Things change: Women’s and men’s marital disruption dynamics in Italy during a time of social transformations, 1970-2003

We study women’s and men’s marital disruption in Italy between 1970 and 2003. By applying an event-history analysis to the 2003 Italian variant of the Generations and Gender Survey we found that the spread of marital disruption started among middle-highly educated women. Then in recent years it appears that less educated women have also been able to dissolve their unhappy unions. Overall we can see the beginning of a reversed educational gradient from positive to negative. In contrast the trend in men’s marital disruption risk appears as a change over time common to all educational groups, although with persisting educational differentials.determinants, educational differences, event history analysis, gender difference, Italy, marital disruption

Religion and union formation in Italy: Catholic precepts, social pressure, and tradition

Background: Italy is customarily viewed as a traditional Catholic country. At the same time, couples are increasingly living together without marrying. Establishing links between religion and family formation is a complex issue and little is known about specific mechanisms through which religion shapes family change in the country. Objective: We aim to shed light on which aspects of religion are important in decisions about family formation. Methods: We analyze data from eight focus group interviews conducted in Florence. In the transcripts we identify any references to religion and systematically compare categories to investigate how religiosity intertwines with relationship choices. We apply bottom-up coding procedures to identify meaning and concepts within three theoretically relevant areas: Catholic precepts, social pressure, and tradition. Results: Despite the predominance of religion in the studied setting, Italians behave without according much importance to Catholic precepts and dogmas. Religion seems to influence people's family behaviors through social pressures to marry generated by the family of origin and the judgment of 'others'. Tradition also plays an important role. Conclusions: The widely prevailing pressure of parents and peers and the hedonistic aspects of the traditional Church wedding seem to be more important in partnership formation than Catholic prescripts. Thus, we posit that the direct effect of religion on individual choices is overestimated when interpreting the Italian family. In addition, we note the divergence that exists between the lack of state laws concerning consensual unions and the acceptance of cohabitation on an individual basis

Uncertain lives: Insights into the role of job precariousness in union formation in Italy

Background: Growing economic uncertainty has become an intrinsic characteristic of contemporary globalized societies in which an increasing number of people are moving in and out of jobs that may give little meaning to their lives. Among other things, economic uncertainty may affect union formation practices. Objective: In this study we address the relationship between employment uncertainty and union formation in Italy. The country typifies a unique case-study in light of its familistic organization, but remains largely under-studied in this respect. Methods: We adopt a mixed-method approach. The qualitative analysis - conducted with focus group techniques - provided an in-depth understanding into the mechanisms of how job precariousness may affect individual perceptions and beliefs on union formation in Italy. The quantitative analysis - conducted through event-history techniques - verified how strong these mechanisms are at the population level. Results: The qualitative exploration allows us to advance the hypothesis - new for the Italian setting - that labor market uncertainty favors cohabitation while employment stability facilitates marriage. The subsequent quantitative analysis provided strong support for this hypothesis for the female population. For men, the largest contrast was found between any work and no work. Contribution: Our findings support the idea that in Italy cohabitation - in contrast to marriage - is more compatible with employment uncertainties of today's labor market. These reflections are valid for women and employed men: When faced with uncertain prospects, they seem to prefer cohabitation to marriage in the light of its more uncertain nature. Alternatively, they might decide to postpone marriage until their outlook on life is more optimistic