Helga A. G. de Valk

Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute/ Population Research Center

Research has made significant contributions to our understanding of ethnic disparities in educational attainment, revealing amongst others the importance of parental and residential characteristics. Mixed empirical results, however, challenge the interpretation of why some ethnic groups face more difficulties in educational success than others, uph...

Compared to individuals without a migration background, the second generation seems more likely to possess the type of skills, values and transnational ties that facilitate international moves. In other words, ‘mobility capital’ transmitted from parents of migrant origin to their children may increase the likelihood of emigration among the second g...

The welfare state can be perceived as a safety net which helps individuals adjust to situations of risk or transition. Starting from this idea of the welfare state as safety net, this study addresses whether and how welfare generosity may influence people’s willingness to migrate. In doing so, we distinguish between two potential mechanisms, innova...

This study assesses the association between childhood residential mobility and health-related outcomes by way of a meta-analysis of studies published between 1989 and 2020. The sample includes 844 effect sizes from 64 unique studies. The results point to a negative association (small to medium) between childhood mobility and health. This associatio...

There is much debate on the sustainability of (generous) welfare systems in the context of freedom of movement within the European Union (EU), often assuming that migrants’ welfare access is only regulated by national borders. In this chapter the authors analyse how and to what extent this assumption is accurate. They use large-scale population dat...

Brussels’ urban and suburban landscape has changed considerably since the 1980s. The consolidation of socioeconomic fractures inside the city, a reinforcement of long-lasting disparities between the city and its prosperous hinterland, as well as the increasing diversification of migration flows—both high- and low-skilled—contributed to these dispar...

We studied the role of ‘ethnic density’ in the neighbourhood for tobacco-related cancer mortality among five migrant origin groups in urban Belgium. Using full population linked census data, multilevel Poisson models were applied to model effects of three linear and categorical indicators of same-origin presence for each origin group, and to test e...

The academic literature on the determinants of international student mobility so far has largely ignored the influence of romantic relationships and study motivation in the development of aspirations to participate in temporary learning experiences in another country. However, young adults might take considerations about investments in individual d...

In this demographic profile of Syrians in the Netherlands we provide an overview of their recent migration history and migrant characteristics. It is evidenced that the pre-2014 population of Syrian origin was relatively small and increased mainly due to an expanding second generation (children born in the Netherlands). After 2014, the settlement o...

In this study, we add to the literature by investigating the role of welfare states in intra‐European migration decisions between 25 countries (2003‐2008). Distinguishing between three welfare programmes (unemployment, family and old‐age benefits) we tested whether social expenditure on each of these arrangements particularly influenced locational...

Foreign and native populations differ in terms of breast cancer outcomes. Studies rarely distinguish between premenopausal and postmenopausal breast cancer, although the risk profile is different; nor between migrants of the first and second generation (FG and SG), which is crucial to examine genetic and environmental influences on breast cancer. T...

Welfare systems are often perceived as key for migration decisions. Yet traditional international migration theories usually include this factor as rather static in nature and do not acknowledge the dynamic interaction with the individual life course. This is unfortunate, as the impact of macro-level circumstances on individual migration decisions...

This paper studies residential segregation in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area and makes three contributions to the recent debates on segregation. First, both ethnic and socio‐economic segregation are studied by comparing isolation index scores for both individual indicators and their interactions. Second, neighbourhoods are defined as scalable indi...

In dit artikel bestuderen we ten eerste in hoeverre de gezonde levensverwachting op 50-jarige leeftijd (GLV50) verschilt tussen migranten en niet-migranten in België, Nederland en Engeland & Wales. Ten tweede bestuderen we voor de twee laatstgenoemde landen ook de verandering hierin tussen 2001 en 2011. Gegevens over bevolking, sterfte en zelf-gera...

Studies on fertility among second-generation migrant women across Europe have mainly treated the second generation as a rather homogenous group, not linking and distinguishing fertility patterns by type of partner. This study investigates how and to what extent the origin and generation of the partner (endogamous or exogamous as well as diversity i...

While demographic change has been well documented for many Western countries, much less is known about demographic transitions in other countries, including Turkey. Demographic change in European societies can be characterized by, amongst others, increased prevalence of divorce. Although it is often argued that life courses in Turkey follow a more...

In this article, we aim to explain the school careers of the second generation of Turkish immigrants in nine cities in five Western European countries and show the influence of the national school systems ranging from comprehensive to hierarchical tracking structures. We apply sequence analyses, optimal matching, and cluster analyses to define scho...

The purpose of this study is to investigate the socioeconomic evolution of large housing estates in Brussels, Belgium, in particular their role in shaping residential segregation in the city. As in many European countries, modernist and functionalist ideas of the mid-twentieth century led to the raising of large housing estates in Brussels, in an a...

