences within an age group during early adolescence, as discussed previously, are probably explained by differences in the typical developmental timing of girls and boys. The higher demand rates for medical help among girls are probably also explained by a higher susceptibility to physical symptoms. The findings on disease prevalence are almost without exception higher among girls. However, boys are more affected by accidents and diseases of the respiratory system. The higher susceptibility of girls to catch diseases is one reason for their frequent consultation of medical professionals. Independent of differences in disease prevalence, girls are more likely to consult a doctor in case of disease: While almost every other girl consults a doctor only every third boy does so. The threshold of discomfort or pain, which leads to consulting a doctor, seems to be lower for girls. The disease behaviour of boys and girls differentiates in so far that for boys more often functional interference into every day life and loss the outer appearance are taken as a cause for consulting a doctor.

3. Discussion Gender specific disease behaviour is, in part, learned from the example set by parents. Within the framework of the family, gender-role-specific attitudes towards o n e ' s own body and towards functional achievement orientations are formed. Admittance barriers to medical and psychosocial advisory services often result from valuation processes within the family. The evaluation of the severity of the existing problems and the tolerable degree of interference into every day life is decided within the family and it very much influences the decision to consult medical or other sources of help. Genderrole stereotypes are passed on to children through informal family interactions and relationships (Hurrelmann, 1991). During childhood the definition, what a disease is, is made by parents. Also diagnosis and treatment are organized by the parents. During puberty, adolescents increasingly develop an independent consciousness of their own bodies and more and more they prefer to care for themselves and their own health matters. This represents one of the developmental tasks of adolescence. Adolescents may hesitate to independently initiate contact with a doctor due to fear, because it represents a qualitatively new social relationship (von Ferber, 1986). The search for help in the case of personal and health is determined by physical proximity to available helpers. Therefore, parents, same-age peers, and teachers are consulted most often for support. With advancing age, a trend

Gender Differences in Informal and Medical

Help-Seeking

207

towards seeking help from more external advisers develops; these more distant sources of help guarantee some distance and especially confidentiality. Girls and boys share this need. Adolescents, after all, have a support system at hand which is primarily orientated to the needs of adults but hardly gives attention to their needs. Nevertheless, from adolescents' reports increasing preferences result on consulting a doctor instead of consulting appropriate advisory services (in case of a personal problem). In this case the doctor is only consulted if the help and support from the informal personal network is not sufficient and if personal discomfort exceeds a certain limit. In this connection medical doctors play a special role. They face a situation of need among adolescents, which is marked by age-related qualitative changes in the nature of health problems, and by personal and social expectations. In other words, doctors must integrate medical and psychosocial ways of approaching adolescents' problems. Although adolescents can be described as a relatively healthy section of the population, still recent results indicate an increasing number of health risks as well as changes in priority health problems (e.g. Green & Lewis, 1986; Weber et al., 1990). Psychological symptoms and problems,such as weak concentration, adaption difficulties, performance difficulties, personality disturbances, and motivation problems appear with average frequencies in the consultation rooms of the doctors (Palentien & Hurrelmann, 1993). Many doctors are inadequately prepared for the specific health problems of adolescents. They lack the adequate training and time to truly understand the problems of adolescents. There is a lack of flexibility in the structure of medical care systems to deal with the needs of younger clients. In the present time, age-adequate offers for adolescents cannot usually be found. Traditionally, medicine deals with problems of the adult age. Even pediatricians are often orientated towards the parents: Together parents and pediatricians, often, in presence of the adolescent and talking around him or her, discuss the adolescents' problems and decide on treatments. In this way, already in the early years a distant relationship towards a doctor, marked by mistrust, can develop (Bensinger & Natenshon, 1991). Furthermore, adolescents are said to be difficult clients for whom socially as well as financially involvement is not worthwhile. Instability and lack of involvement on the part of the medical profession again transfer themselves on the reserve and mistrust already existing in the adolescents, so that both effects sometimes build on one another (DuRant, 1991). An intensified cooperation between medical and psychological services in which the doctor functions as a negotiator, seems to be very helpful in this case.

9. Adolescents' Health Problems and Utilization of Medical and Psychosocial Care Services in East and West Germany. Findings of a Study Based on Interviews of Medical, Psychological and Educational Experts. Christian Palentien and Klaus Hurrelmann Bielefeld University, Germany 1. Introduction During the past several years, researchers have reported a change in adolescents' health status. While historically the young generation has been perceived as a generally healthy part of the population, recent empirical findings report an increasing number of health risks. With changing living conditions more and more psychosocial, psychosomatic, as well as chronic illnesses and disorders are appearing. In many cases the causes include tense family situations, strong pressures to succeed at school, and an insecure transition into the work force. The challenges to perform efficiently push many adolescents today to the limit of their abilities, as they need to master their sexual and personal development while coping with the demand for an early independent way of life and the many "temptations" of a commercialized leisure market. Furthermore, numerous types of environmental influences, air-, water- and ground pollution as well as an increased number of harmful substances in food and consumer products affect the health of younger people. Though appropriate medical as well as psychosocial care for adolescents is urgently recommended in this situation, recent studies (Settertobulte & Hurrelmann, 1993) show that in the age group 13 to 17 year the frequency of contacts with medical care institutions is below the average of all other groups of the population. As indicated by the results of supplementary evaluations (Hurrelmann & Palentien, 1993), an even greater scepticism of adolescents must be assumed with regard to their use of psychosocial care institutions. The present paper describes a study carried out within the framework of a larger project concerning health risks and structures of the medical and psychosocial care of children and adolescents (Versorgungsstrukturanalyse - VORSA) in the "North Rhine-Westphalian Research Consortium of Public Health" at the University of Bielefeld, financed by the German Federal Ministry for Research and Technology. Specifically, we asked physicians, educators and psychologists for an evaluation of

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Christian Palenden & Klaus Hurrelmann

their popularity with adolescents and for an evaluation of possible barriers inhibiting adolescents' use of their services, as well as an assessment of the health situation of adolescents.

2. Objective of the inquiry The primary objective of the inquiry was to clarify the available potential of cooperation among medical and psychosocial support that must in future be mobilized due to the changing spectrum of illnesses. At first the physicians, educators, and psychologists received a list with descriptions of illnesses and were asked the question, if and how many times the respective illness was observed during the last months in adolescents. Establishing a "graduated listing of illnesses" on the background of medical and psychosocial practical expertise should permit a comparison of the differences and concurrences among the various professions in the evaluation of different health problems in children and adolescents. The selection of illnesses comprised in this list was based on a consideration of the ICD Diagnostic Pattern (Bundesminister für Jugend, Familie und Gesundheit, 1979). Included were such illnesses proven to be prevalent during childhood and youth in several studies (Kerek-Bodden, 1989; Remschmidt & Walter, 1989; Schwefel, John, Potthoff, & van Eimeren, 1987). Rutter, Shaffer, and Sturge's "multi-axial classification pattern for psychiatric illness during childhood and adolescence" (Remschmidt & Schmidt, 1986) and the respective studies for the documentation of findings (Jungmann, Göbel, & Remschmidt, 1978) were used in order to classify psychiatric illness beyond the categories listed in the ICD-System. In addition to the questions regarding the nature and frequency of specific illnesses, our questionnaire also covered the subjects of "consultation offerings and their acceptance". We asked the physicians, educators, and psychologists for a description of their own work with children and adolescents in order to obtain their opinion of possible restrictions and obstacles inhibiting adolescents' use of their services. Furthermore, a series of questions on "regional variables" included an outline and evaluation of the medical and psychosocial care situation specific to their respective field of activity.

