This article presents results of a qualitative analysis based on biographic narratives of three young, well-educated women from Syria. They arrived in the Netherlands between 2015 and 2017 in the context of family reunion. The central question is how young Syrian women navigate between two major projects that ask for their agency, being family and work. It is argued that both occupational career development and the building of a family are ‘agentic projects’ that aim to contribute to the establishment of a new life and to regain continuity. The analyses demonstrate that both projects are closely intertwined. Agency emerges as highly relational and intersecting with the women’s position in the life course, timing of life events, ability to adapt career goals to the new situation, and impact of social contexts on family relations.
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Parental support is vital for the well-being and resilience of children with a refugee background as they navigate resettlement. However, providing such parental support is challenging for parents facing significant life changes due to involuntary migration and are unfamiliar with their new society. This study distinguishes between emotional and informational support, focusing on whether parents prioritize informational parental support–involving advice or exchanging information–and examines its determinants. We applied a multiple linear regression model on a data set with 254 recently-arrived refugee parents of 10- to 16-year-olds. Results indicate that informational support is predicted by both the parent's educational level as well as their Dutch language proficiency. We conclude that enhancing language proficiency is crucial to empower parents in offering more informational support to their children, aiding their understanding of the new society.
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Every year, thousands of young people arrive in the Netherlands because they have had to flee their country of origin. Having left behind life as they had known it, they must become accustomed to a new, unfamiliar society. This dissertation focuses on young people (aged 8 to 17 years) who have been granted official ‘refugee’ status and resettled in the Netherlands together with family members. It aims to understand how they experience the years immediately after resettlement.
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