Motherhood negatively affects female employment in majority populations across Europe. Although employment levels are particularly low among women of migrant origin, little is known about the motherhood–employment link in migrant populations. This paper investigates whether family formation differentially affects the labour market position of migra...

Research on majority populations throughout Europe showed strong attachment and exchange of support between parents and their adult children. Studies on migrant families are limited yet needed in light of the increasing share of older people of migrant origin in European populations. One of the main sources of intergenerational support and care is...

Research on immigrants’ assimilation is widespread both in the U.S. and Europe. While it has been extensively studied how immigrants fare compared to natives on socio-economic indicators, few studies have focussed on immigrants’ perception of their position. In this paper we focus on comparing life satisfaction of immigrants and natives across Euro...

The debate on residential segregation often focuses on the concentration of migrant groups in specific neighbourhoods and its presumed effects on, e.g. personal life chances and social inclusion. However, cross-regional and international comparisons of segregation are hampered by differences in the size and delineation of the spatial units that are...

In this paper, we use geo-coded, individual-level register data on four European countries to compute comparative measures of segregation that are independent of existing geographical sub-divisions. The focus is on non-European migrants, for whom aggregates of egocentric neighbourhoods (with different population counts) are used to assess small-sca...

Segregation may have profound effects when it is paired with an accumulation of inequalities. This is namely the case when ethnic and socioeconomic segregation overlap. Few studies in Europe have, however, addressed the relationship between ethnic and socioeconomic segregation in a comprehensive manner. This paper first aims at investigating the in...

Levels of spatial segregation in Western European cities are persistent over space and time. To demonstrate the degree or appearance of spatial segregation, most studies on urban residential patterns still rely on fixed spatial units, aspatial measures and single scales. However, a spatial or temporal comparison of patterns and levels of segregatio...

European migrants are confronted to maintain relations with their families across borders and to meet the expectations of intergenerational care. This can be a challenge due to the geographical distance to their families as has been documented for non-western migrants across Europe. In this paper, we focus on European citizens living in Belgium. Th...

Language use patterns, generally involving the majority and/or a minority language, are considered to be an indicator of migrants’ integration in the host society. In this paper, we aim to broaden our understanding of migrants’ language use in the family by investigating which factors explain individual variation in language use patterns in Europea...

BACKGROUND In public discourse, acculturation, transnational behaviour, and migration are highly debated and viewed as related. In the academic literature, this relationship has hardly received attention. This article explores linkages between these processes and how they are determined by indicators of cultural distance (i.e., perceived discrimina...

Children of immigrants are becoming an important share in Europe’s population. Although most of them have not experienced immigration themselves, as many of them were born in the European country where they reside, their families have. This specific position might have an impact on how they fare across their life in the country they live in. In rec...

BACKGROUND Research on the fertility behavior of descendants of immigrants has focused on female characteristics and has largely neglected those of the male partner. One key aspect is whether the partner is of same (endogamous) or of different (exogamous) ethnic origin. Moreover, the male partner may be born in the same country as the female partne...

Second-generation Turkish immigrants make up an increasingly important segment of European labour markets. These young adults are entering the prime working ages and forming families. However, we have only a limited understanding of the relationship between labour force participation and parenthood among second-generation Turkish women. Using uniqu...

Aim To map and compare site-specific cancer mortality for Belgians and five of the largest immigrant groups in Belgium, and to look into the role of socio-economic position (SEP) and urbanisation. Methods We use linked Belgian census and register data for the period 2001–2011. Mortality from common cancer sites is studied for Belgians and individu...

This study examines the role of parents and peer relations on home-leaving behavior among young adults of migrant and Dutch descent. Data come from the TIES survey including the Turkish (n = 493) and Moroccan (n = 486) second generation and a native Dutch comparison group (n = 506). Competing risks models are applied to distinguish between patterns...

Despite the linked nature of life events, the existing literature mainly analyses union formation, living arrangements, and international migration separately. In this paper we explore how Ghanaian couples' relationship trajectories are related to international migration. Data come from the Migration between Africa and Europe‐Ghana survey ( n = 868...

Gaining control over refugee flows and undocumented migrants currently dominate the media and political arenas in Europe. Underlying driving and enduring forces, such as employment-related migration pressure, tend to be relegated to the background. In this article, we explore migration pressure prospects up to 2035 in four countries with a traditio...

BACKGROUND Despite extensive research on the family behavior of young adults, family dynamics of children of migrants remain largely unexplored. This is unfortunate as family transitions are strongly interlinked with transitions in other domains (e.g., education, work) and predictive for outcomes later in life. OBJECTIVE We provide a comprehensive...

Intergenerational support is important throughout the individual life course and a major mechanism of cultural continuity. In this study, we analyse support between older parents and their adult children among international migrant and non-migrant populations in North, Centre and Southern Europe. Data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retiremen...

Migration is often understood as a rational decision of individuals or households to maximize (family) income and minimize risks. Welfare systems may be part of these rationales. Therefore, it can be expected that differences in welfare state arrangements across countries influence migration decisions. Yet empirical evidence on the relation between...

Household structure often differs between migrant and non-migrant populations. The role played by social networks in easing the settlement process and the potentially stronger intergenerational ties in migrant families have been identi ed as factors explaining this. However, changes in economic conditions can in uence the composition of already- se...

Although intra-European migration is often considered relatively easy to realize given European citizens' right to freedom of movement, settlement in another European country can still be experienced as socially disruptive. Insights in the insertion processes of European migrants, nevertheless, remain rather scarce. In this study, we analyse the so...

This paper studies the social networks and feelings of social loneliness of a group of migrants that, because of their European origins and their mixed relations with a native partner, might be easily integrating socially. The data are a sample of 237 (first-generation) European migrants with a native partner living in Belgium, drawn from the EUMAR...

In this paper, we focus on relationship satisfaction of European binational unions. Although such couples can be considered icons of European integration, little is known about these partnerships as well as the factors affecting relationship satisfaction. We base our analysis on the Dutch data of the EUMARR-project, a unique data set on European bi...

Starting from a life course perspective, this study aims to gain more insight into mobility patterns of recently separated mothers, focusing especially on moves to the location of their own mother: the maternal grandmother. Separated mothers, having linked lives with their own mothers, may benefit from their practical and emotional support. Additio...

In this chapter we outline the general developments of migration within and towards Europe as well as patterns of settlement of migrants. We provide a comprehensive historical overview of the changes in European migration since the 1950s. Main phases in immigration, its backgrounds, and its determinants across the continent are described making use...

Language use patterns, generally involving the majority and/or a minority language, are considered to be an indicator of migrants’ integration in the host society. In this paper, we aim to broaden our understanding of migrants’ language use in the family by investigating which factors explain individual variation in language use patterns in Europea...

We examined structures of (trans)national mother–child relationships in adulthood among non-Western immigrants in the Netherlands and assessed how acculturation impacted these intergenerational ties. From the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study, Turkish, Moroccan, Surinamese and Antillean respondents were selected whose mother lived in the Netherlands...

Love is often a key factor in migration decisions. Partner relationships and union formation have also been identified as forming an intrinsic part of intra-European migration. Nevertheless, empirical research into intra-European love migration remains rather scarce. In this paper, we focus on the often neglected but substantial intra-European move...

Hoewel de werkzaamheid van moeders in België relatief hoog ligt, is dit voor moeders met een migratie-achtergrond vaak niet het geval. Aan de hand van longitudinale data van de Kruispuntbank en het Rijksregister wordt onderzocht hoe arbeidsmarkttrajecten rond de geboorte van een eerste kind verschillen naargelang de herkomst van de moeder, en of de...

After Poland’s accession to the European Union in 2004, Polish migration within Europe has increased considerably. Still, little is known about this large and growing group of immigrants. Using unique panel data from the Dutch population registers, we first apply sequence analysis to explore and describe the variety of family life courses among you...

OBJECTIVE This article examines the diverse ways in which young adults develop both their professional career and family life in the years immediately after they complete their education. Building a career and starting a family often occur simultaneously in this stage of life. By studying the simultaneous developments in these life domains, we can...

Women of Latin-American descent in Spain are reported to have high levels of labor force participation. At the same time little is known about the relationship between work and multigenerational living arrangements of these women in particular in times of economic crisis. In this paper we question how living arrangements are relevant for participat...

Dit hoofdstuk start vanuit de vragen welke kenmerken hedendaagse Europese migratiestromen (zowel immi- als emigratie) vertonen en hoe zij zich over het afgelopen decennium hebben ontwikkeld. Anders gezegd, welke mobiliteitspatronen vinden we heden ten dage in Europa en hoe zijn deze veranderd over de afgelopen tien jaar? We maken gebruik van de ree...

As a leading scientific Journal, the European Journal of Population (EJP) has a rich history of almost 30 years of publishing high-quality articles in the field of population studies. From its inception, the journal was published under the auspices of the European Association for Population Studies (EAPS) as its main flagship journal. Also, thanks...

Based on the Model of Family Change, the authors examined how mother–child relations among non-Western immigrants and natives were characterized by patterns of solidarity. Latent Class Analysis was applied to data from the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study (2004) on the practical and emotional support that Dutch, Turkish, Moroccan, Surinamese, and An...

Previous research on intermarriage has shown that opportunity structures play a relevant role in the formation of mixed couples. Several European policy measures have actively promoted and stimulated intra-European mobility. As such, the European integration project has significantly increased the opportunities for citizens of different European or...