2.1 Outline of the study Key groups of professionals in various areas were questioned in order to gain the most comprehensive evaluation of their priorization among problem sets on the background of medical and psychosocial practice and of the institutional potential for counselling, support and cooperation. These groups of professionals included

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211

physicians of various specializations established in public health care and their colleagues in public health offices. Within the psychosocial care field we questioned: (a) staff members in health care centres, both general and problem oriented; (b) established psychologists; (c) staff in governmental youth welfare offices; and (d) school counsellors and school psychologists. The carefully tested questionnaire was answered in writing. Included as respondents were established physicians, educators, and psychologists with direct contacts to patients.

Furthermore, we excluded physicians with specialties that prevented

them working with adolescents, such as gerontology or geriatric counselling. The regions in which the questionnaire was distributed permit a fairly exact representative picture of the situation in the new and old German Federal States: The regions were, on the one hand, selected in view of the greatest possible differences in settlement, population and social service structures, and, on the other hand, chosen for similarities in the regional characteristics of the old and new Federal States in order to allow comparisons of states in the two regions. Specifically the investigation took place in an urban area (Köln[=Cologne]/Leipzig), a large city (Duisburg/Halle (Saale)), a medium-sized city (Gütersloh/Dessau), and a rural region (Lippe/Saalkreis). Our evaluation may be regarded as typical for the structure of central regions in East- and West-Germany. The response rate of the investigation was nearly 35%. This value is similar to response rates obtained in other surveys of experts. Since this inquiry attempted to address only the physicians, educators, and psychologists who actually treat 10- to 20-year-olds, the actual response rate with respect to the targeted population is probably higher. With regard to the organization and design of the investigation, two previous German studies using experts responses provide useful information. Both studies distinguished themselves by using the direct approach of questioning

experts

practising in the field: - In 1982 and 1984 the MEDIS-Institute questioned more than 3,000 established physicians participating in the health-plan in the state of Bavaria regarding the nature of and changes in the benefit-/prescription behaviour. At the same time two inquiries took place outside Bavaria (Schwefel, van Eimeren, & Satzinger, 1986). - An additional inquiry was conducted in ten North-Bavarian physicians' offices: Lindenmüller (1986) questioned 10 physicians and 280 patients before and after their visit to determine different forms of physician - patient - interaction and evaluate their subjective health and illness experiences. In these investigations the strategy of questioning experts proved to be an appropriate method in order to gain not only information about system structures, but also about attitudes toward circumstances and behaviours influenced by these facts (Satzinger & Weber,

1990). Expert questioning furthermore allows for a differentiated and

qualified evaluation of detailed findings according to specific topics. An alternative methodological procedure for the evaluation of the priorization of health problems

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Christian Palentien & Klaus Hurrelmann

would have been the assessment of records kept by the legally required health insurance firms. Even though this method might have yielded more objective data than experts' subjective opinions, other serious drawbacks would also have been evident: "The typical fixation on cases and the insured, on given time periods, fee relevant performances and financial transfers, and on pure number of occurrences excludes vital information about a number of qualitative dimensions involved in outpatient medical care" (Satzinger & Weber, 1990: 1433). By comparison the method of expert questioning secures topical relevance while simultaneously allowing for a total evaluation of circumstances. These advantages are of inestimable significance due to the sensitive areas involved in these questions.

3. Results 3.1 Priorization

of sets of problems during

youth

In order to find out which illnesses and disturbances physicians, educators, and psychologists observe today in adolescents, we submitted a list of illnesses to the expert respondents. We asked them in view of their background of diagnostic, medical, or counselling expertise to indicate on a scale of one (= never) to four ( = often) how often the respective illness was experienced by adolescents and for which age group it was most noticeable. Table 1 shows the results of the evaluation in percentages. The answer scale was combined into two categories to calculate these values which reveal as estimates the ranking of health problems by physicians on the one hand and by psychologists and educators on the other. Represented are the combined frequencies of the answers "frequent" and "occasionally". Regarding physicians' statements According to physicians, the most frequent symptom of adolescents was allergies: 60.9% of physicians rated allergies as a frequent or occasional health problem. The highest frequency of allergies was observed in youth younger than 13 years of age. The second most frequent symptom was acne, which peaked in middle adolescence (14-16 years). Chronic respiratory illness and infectious and parasitic diseases occupied the third and fourth ranks, respectively; in both cases physicians accorded the highest concentration of these symptoms to younger adolescents. Whereas in the new Federal states physicians' ratings of the frequency of chronic respiratory illness were significantly higher than those of physicians in the old Federal states (p < .001), there were no significant differences in the frequency of allergies in the two regions.

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utilization of medical and psychosocial

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213

Table 1. Ranking in percentages (%) of the frequency of observed illnesses and disturbances among youth according to physicians and educators/psychologists Physicians Rank Illness

Educators and Psychologists Frequency in %

Illness

Frequency in %

1

Allergies

60.9

Performance difficulties

84.4

2

Acne

58.8

Antisocial behaviour

84.4

3

Chronic illn. of respiratory organs

55.2

Weaknesses of concentration

84.1

4

Infectious & parasitic illnesses

55.2

Developmental problems

84.1

5

Chronic illnesses of the skin

46.5

Adaptive difficulties

79.1

6

Injuries/fractures

43.8

Motivational problems

77.8

7

Developmental problems

38.4

Personality disorders

70.8

8

Weaknesses of concentration

35.1

Reading/writing problems

66.9

9

Menstruation discomforts

34.4

Nervous strain

65.9

10

Adaptive difficulties

32.9

Language- and speech problems

64.9

11

Heart/circulatory ailments

32.6

Delinquency

64.5

12

Performance difficulties

31.9

Reactive fears

61.0

13

Nervous strain

28.1

Depressions

52.7

14

Personality disorders

24.2

Sleeping disorders

48.6

15

Language- and speech problems

23.0

Chronic illn. of respiratory organs

42.4

Alcohol abuse

41.0

16

Sleeping disorders

22.6

17

Motivational problems

19.3 Allergies

39.4

18

Antisocial behaviour

19.2

Medication and drug abuse

39.1

19

Reactive fears

18.8

Suicidal thoughts/intentions

32.5

20

Chronic digestive illnesses

15.7

Unwanted pregnancy

30.8

21

Metabolic illness

13.2

Chronic skin illnesses

30.8

22

Reading/writing problems

12.7

Acne

25.5

23

Unwanted pregnancy

10.3

Infectious/parasitic illnesses

18.3

24

Depressions

9.7

Injuries/fractures

15.2

25

Medication and drug abuse

5.1

Chronic digestive illnesses

12.3

26

Alcohol abuse

4.5

Metabolic illness

11.6

27

Poisoning

4.4

Menstruation discomforts

9.3

28

Delinquency

3.8

Heart/circulatory ailments

7.3

29

Suicidal thoughts/intentions

3.0

Poisoning

2.9

In the new Federal States, 48.4% of physicians questioned reported respiratory illness children and youth, in contrast to 25.0% of physicians in the old Federal States. The share of those physicians reporting allergies in adolescents is high both in the old Federal States at approximately 28% and in the new Federal States at approximately 40%. There were no significant differences with respect to nationality or social class.

