Ondanks 'keuzebiografie' blijft de keuze beperkt: participatie naar levensfase.

In the current Dutch policy the emphasis is on the participation of all citizens. This study focuses on the general population’s participation through the perspective of the life course. This perspective makes it possible to study the participation of people during different phases of their life as well as the correlation between participation, work and childcare. 1142 members of the Dutch Health Care Consumer Panel (COPA) administered a questionnaire about participation and satisfaction with participation. The boundaries between the life phases are more diffuse than before, but the classification youth-adulthood-old age is still recognizable. Participation and satisfaction with the participation not only vary by life phases, but also by the area of participation. During the phase, in which people have children many activities are combined, especially by people in paid employment. People without physical disabilities go out more often, but they don’t more often volunteer neither do they have more social contacts. We concluded that people cannot always choose how to live their lives. Certain aspects of participation like work and/or family can promote or impede other aspects of participation like volunteer work or leisure activities. (aut. ref.