This editorial introduces a special issue and its different contributions. We provide an overarching background for the special issue by situating it in the context of the European Union integration process and through a general discussion of the role of intermarriage in establishing links across borders. The importance of studying union formation,...

European bi-national marriages as a special case of interethnic unions have received relatively little attention in research. Existing studies on interethnic marriage mainly orient on union formation among non-western migrants and in particular intermarriages between the majority group and non-western migrants, which are often perceived as indicato...

Background: Since the early 21st century, period total fertility has been recovering from (very) low levels in many European countries. This trend is partly attributable to the end of the postponement of childbearing. The question has risen, however, to what extent this recovery is also related to the changing ethnic composition of European populat...

Dit artikel onderzoekt de verschillende trajecten die jongvolwassenen doorlopen op het vlak van werk en gezin in hun eerste jaren na schoolverlaten. De uitbouw van een carrière en het starten van een gezin gaan vaak hand in hand in deze levensfase. Door de ontwikkelingen in deze levensdomeinen samen te bekijken, willen we een beter inzicht krijgen...

This paper investigates ideal ages for marriage and parenthood among immigrants from over 160 countries origins living in 25 European countries. Ideals regarding the timing of family formation are indicative of how individuals perceive the family life course and provide insight into family-life aspirations and the meaning attached to these transiti...

This chapter examines whether school systems in the Netherlands and in the United States are enabling the children of low-status immigrants to enjoy the opportunities available to their native-born peers. To this end, the chapter compares the experience of second-generation Moroccans in Amsterdam and Dominicans in New York City (originally known as...

This article examines acculturation preferences of the Turkish second generation in 11 European cities and compares these with expectations of national society comparison group members. Multiple classification analysis (MCA) was used to examine the effects of city of residence, exposure to national society value system, cultural distance, social ex...

This study investigated the fertility preferences of parents and children in immigrant and Dutch families. I explored the preferred ages for having a first child as well as preferred family size among 1233 parent–child dyads from the first wave of the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study (2004) and the Social Position and Provisions Ethnic Minorities Su...

One of the foremost challenges for contemporary Europe is the integration of new immigrants and their children. The second generation constitutes a rapidly growing and highly visible group of metropolitan youth that faces the dilemma of navigating their ethnic identities in a world that puts a premium on assimilation. This volume examines the lives...

In this article we describe and explain how children of immigrants navigate their educational careers. Sequence analyses followed by optimal matching is used to cluster individual educational trajectories in four European countries, which differ in national educational systems, ranging from comprehensive to highly differentiated (Sweden, Belgium, A...

Immigration is a major component of population change for countries across Europe. However, questions remain about where immigrants go after they arrive in a new country. What are the patterns of internal migration of minorities (immigrants and their descendants), and what are the causes and implications of these flows? Migration within a nation st...

We examine the partner choice patterns of second-generation Turks in 13 European cities in seven countries. We not only compare intermarriage versus endogamous marriage, but also explicitly include the choice of a second-generation partner of the same origin and of a partner of other migrant origin as important alternatives. In Europe, populations...

div> Family-related migration is moving to the center of political debates on migration, integration, and multiculturalism in Europe. Still, strands of academic research on family migrations and migrant families remain separate from- and sometimes ignorant of – each other. This volume seeks to bridge the disciplinary divide. Collectively, the autho...

This report provides an overview of recent immigration and settlement patterns for the four study countries. The most recent available statistics are used and patterns over the past decade are described. Characteristics of the immigration flows (among other origin, age, and gender), as well as, other issues related to settlement (for example nation...

We examine the partner choice patterns of second-generation Turks in 13 European cities in seven countries. We not only compare intermarriage versus endogamous marriage, but also explicitly include the choice of a second-generation partner of the same origin and of a partner of other migrant origin as important alternatives. In Europe, populations...

Research into interethnic marriages is mainly oriented towards union formation by non-western migrants. European binational marriages are still understudied. However, as is often assumed, in intermarried relationships group boundaries are blurring, European binational couples are particularly interesting because of the contribution they potentially...

This study explores and compares gender-role behavior of second-generation Turks in six European countries. On the individual level, we study the role of gender ideology and consequences of (transnational) partner choice on four aspects of gender-role behavior; childcare, routine household tasks, financial matters, and income contribution. Furtherm...

This article is an introduction to the special issue on family life transitions of children of immigrants, i.e. the second generation. We will sketch a picture of the second generation in Europe, discuss the background of these groups, their position in European societies and their transition to adulthood. We furthermore introduce new questions wit...

This paper examines the influence of contact outside one’s own ethnic group on four different aspects of union formation among the Turkish and Moroccan second generation in the Netherlands. Non-co-ethnic networks offer potentially different views on union formation compared to the families of origin and may thus be relevant for the choices young ad...