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Position 6 in the estimated ranking of illness frequency was occupied by injuries and fractures. Their occurrence was most concentrated in those under 13 years of age. Reviewing the other rankings in Table 1, an additional result is clear. Apart from diseases which are somatic in nature, a number of more psychological and social disturbances bring young patients into doctors' offices: Injuries and fractures are followed with a 5% difference in reported frequency by developmental problems (rank 7), disorders of concentration (rank 8) and adaptive difficulties (rank 10). Furthermore, a large number of physicians diagnose numerous performance difficulties (rank 12), nervous strains (rank 13), sleeping disorders (rank 16), antisocial behaviour (rank 18) and reading- and writing problems (rank 22). These more psychosocial disturbances are succeeded in our study by various types of substance abuse: Medication and drug abuse in position 25 has been observed in adolescents by approximately 5% of all physicians, concentrated most highly among 14- to 16-year-olds. Alcohol abuse follows with 4.5% on rank 26. Three percent of all physicians reported ascertaining adolescent suicide attempts and intentions (rank 29), with the highest rate among older adolescents. Educators' and psychologists' evaluations While psychological and social disturbances follow in frequency the somatic and psychosomatic diseases according to physicians, the findings according to educators and psychologists paint a different picture: The latter rank 1 to 14: 84.4% of all interviewees professionally active in psychosocial care report that they detect in adolescents performance difficulties (rank 1) and antisocial behaviour (rank 2). These are followed with a very small difference in reported frequency by concentration disorders (rank 3), developmental problems (rank 4), adaptive difficulties (rank 5), and motivational problems (rank 6). Reviewing the further ranking in Table 1, it can be noted that chronic illnesses of the respiratory organs (a somatic disorder) take position 15. Next to allergies (rank 17) and chronic skin diseases (rank 21), 41.0% of educators and psychologists reported frequent alcohol abuse with adolescents and 39.1% diagnosed frequent medical and drug abuse. Suicide attempts and intentions (rank 19) are followed by unwanted pregnancies (rank 20).

3.2 Listing of diseases according to professions Medical care We were interested to learn to what extent the priorization of adolescent health problems reported by physicians, educators and psychologists were related to the respective profession of the expert respondents. We first summarized the different specialists represented in our sample in accordance with Schach's (1989) subdivision

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Adolescents' utilization of medical and psychosocial care services in Germany

of medical primary care into the following categories: a) general practitioners; b) primary care physicians, consisting of gynaecologists, pediatricians, and internists; and c) specialized physicians (including ophthalmologists, surgeons, otolaryngologists, dermatologists, neurologists, urologists and all other physicians). Table 2 shows the results. Table 2. Observed illnesses and disturbances according to groups of specialists: Record of the most second, and third most frequent conditions in percentages (%) Group of physicians

Main illness

%

General practitioners

Acne Allergies Chronic illness of respiratory organs Infectious and parasitic illnesses Injuries/fractures

83.4 80.7 79.3 75.0 65.7

Primary care physicians

Acne Allergies Infectious and parasitic illnesses Chronic illness of respiratory organs Chronic skin illnesses

64.6 57.9 52.9 52.5 49.1

Specialized physicians

Developmental problems Allergies Injuries/fractures Infectious and parasitic illnesses Chronic illness of respiratory organs

38.9 37.7 32.4 31.2 28.4

Table 2 shows great congruence in the three groups of physicians' views of the health problems of adolescents. In total, only seven disorders received first, second or third rankings by the physicians. When grouped according to frequency, allergies, acne, and chronic respiratory diseases were listed most often. Subdivided by medical specializations, allergies were named most by ophthalmologists, dermatologists, and pediatricians. Acne was the condition most frequently cited by general practitioners and gynaecologists. While chronic illnesses of the respiratory organs were ranked most highly by general practitioners, otolaryngologists, pediatricians, and internists, chronic illnesses of the skin received the highest ranking with surgeons and dermatologists. Even though one has to consider that first care of accident injuries rather than care of other diseases generally takes place more frequently in hospitals and clinics, Table 2 shows that a not to be underestimated proportion of these injuries are treated by other physicians, most of all by surgeons and orthopaedists. Psychosocial

care

As with physicians, we subdivided educators and psychologists giving psychosocial care into the following groups: (1) The group of psychologists included primarily

216

Christian Palentien

& Klaus

Hurrelmann

established psychologists caring for children and adolescents; (2) social workers and educators consisted of professionals working in care centres and mobile psychosocial services; and (3) the group of teachers was comprised solely of counsellors working in schools. Table 3 s h o w s the results. Table 3.

Observed illnesses and disturbances according to professions: Record of the most, second, and third most frequent conditions in percentages (%) %

Professions

Main Illness

Psychologists

Developmental problems Performance difficulties Adaptive difficulties Concentration weaknesses Antisocial behaviour

84.6 80.8 78.9 76.9 75.0

Social workers and educators

Antisocial behaviour Concentration weaknesses Performance difficulties Developmental problems Adaptive difficulties

87.6 87.1 86.3 86.3 81.3

Teachers

Performance difficulties Antisocial behaviour Concentration weaknesses Personality disorders Reading/writing problems

75.0 75.0 70.9 62.5 54.2

R e v i e w i n g the statements in Table 3, the overall high ranking of scholastic disturbances in all areas of psychosocial care and counselling b e c o m e s obvious: Performance and concentration weaknesses are most frequently mentioned by psychologists, social workers and educators, and teachers. Antisocial behaviour is next

most

reported in out-patient services offered by educators and psychologists. Furthermore, like with the physicians, a similar homogeneity in the priorization of problems exists. Only personality

troubles as well

as reading/writing

problems are

exclusively

mentioned by one group, namely teachers.

