The influence of social support on the wellbeing of immigrants residing in Italy: Sources and functions as predictive factors for life satisfaction levels, sense of community and resilience

Moving from one country to another involves not only separation from the country of origin, but also the tiring process of integration into a new physical, institutional, and sociocultural context, which may expose migrants to acculturation stress. The loss of former support networks, or at the very least their transformation, presents immigrants with the need to rebuild their social support systems in the host country, involving an active search for support. