The timing of the first childbirth is studied using information about characteristics of both partners. The context specificity of the determinants of childbearing is examined by comparing couples with and without cohabitation experience. The sociocultural specificity is studied using data from the Netherlands and Flanders. Discusses findings. (KW)

This article describes the differences and similarities among some OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries in educating special needs students. Although there are large differences in the type of provision made, when the process of inclusion is examined, there are more similarities than differences. OECD countries…

In the scientific literature, the debate around the school and class effect is polarized, because the variance between schools and classes is explained either by school and class process or by group composition. The first aim of this article is to shed light on this debate and move beyond it by reviewing qualitative and quantitative studies…

This paper presents findings of a study that examined changing governance structures in the educational systems of several European countries. The reforms have developed new modalities for the content, standards, administration, and control of education. Special attention is given to the relation between the reforms in authority structures and the…

A study of the current expressed reading interests of children in the first two years of school conducted in ten countries--Austria, Canada, England, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Panama, Sweden, and the United States--is reported in this paper. Over 2,000 children drew pictures about what they would best like to read or have read to…

The relationship of the 1964 forms of the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal to four selected noncognitive measures was studied. Results suggest performance on the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal is independent of sex, neurotic and rigid personality characteristics, and extroversion-introversion factors. (BJG)

Contributes to scholarship on the effects of television on children. Finds that the most important characteristics valued by both Dutch and U.S. children 6 to 11 years old were comprehensibility and action, closely followed by humor, "interestingness,""innocuousness," realism, violence, and romance. Finds boys in both samples…

Describes the design of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and results for Dutch students in grade 8. Presents these results in an international perspective and discusses differences between the results of these Dutch students on the written test (far above the international mean) and in the performance assessment (close…

We currently know little about why vocational education has evolved very differently in countries with very similar economic and social backgrounds; there are few studies which address the historical development of national vocational education systems from a comparative perspective. This article is intended to fill this gap a little. It describes…

In comparing research conducted in the Netherlands and the United States on parental reports of child behavior, this document reports several studies in which Dutch parents of children ages 3 to 36 months completed a translated version of Bates' Infant Characteristics Questionnaire (ICQ). In the first part of the Dutch study, 7,000 parents…

The influences of white Dutch and black Surinamer differences in skin color, accent, speech style, and spoken fluency on police officers' perceptions were examined for 173 Dutch police officers. Results provide empirical support for the existence of nonverbal communication errors in cross-cultural police-citizen interactions. (SLD)

Studied attachment behaviors in indigenous Dutch and Surinam-Dutch immigrant mothers and infants. In the Surinam-Dutch group, maternal responsiveness was related to quality of attachment. Surinam-Dutch mothers scored significantly lower on a responsiveness scale than did Dutch mothers. Other cultural differences are noted. (Author/BB)

Examines how various cultural communication practices and perceptions affected the way in which individuals from different cultures perceived the same negotiation process. Demonstrates that culture affected how Dutch and Chinese observers perceived and interpreted the same videotaped Chinese-Dutch negotiation. (SR)

Random samples of 786 Indianapolis, Indiana, residents and 413 residents of The Netherlands were interviewed in a study of media-related gratifications. Although the Dutch and American cultures and media systems differ considerably, a number of striking similarities emerged in the findings of this study, including similarities for the relative…

The twin rationales for this study are: (1) that the educational implications of metropolitan conditions deserve further study; and (2) that these implications transcend national boundaries. The study focuses on two facets of metropolitan school systems located in four metropolises: the characteristics of teachers and the patterns of perceived…