3.3 Contact

initiators

for the utilization

of

services

Aside from the nature and frequency of respective diseases as diagnosed by physicians, educators and psychologists, w e were interested in the manner in which children and adolescents take advantage of the medical and psychosocial

help

available. Recent representative studies (Nordlohne & Hurrelmann, 1993) based on interviews of youth have shown that approximately 15% of boys and 11% of girls did

Adolescents' utilization of medical and psychosocial care services in Germany

217

not make use of any medical care in more than a year. This is also valid in cases of actual illness (Settertobulte & Hurrelmann, 1993). A similar tendency can be observed in the area of psychosocial care: In 1986/1987 Remschmidt (1990) examined the prevalence of psychological disorders and disturbances as well as the question of treatment requirements. The study took place on the basis of a sample of 1969 students as part of a follow-up to a first inquiry in the context of the model program 'Psychiatry' sponsored by the German Federal Government. In total, 12.7% of the students sampled were in need of medical care or counselling, however, only 3.3% were receiving treatment. Primary medical care In our study we first asked the experts who generally suggested the visit to a physician or counsellor to adolescents. We asked the interviewees to rate on a scale of one ( = frequently) to four ( = never), upon whose suggestion or initiative children and adolescents approached them. The results shown in Table 4 represent the relative frequency in percent according to physicians. Table 4.

Initiators of adolescents' contact with physicians: Statements of physicians (in %)

How is contact initiated?

Frequently Sometimes

Rarely

Never

Parental wish

74.1

15.5

3.4

2.9

Own wish

44.9

25.3

14.7

10.4

Suggestion of friend/acquaintance

30.5

30.0

19.0

15.4

Referral by family physician

23.3

16.3

17.0

37.4

Referral by specialist

17.4

20.1

31.4

26.5

Initiative of the attending physician

10.9

23.7

27.7

30.8

Referral by teacher

7.8

26.6

36.7

23.4

Referral by public health office

5.9

13.8

29.9

44.7

Referral by public youth office

3.1

10.6

25.5

55.2

Referral by counselling centre

2.1

8.0

26.8

57.5

Police/court summons

0.6

1.4

16.2

76.2

Table 4 makes it clear that informal contacts are very important factors in adolescents' decisions to visit a physician: 74.1% of all physicians state that the adolescents "frequently" come due to parent's influence, followed by the adolescents' own initiative to visit a physician (44.9%), and suggestions by friends and acquaintances (30.5%). Relatively less common are formal referrals from other authorities.

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Christian Palentien & Klaus Hurrelmann

Psychosocial

care

Educators and psychologists were also asked who was the initiator of adolescents' consulting them. Table 5 presents their responses, with the relative frequency listed in percentages. Table 5.

Initiators of adolescents' contact with educators and psychologists: Statements by educators and psychologists (in %)

How is contact initiated?

Frequently Sometimes

Rarely

Never

Referral by teacher

44.7

32.8

11.9

6.6

Parental wish

42.0

31.8

15.2

7.0

Initiative of the attending physician

34.1

33.4

17.2

10.9

Referral by public youth office

25.8

19.9

13.2

32.5

Own wish

19.2

41.7

27.2

7.0

Suggestion of friend/acquaintance

18.5

43.7

22.8

10.3

Police/court summons

16.9

27.8

21.5

29.5

Referral by counselling centre

13.0

41.4

26.2

15.2

Referral by family physician

6.7

19.2

35.1

34.8

Referral by specialist

6.3

16.2

38.1

34.4

Referral by public health office

4.7

11.6

37.7

40.4

44.7% of the interviewed educators and psychologists state that adolescents frequently consulted them as a result of the influence of teachers. In contrast to the high ranking given by physicians to the importance of parents' and adolescents' own wishes as the factor initiating contact, educators and psychologists stated that these reasons were relatively less 'frequently' the source of adolescents' consulting them (parents' wish, 42.0%; own wish, 19.2%).

3.4 Access

barriers

W e wanted to know to what degree educators and psychologists claim that the patient's personal reasons or the structural situation is responsible for this relatively small observed acceptance of psychosocial compared to medical help: Thus the determinants

influencing the decision,

consciously

or

unconsciously,

to

seek

professional help may be allocated to different levels. The institutional

level

includes, for example, concrete accessibility or expenses caused by a visit. More subjective factors of influence are past experiences with physicians, educators and psychologists, or with a specific illness, respectively behavioral disturbance, knowledge about the possibilities of treatment, and especially the illness or disturbance

Adolescents'

utilization

of medical and psychosocial

care services in

Germany

219

itself. Decisive factors in the decision are the severity, threat, as well as visibility of the handicap: An externally visible symptom for example could be considered as a stigma and therefore be a determining factor for the start of self-medication or for a visit to a physician. The same applies if a person is directly or indirectly approached by people in his or her social environment or if the visit of a medical office is suggested by them. In our study we submitted to the physicians as well as to the educators and psychologists a list of 13 possible reasons which could be responsible for those children and adolescents having problems but not seeking professional help. The interviewees were asked to state on a scale of one to five (1 = 'totally incorrect' to 5 = 'totally correct') to what degree various reasons apply. (Please refer also to the detailed report by Settertobulte & Hurrelmann, 1993). Primary

medical

care

63.9% of the physicians reported that insufficient information about the possibilities of counselling or treatment is the reason for children and adolescents having or being in danger of having problems not to seek professional help. Ranked second (59%) was the supposition that the potential patient felt ashamed to acknowledge having a problem. Third, 58.2% of physicians considered the reason for adolescents' avoidance of a visit to a medical centre to be the insecurity of children and adolescents about the purpose of professional advice. 56.3% of the interviewees stated that the adolescents concerned might not yet have a sufficiently developed sense of suffering or realization of their problems (cf. Table 6). Table 6.

Physicians' ratings of possible reasons for youths who have problems not seeking medical help (in %)

Ranking Reason 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Insufficient information about counselling or treatment Shame about disclosing a problem Uncertainty concerning the sense and effectiveness of professional counselling Insufficient realization of problems and insufficient sense of suffering Fear about parents being notified Resistance of the parents Prejudice against physicians and counsellors Insufficient confidence in physician or counsellor Long waiting or waiting lists Bad experiences with physicians or counsellors Distances too great to competent facilities Apprehensiveness about transmission of information Insecurity about financing

% 63.9 59.0 58.2 56.3 48.4 37.7 37.3 26.2 23.6 22.0 20.3 15.9 14.5

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Christian Palentien & Klaus

Hurrelmann

Reviewing Table 6, it is clear that physicians believe that the main reasons for the non-utilization of professional help are personal motives. Structural factors are considered to be less of an impediment to seeking medical care, for example, only 20.3% of all physicians thought that geographical distance was the reason for adolescents' avoidance of a visit to a medical treatment facility. Psychosocial

care

In our study we submitted the same list of reasons for the non-utilization of professional help to educators and psychologists. Table 7 shows the results for this group. Table 7. Educators' and psychologists' ratings of possible reasons for youths who have problems not seeking psychosocial counselling (in %) Ranking Reason 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Uncertainty concerning the sense and effectiveness of professional counselling Shame about disclosing a problem Insufficient information about counselling or treatment Insufficient realization of problems and insufficient sense of suffering Prejudice against physicians or counsellors Fear about parents being notified Resistance of parents Bad experiences with physicians or counsellors Insufficient confidence in physician or counsellor Long waiting or waiting lists Distances too great to competent facilities Apprehensiveness about transmission of information Insecurity about financing

% 85.7 84.5 78.5 74.9 74.8 47.2 66.6 54.3 52.7 49.4 45.0 33.1 28.8

An examination of Table 7 illustrates that, like physicians, educators and psychologists primarily name personal factors as reasons for adolescents' avoidance of professional help. However, in comparison to the statements of physicians, differences do show up if one includes the relevant figures in percent in the interpretation. For example, 45.0% of all psychologists and educators claim that long distances to competent facilities are an important reason for youths not seeking professional counselling, in contrast to 20.3% of physicians. Overall, Table 7 indicates that educators and psychologists consider all access barriers listed of greater relevance: With regards to the 13 access barriers listed, the evaluations of the findings show that educators and psychologists expect an access barrier with a mean of 3.5 more frequently than physicians. With a mean of 2.82 the latter tend more to the negative side regarding the estimation of the possible reasons for the non-utilization of treatment offerings.

