Family Transitions, Family Configurations and the Educational Outcomes of Flemish children

Since the 1960s divorce rates have grown significantly in most western countries, including Belgium. Nowadays, more and more children are growing up with divorced or separated parents. Because the nuclear family consisting of two continuously married parents and their biological or adoptive children was generally considered the optimal context for child development, the rising number of children growing up with divorced parents sparked concern among policy-makers and researchers. The potentially negative effect of divorce on children’s educational outcomes can be of particular concern, given the importance of education in current society. The main goal of this research project was to get a better insight into the mechanisms explaining the relation between divorce and educational outcomes and to explain variability in children’s post-divorce educational outcomes. In order to address these issues we developed a theoretical framework that combined insights of the resource deprivation, stress and selection perspectives. This study is a collection of six research articles that were presented in three research sections. In the first research section , we investigated the mediating role of family resources in the relation between divorce and children’s school engagement, and whether the relations between divorce, family resources and school engagement differ according to parents’ educational level. (Multi-group) structural equation models were estimated with the Leuven Adolescent and Family Study (LAFS) dataset. The results demonstrated that the quality of family relations is the most important mediator in the relation between divorce and children’s educational outcomes. We also examined the role of parents’ educational level in some detail in this section. The results showed that children of lower educated parents are not only more likely to have divorced parents, but they are also more negatively affected by divorce than children with medium or higher educated parents. The second research section focused on the living arrangements of children after divorce. The findings of the structural equation model analysis on the Leuven Adolescent and Family Study (LAFS) data showed that while there are no or very small net effects of children’s post-divorce living arrangements on their school engagement, the mechanisms associated with these living arrangements are consequential. Children who have residential contact with only one parent, have a worsened relationship with the non-residential parent on average, which in turn has a negative influence on how they feel and behave in school. On the other hand, children in a residential arrangement with contact with both parents tend to benefit from a more positive relationship with the father compared to mother residence. However, this positive indirect effect on their school engagement is counterbalanced by some disadvantages of these types of residential arrangements. These disadvantages may relate to the stress of living in two households or the presence of residential stepparents. In the final research section, we examined children’s family trajectories and their impact on academic achievement. Sequence analyses and logistic regression analyses were conducted on the Divorce in Flanders (DiF) dataset modeling children’s academic achievement as the dependent variable. We showed that there is considerable variability in children’s family trajectories which can easily be overlooked when divorce is the main independent variable of a study. Next we linked these family trajectories to children’s academic position by the age of 15. We reached two main conclusions. First of all, children who experience divorce at a very young age (i.e. on average a divorce when they are 2 years old) are more likely to have lower academic achievement than children who do not experience divorce or experience divorce after the observation period. Second, children who experience multiple changes in their family configuration in a short period of time close to the transition to secondary school are more likely to follow a non-academic track than the control group. Overall, the findings of this study suggest that some children are more at risk of experiencing negative educational outcomes after divorce than others. Policy actions should be directed at alleviating those risk factors for children’s educational career, especially in the light of the influence of children’s educational outcomes on their future well-being.status: publishe

Kerkpraktijk in België: Resultaten van de zondagstelling in oktober 2009

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Een evaluatiekader voor het Vlaamse integratiebeleid. Deel 4: conceptualisering 'sociale cohesie'.

Faced with a large inflow of immigrants, and the many challenges that come with it, effective integration policies are of fundamental importance, both for the immigrants as well as for the receiving society. Across Europe, policy goals are set forward in terms of integration, and a multitude of policy initiatives are taken. However, it often remains unclear to what extent policies actually work. Moreover, the evaluation of the effectiveness of integration policy is complicated by the absence of a clear demarcation of policy goals (e.g. what is ‘social cohesion’, when can social services be considered ‘accessible’ for migrants?). In addition, there is a lack of clarity on how initiatives can reasonably be expected to contribute to the policy goals that have been set forward. Put differently, the connection between concrete policy measures and expected outcomes is rarely articulated in detail. Therefore, a comprehensive study was set up that allowed to develop an evaluation framework for integration policies in Flanders. In a first step the current policy goals (social cohesion, accessibility, participation and active & shared citizenship) were analysed and ‘confronted’ with academic conceptualizations. The synthesis was reviewed in a second step by a multitude of stakeholders and in a third step linked to concrete policy measures by using a large series of interactive workshops. The outcome of is a solid evaluation framework which is supported by different partners in the field of integration policies. It consists of 5 reports. The first 4 reports address the different policy goals and suggest indicators to monitor the progress concerning these policy goals. This report addresses the policy goal ‘social cohesion’.nrpages: 80status: publishe

Methodological Challenges of Including Children in Family Research: Measurement Equivalence, Selection Bias and Social Desirability

© 2014, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. The growing acknowledgment of children’s agency has increased the use of child reports in family research. This study investigates three challenges that are related to the inclusion of children in surveys: 1) selection bias in the sample through parent and child refusal; 2) measurement equivalence of parent and child reports; and 3) the effect of parental presence during the interview on child reports. These challenges are investigated with the multi-actor data of the Divorce in Flanders study. The study shows that divorced parents more often refuse child participation than married parents. A parental refusal is also more likely in case of less frequent open communication with the child. The results further indicate that children answer as reliably as their parents on survey questions, but also that children report less frequent parental conflict, a less problematic communication with their mother, and a less open communication with mother and father, than their parents. This suggests that children’s perspectives on family relations are different from their parents. Therefore, including child reports in family research may enhance the understanding of family life. Finally, children tend to report slightly different on family relations when parents are present. It is concluded that processes of social desirability and selection are important to take into account when investigating children’s reports on their family life, as they can bias results and limit generalizability of the findings.status: publishe

De invloed van ouderlijke echtscheiding op schoolloopbanen

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Schoolkenmerken en ouderlijke voorkeuren voor scholen

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Simulaties van het Vlaams inschrijvingsbeleid

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Let’s Talk Politics: Which Individual and Classroom Compositional Characteristics Matter in Classroom Discussions?

Deliberative democratic theory puts discussions at the centre of democracy. Schools are places where young people can practise such discussions. In this paper we argue that these perceptions of deliberation in class are differential for different young people. Individual student characteristics matter when making schools successful in creating an ‘open discussion climate’. Using the ICCS 2009 study, we find that gender, self-efficacy and socio-economic background have an impact on the perception of such a climate. If students evaluate discussion opportunities differently, based on background characteristics, alternate strategies should be developed to get everyone to deliberate. Future research, looking into the quality of discussions, should take this into account, as boys or students with a lower SES might need extra stimulation to perceive the classroom as a place to discuss public matters. Also schools and policy-makers should be aware when deciding which civic education strategy should be followed to obtain the desired results.status: publishe

Schoolse segregatie in Vlaanderen. Evolutie van 2001-2002 tot 2015-2016

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Floor Effects or Compensation of Social Origin? The Relation Between Divorce and Children’s School Engagement According to Parents’ Educational Level

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