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221

4. Discussion Overall the findings of our inquiry show that medical, educational and psychological experts observed numerous health problems among adolescents. For educators and psychologists, adolescents' psychological and social disturbances are particularly important: Most frequently the psychosocial experts stated that adolescents

show

performance

difficulties, antisocial

behaviour,

concentration

weaknesses, developmental problems, and adaptive difficulties. Following next are motivational problems, personality disorders, reading and/or writing

problems,

nervous strain, and language and speech problems. Those diseases considered more somatic in nature, such as chronic respiratory illnesses and allergies took the relatively low rankings of 15 and 17. In contrast, physicians named acne, allergies, infectious and parasitic illnesses, fractures and injuries, as well as chronic skin disorders and diseases of the respiratory organs most frequently, followed by numerous psychological and social disturbances, for example concentration weaknesses, adaptive problems, and nervous strain. Various forms of abuses (medical, alcohol and drug abuse), poisoning, delinquency, and suicide attempts and intentions occupied the lowest positions in the physicians' ranking of frequency of illnesses. On the one hand these results illustrate a trend which is also confirmed by other studies (Debold & Paquet, 1987; Kerek-Bodden, 1989; Schwefel, John, Potthoff, & van Eimeren, 1987), namely an increased influence of environmental factors on health status. Thus, although the details regarding the specific processes by which they are connected are not yet fully discovered, it seems to be indisputable today that chronic respiratory diseases as well as allergies, both frequently diagnosed by physicians, are linked to environmental factors. This is true for example for the risk of inflammatory diseases of the respiratory tract (bronchitis) which is increased by exposure to air pollutants (Heinz & Klaaßen-Mielke, 1990). The influence of sulphur dioxide concentrations on inflammations of the nasal cavity and symptoms of attempted coughing was proven last in 1987. Additionally it has been proven that existing respiratory diseases can worsen due to the probably most important environmental pollutants, i.e. sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, dust and ozone (Englert, 1990). With regards to allergies it has been confirmed that allergic persons react more strongly to minor air pollutant concentrations than non-allergic persons (Jorde & Schata, 1990). Furthermore, changing living conditions lead to a confrontation with new and changed allergies causing substances. A relationship between environmental factors and allergic diseases is being discussed to determine whether an increased amount of air pollutants, as well as changes in the ecological living conditions, can cause the immune system to be misguided and thus the organism to be more receptive to allergies (Jorde & Schata, 1989: 77). However, proof could not yet be definitely produced.

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& Klaus

Hurrelmann

On the other hand, the greater heterogeneity of physicians' statements in comparison to those of educators and psychologists becomes obvious. With a few exceptions those diseases counted to the lower third by psychosocial care professionals are rated most urgent by physicians. This concerns in particular somatic and psychosomatic diseases: While educators and psychologists rank psychosomatic and somatic diseases lowest, physicians rated developmental problems seventh and concentration weakness eighth in frequency of occurrence. In conjunction with the reasons, presented by the experts questioned, for not using medical and psychosocial facilities, one must conclude that educators and psychologists are confronted to a more substantial extent than physicians with insurmountable prejudices and numerous barriers: According to Presting (1987), 22% of adolescents and their family members living in the jurisdiction of a health counselling office do not have the possibility to reach an office by public transportation within one hour. The situation is particularly bad in rural areas: 30% of the counselling offices in rural regions are responsible for a population of more than 100,000. By comparison one established physician was charged with the medical care of a population of 347 in 1988 (Steuer, 1991). Furthermore various prejudices toward psychosocial care may be the reason to seek the advice of a physician even for psychological or social problems: According to Höger (1991) this caused in particular by parental fear of being confronted with possible shortcomings in the upbringing of their children. Too often a visit to such a facility is seen as a judgment of the parents' failure to properly raise their child. Such ideas produce the dangerous situation that the benefits of professional psychosocial counselling are generally doubted: The distress and insecurity of parents about counselling is transferred to the adolescent and causes the psychological barriers of this age group to seeking help. In the context of these insecurities described in research, it is not surprising that educators and psychologists characterize 'uncertainty concerning the sense and effectiveness of professional counselling' and 'shame about disclosing a problem' as the two greatest access barriers to counselling. This must also be seen as the reason for the statement by a number of educators and psychologists that adolescents frequently come due to an official institutional referral. Physicians by contrast place the greatest significance on insufficient information about counselling and treatment. Furthermore parents' as well as the adolescent's own wish to seek medical assistance are seen as determining factors.

5. Conclusions Acute diseases are less important health problems for children and adolescents today than they were in the past. Currently, psychosomatic, psychological and chronic illness are considered the most urgent health problems of the young generation.

Adolescents' utilization of medical and psychosocial care services in Germany

223

These diseases are mostly due to multiple factors: In addition to genetic disposition, air-, water- and soil pollution, as well as harmful substances in food and consumer products are increasing in importance.

The same applies to the consideration of

psychosocial demands to which particularly children and adolescents are exposed in most areas of life: During this specific stage in life, various competencies need to be developed and steps in development need to take place. They run along with considerable challenges to perform in school and profession. Other reasons for stress in young age desire from so-called leisure: The adolescents' great liberty to create an individual way of life is linked with the compulsion to consume and a general lack of meaning; in many cases this overtaxes emotional coping capacities. In this situation appropriate medical as well as psychosocial care for adolescents is more urgent than ever. While on the one hand, it is important to understand each individual's problems and particular situation in life, it is, on the other hand, necessary to discover and evaluate symptoms properly and in time for preventive and curative interventions. We argue that current medical and psychosocial care within the present structures does not meet these requirements.

So far the lack of cooperation

between

psychosocial and medical services as well as the insufficient connection of these services with the actual life circumstances of adolescents have only resulted in barriers with regard to the utilization of professional medical and psychological help. Utilization represents a kind of entrance into a 'qualitatively new social relationship' (von Ferber, 1986). In order to obtain medical or psychological care, adolescents are frequently in the situation of having to make contact for the first time with persons outside their social network without any idea as to what exactly they might have to expect. Additional

barriers

to obtaining

help include

insufficient information

concerning structures and available services, questions regarding financing, and spatial distance to physicians, educators or psychologists. As indicated by the results of supplementary evaluations (Settertobulte & Hurrelmann, 1993) of the utilization of medical support facilities, these access barriers have implications on the adolescents' behaviour toward illness. During the phase of puberty, structures of bodily autonomy develop. The definition of sense of shame, particularly towards parents, is closely connected to the individual's definition of health problems and of the amount of suffering. It is to be feared that for this reason many adolescents decide in advance to exclude the possibility of approaching a physician with a problem or illness or even to consider this possibility as part of their individual spectrum of help. In order to overcome these access barriers, all those working in the field of medical and psychosocial care must make it a central priority to cross the boundaries of their own disciplines to achieve an increased cooperation between

various

institutions. The goal must be to arrive at a multi-disciplinary and multi-perspective examination of child- and youth-specific problems by considering the great number of diseases today, caused by a multiplicity of factors: Ά one-sided limitation to one of the named dimensions of being affected by illness, a reductionism no matter what

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shape or form, that is either clinical reductionism to morphologically or functionally objectifiable damage, or psychological reductionism to a narcissistic ego offense, nor stigmatism or social isolation do justice to the significant consequences of illness for the patient and the necessary comprehensive mobilization of help to overcome the consequences of illness' (von Ferber, 1986: 290).

10. Emotional Problems in Adolescence Maja Dekovic and Wim Meeus Utrecht University, The Netherlands

1. Introduction Adolescence is often called "critical developmental transition", due to the number and nature of changes occurring simultaneously during this period of life (Hamburg, 1974). Theses changes occur both within inside and outside of individual. On the one hand, there are significant physiological changes, changes in appearance and in cognitive capacity. On the other hand, the adolescent experiences changes in every important social context within which he/she functions: family, school, peer group, and broader society. The changes in almost every aspect of self and environment make it necessary for the individual to develop effective coping strategies in order to function effectively. Though many adolescents experience this period as challenging, most of them continue to grow and develop their capabilities without any major problems. There is, however, a substantial proportion of adolescents who do not appear to cope effectively, who fail to meet the challenges of adolescence and who consequently display various kinds of problem behaviour and psychopathology during these years. Transition during early adolescence -appears to be particularly important in the development of healthy status versus problems and psychopathology (Peterson & Hamburg, 1986). According to recent Dutch findings it appears that between 13 and 27% of Dutch youth experience severe emotional problems (Diekstra, Garnefski, Heus, Zwart, Praag, & Warnaar, 1991; Meeus, 1993). The emotional problems include depression, loneliness, low self-esteem, social isolation, suicidal tendencies. The findings from other countries show the same prevalence of adolescents' problems. A comparative study of three countries reported that 27% of young people experience depression (Offer, Ostrov, Howard, & Atkinson, 1988). In the United States the estimation of the number of adolescents who are at risk for further development because of serious adjustment problems is 1 in 4 adolescents (American Medical Association, 1990; Association for the Advancement of Health Education, 1987).

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Emotional problems tend to increase during adolescence and for a considerable number of adolescents these might become chronic (Laufer & Laufer, 1984). Given the epidemic proportions of youth who experience emotional problems and the impact of these problems for their further social adjustment, it becomes a matter of great social as well as scientific importance to examine the determinants of adolescents' emotional problems. One factor which has repeatedly been found as a correlate of emotional problems of children and adolescents is the psychological well-being of parents (Downey & Coyne, 1990). Children of depressed parents appear to be at considerable risk for depression and other psychological difficulties (Dodge, 1990). Results of study by Schölte, Messing, Nijkerk, and Ploeg (1992) showed that almost half of the fathers and 75% of the mothers of the adolescents who seek psychosocial help themselves experience emotional problems. The studies that provided the empirical evidence about the link between parental depression and children's emotional problems led to the suggestion that emotional problems in children and adolescents might have a genetic basis (Orvaschel, Weissman, & Kidd, 1980). However, several findings point out that genetic factors on their own, cannot fully account for emotional problems of children and adolescents. In the first place, it appears that children of depressive parents are more at risk not only for depression, but also for various

other

maladaptive outcomes: somatic symptoms, aggressive behaviour, social incompetence, and anxiety (Dodge, 1990). Secondly, the twin and adaptation studies showed that genetic factors can only partially explain the variance in the children's emotional problems (Downey & Coyne, 1990). The conclusion from these findings is that the further search for determinants of emotional problems of children and adolescents should be directed more towards environmental factors. More specifically, the quality of the social contexts in which the adolescents function should be considered. Results of a number of studies showed that the quality of intimate relationships with significant others is linked to psychosocial adjustment. The purpose of this study is to examine the contribution of the relationships within two, for the adolescent most important, social contexts: family and friends, to individual differences in experiencing emotional problems. With regard to family relationships, we make a distinction between factors related to the functioning of the individual parent and factors related to the functioning of the family as a system of relationships. As has already been pointed out, the relationship between adolescents and their parents changes during adolescence. Adolescents begin to demand more autonomy, and parents begin to treat the adolescent in a more adult way. The interaction between adolescents and their parents becomes more symmetrical: The contribution of both partners is more equally distributed. In other words, the adolescent-parent relationship changes from one which was, during childhood, characterized

by

unilateral authority to one based on mutual reciprocity (Youniss & Smollar, 1985). In addition to the changes in interactional style, the adolescent also becomes emotionally less dependent on his/her parents (Ryan & Lynch, 1989). This process of gradually

Emotional Problems in Adolescence

227

becoming independent and severing childhood ties with parents is often called the "separation-individuation" process (Bloss, 1967). Parents of adolescents are confronted with difficulties of adjusting their parenting style as their children grow older. In order to assist their children to cope with the changes and decisions that accompany adolescence, parents need to alter their parental role, to respond sensitively to their adolescent's increasing need and ability to experience greater self-control and responsibility. From the socialization literature it is known that parental support is predictive for the developmental outcome of the child (Maccoby & Martin, 1983). This aspect of parenting might be especially important during adolescence. Parents who continue to be supportive during these changes and accommodate by changing their own interactions with their offspring, have adolescents who are better adjusted (Petersen & Hamburg, 1989). Similarly, Whitbeck, Conger, & Ying Kao (1993) found that lack of parental supportiveness during adolescence is related to adolescents' depressiveness. Adolescence is a stressful time for most parents: 62% of mothers and 64% of fathers perceived adolescence as the most difficult stage of parenting (Gecas & Seff, 1990). Parents who themselves experience difficulties in psychosocial adjustment might be even less likely to respond adequately to the required changes in their parenting role. Research on clinical samples demonstrated that depressed parents show less effective parenting behaviour which in turn affects the maladaptive outcome in children (Rutter, 1990). Depressed mothers, when compared with a control group, show less affection, react less often and less quickly to their children's initiatives for interaction and are more hostile and irritable. They view their own parental role more negatively, regard their relationship with the child as less satisfactory and see themselves as less competent than the control group (Brody & Forehand, 1988; Kochanska, Kuczynski, Radke-Yarrow, & Wels, 1987; Webster-Stratton & Hammond,

1988). There is growing evidence that children growing up with

depressed parent(s) show general maladaptive functioning and deficiencies in social skills (Downey & Coyne, 1990). It must be pointed out, however, that most of these studies focused on the effects of serious disturbances (e.g. depression or psychosis) on the developmental outcome of preschool children or children in middle childhood. Research on normal families has resulted in few consistent connections between the personal characteristics of the parent, his/her parenting behaviour and the specific outcome in his/her children (Miller, Cowan, Cowan, Hetherington, & Clingempeel, 1993). Regarding the age of the child, it has been suggested that older children show more maladaptive behaviour than younger children, possibly due to a longer period of exposure to deviant parenting behaviour (Dodge, 1990). It is questionable whether this trend will be found during adolescence as well. It could also be argued that a wider social network and the greater influence of peers during adolescence might lessen the effects of dysfunctional parenting. From the family therapists comes the notion that family as a system of relationships provides the context for children's (mal)adaptation. Factors which emerge as important

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are the degree of emotional involvement of family members with each other (Fendrich, Warner, & Weissman, 1990) and the quality of the marital relationship between parents (Keller, Beardslee, Dorer, Lavori, Samuelson, & Klerman, 1986). These socalled "system variables" are assumed to have an independent impact on the child, in addition to the factors related to the individual functioning of the parent (the degree of parental support parents offer to their offspring and parental psychological adjustment). In other words, what children and adolescents observe in their families and in their parents' marriage affect their development independently of their actual interaction with individual parents. It must be said, however, that the empirical findings showed that the quality of family functioning and the quality of parental functioning are interrelated. Downey and Coyne (1990) found that disfunctioning of the family system and marital discord are more common in families with a depressed parent. Again, most of the above mentioned studies that emphasized the effects of parents or the family on the child's emotional problems focused on younger children. Studies of how parental and familial influences in this area are continued through adolescence are much less extensive. During adolescence, as the adolescents' environment grows larger, so too do the factors that affect their well-being. Influences outside the family might have a greater impact on emotional problems due to the increase in the adolescent's independence and in his/her interaction with peers and others in community. The second important social context for adolescents are peers. The separationindividuation process which occurs in the parent-adolescent relationship is often conceptualized as breaking with family ties and a shift in the orientation from family to peer relations. In this conceptualization the focus is on the adolescent's needs to relinquish dependency on his/her parents and to seek emotional support from peers (Grotevant & Cooper, 1986). Adolescents spend more time with peers than with parents (Youniss & Smollar, 1985). Intimate friendship relations and peers in general become increasingly important for adolescents. Peers provide support and facilitate problem solving that is important to the healthy resolution of adolescent developmental tasks. The peer group also provides a secure and encouraging environment for adolescents in terms of experimenting with different roles and self-expression. Successful peer relations are of great importance for social and personality development (Parker & Asher, 1987). Adolescents who have difficulties in making contact with peers, have few friends or have conflictual friendship relations appear to experience more problems and are more depressed than adolescents who have satisfactory peer relationships (Nada Raja, McGee, & Stanton, 1992; Schölte et al., 1992). Whereas the relationship with peers is clearly important for adolescent well-being, for most adolescents closeness to peers does not prevail at the expense of closeness to parents (Fuligni & Eccles, 1993; Nada Raja et al., 1992). The exaggerated assumption that the world of parents and the world of peers are two separate systems with often conflicting influences, has not been supported by empirical findings (Hartup, 1979). There is an increasing recognition of interdependencies among socializing agents and continuities in the parent-child relationship from childhood to

Emotional Problems in Adolescence

229

adolescence. In 1969 Kandel and Lesser showed that autonomy was not gained by means of disengagement from social influences of parents. On the contrary, adolescents who felt the greatest autonomy were more likely to view their parents as close, to turn to their parents for guidance and to perceive them as role models. For the whole sample it appeared that the frequency with which adolescents consulted their parents about problems or concerns actually increased over the age span of 14 to 19 years (Kandel & Lesser, 1969). Meeus (1989, 1993) showed that both parental and peer support have a significant effect on school performance and general well-being respectively. In both studies parental support was found to have the greater impact. Although the degree of effect of peer support was somewhat smaller, the direction of effects was the same as with parental support. Moreover, is seems that a close relationship with parents is also related to the successful relationships with peers (Armsden & Greenberg, 1987; Dekovic, 1992; Nada Raja et al., 1992). It is important, however, to recognize that strong peer-orientation and the unusually dominant role of peers in the lives of adolescents might actually be due to lack of attention and concern at home, rather than to the inherent attractiveness of the peer group. Adolescents w h o are strongly peer-oriented have more negative views of themselves than those who are more adult-oriented (Conger, Conger, Elder, Lorenz, Simon, & Witbeck, 1992). Finally, in addition to these environmental factors there are indications that personal characteristics of the adolescent, such as age and sex, are also related to the severity of emotional problems. Depressive moods seem especially to increase during middle and late adolescence (Meeus, 1993). It appears that girls experience more emotional problems during adolescence than boys (Kandel & Davies, 1982; Kienhorst, 1988; Meeus, 1993; White, 1989). Several studies have showed that parenting behaviour or family discord have different effects on girls in comparison with boys. Cummings, Lanott, and Zahn-Waxler (1985) found that boys tend to respond to family conflict with aggression, whereas girls are more likely to become distressed and depressive. Similarly, the parenting behaviour of a depressed parent might not be the same towards sons and daughters. Depressed mothers tend to seek comfort from their daughters rather than from their sons, in a way that may draw daughters into their own distress and unhappiness (Radke-Yarrow, Richters, & Wilson, 1988). Summarizing, in the present study we examine the importance of several determinants of emotional problems in adolescence. The first group of possible predictors includes parental factors: parental psychological well-being and the degree of support parents offer to their adolescent. The second group covers factors related to the quality of family functioning (family cohesion and marital relationship). The third group includes peer factors: the degree of support obtained from peers and peer orientation. W e expect that the quality of both relationships, within the family as well as with peers, would be related to the degree of adolescents' emotional problems. In order to examine the differential effects of these factors on adolescents of different developmental stages a broad age range was studied, from early adoles-

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cence to post adolescence. Both boys and girls are included. Given the findings indicating that different factors may be related to emotional problems among boys and girls, we performed the analyses separately for the two sexes.

2. Method 2.1 Subjects Data for this study were collected as part of a broader longitudinal project "Utrecht Study of Adolescent Development (USAD), 1991-1997" which examines life course trajectories of adolescents and their parents in a non-clinical representative sample. The sample consisted of 1285 adolescents (711 females and 574 males) and 1179 parents (609 mothers and 574 fathers). Four age groups were represented: early adolescence (between 12 and 14 years; 98 females and 58 males), middle adolescence (between 15 and 17; 228 female and 188 males), late adolescence (between 18 and 20; 203 females and 196 males) and post adolescence (between 21 and 24; 184 females and 132 males). In order to avoid dependent observations, the present sample included only one adolescent and one parent per family. In the overall sample, some families contributed both parents and/or more than one child. In these cases one child and one parent were randomly selected for inclusion in the present analyses. The sample represented a wide range of socioeconomic and educational backgrounds.

2.2 Measures Adolescent emotional problems. This study considers four self-report measures of adolescent mental and physical health. A shortened version of The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) (Goldberg, 1978; Kienhorst, Wilde, Bout, & Diekstra, 1990; Meeus, 1993) measures the degree to which psychological stress and depression have recently been experienced. It consists of two subscales: psychological stress (6 items) and depression (4 items). The respondents were asked to indicate on a 4-point scale (l=not at all, 4=much more than usually) the extent to which each symptom had been experienced during the past 4 weeks (e.g. feeling tense and nervous; feeling unhappy and dejected). Both scales have a high internal consistency (alpha's were .86 and .83 for Psychological stress and Depression respectively). The mean score was derived for each subscale. The Cantril ladder (Cantril, 1965) measures feeling of general well-being and happiness. The respondents were asked to indicate on a 10-point scale how they generally feel (l=very badly to 10=very well).

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Emotional Problems in Adolescence

The Mini-VOEG (Joosten & Drop, 1987) assesses the general physical health and complaints in bodily functioning. It consists of 13 items which can be answered by "yes" or "no". The internal consistency was .76. The tendency to have suicidal thoughts was assessed by one 4-point item: "Have you in the last 12 months thought about committing suicide and putting an end to your life?" ( l = n e v e r to 4=very often) (Diekstra et al., 1991). In order to give an indication of the prevalence of the adolescents' problems, a cutoff value was defined for each of these four measures. The adolescents who scored higher than the cutoff value are considered to have severe problems. Table 1. shows the means, the standard deviations, the definition of the cutoff point, and the percentage of adolescents who scored higher than the cutoff value. As can be seen in Table 1, the percentage of adolescents w h o could be considered as having problems varied depending on the indicator from 7 to 15%. Table 1. Prevalence of adolescent problems % of adolescents scoring higher than cutoff point

1

Mean

SD

Cutoff point

Psychological stress

1.68

.65

22.5

14.5

Depression

1.37

.56

a2.5

6.9

General well-being

8.01

1.32

s6.0

8.8

Physical health

1.79

.20

21.5

10.4

Suicidal thoughts

1.15

.48

22.0

10.8

These indicators of adolescent emotional problems were highly

interrelated

(correlations coefficients ranging from .24 to .73). In order to determine whether it is possible to obtain one score for the construct Emotional problems, we conducted an exploratory factor analysis with 5 measures: psychological stress, depression, general well-being, physical health and suicidal tendencies. Table 2. Factor loadings of indicators of adolescents' emotional problems (N=1285) Emotional problems Psychological stress

.72

Depression

.70

General well-being

.47

Physical Health

.48

Suicidal thoughts

.41

Explained variance (%)

54.2

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Maja Dekovic and Wim Meeus

A single factor, which explained 54.2% of variance, emerged from this analysis. All variables loaded more than .40 on this factor. Also, the internal consistency was satisfactory (alpha=.77). Thus, each adolescent was assigned a factor score, derived by using the short regression method, for the construct Emotional problems. Parental psychological well-being. The experienced psychological stress and depression was assessed by parents with the same instrument as by adolescents (GHQ). Internal consistency in the sample of parents was for Psychological stress .92, and for Depression .86. These two measures were also subjected to exploratory factor analysis which resulted in a single factor solution (87.1% of explained variance). Both variables loaded highly on the factor: psychological stress .87, and depression, .87. The construct score for Parental psychological well-being was computed by calculating the factor score. The higher scores indicate more stress and depression. Family cohesion. The emotional involvement of family members with each other (family cohesion) was measured by adolescents with a shortened version (Buurmeijer & Hermans, 1988) of Family Adaptation and Cohesion Scales (FACES) (Olson, Portner, & Bell, 1982). The scale consists of 6 items (e.g., We like to do things with just our immediate family; Family members consult other family members on their decisions), answered with a 4-point scale ranging from "never" to "always". Internal consistency of the scale was .67. A mean score on 6 items was used as a measure of family cohesion. Marital relationship. The assessment of the quality of marital relationship included two questions in parental self-report (Spruijt, 1993"). Parents were asked to indicate on a 7-point scale the degree of satisfaction with their marital relationship (l=very unsatisfied, 7=very satisfied). The second item measures the stability of marital relationship. Parents were asked whether, in the past 5 years, they have thought of breaking up (answers ranging from l=yes, several times to 4= no, never). The correlation between the two items was .56. Thus, these items were combined (using standard scores) into one indicator of the quality of marital relationship (alpha=.72). Parental and peer support. Perceived levels of social support received from parents were measured by the role-relation method (Fisher, 1982; Meeus, 1989). The adolescents were asked to indicate on a 10-point scale the degree of support they received from a standard set of reference persons (father, mother, best friend, friends and acquaintances) when problems arise in relations with others. The factor analysis resulted in 2 factors: social support from parents (47% of the explained variance) with high loadings of the variables support from father and support from mother, and social support from peers (28% of the explained variance) with high loadings of the variables: support from best friend, friends, and acquaintance. Thus, each adolescent was assigned two factor scores, the first indicating perceived level of support obtained by his/her parents and the second indicating perceived level of support obtained by his/her peers.

Emotional Problems in Adolescence Table 3.

233

Factor loadings of indicators of social support

(N=1285)

Parental support

Peer support

Father

.90

.12

Mother

.90

.09

Best friend

.02

.84

Friends

.04

.91

Acquaintances

.28

.71

47.0

28.0

Explained variance (%)

Peer orientation. The degree to which the adolescent is opposed to the world of adults and feels a bound with the world of his/her peers, was assessed by a shortened version of the original German scale Youth Centrism (Meeus, 1986; Zinnecker, 1982). The instrument consists of 11 items (e.g., There are very few adults who can really understand youth problems; Young people learn much more from their age mates than from their parents) with a 5-point scale (1= completely disagree to 5=completely agree). Cronbach's alpha for this scale was .90.

2.3 Procedure The families were recruited by a professional survey research institute from an existing panel of 9000 households, representative of the Dutch population. The data were gathered during one family visit which lasted about two hours. The adolescent and the parent were interviewed separately. A part of the questionnaire was filled while the interviewer was present. The other part was left with the interviewee and sent back by mail.

3. Results 3.1 Sex and age differences The first step in the analyses involved tests for sex and age differences in adolescent and parental variables. The 2 (sex of adolescent) χ 4 (age level) analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted with three measures: emotional problems, support from peers and peer orientation. A significant main effect of sex was found for all three measures: emotional problems, F(l,1284)=41.77, p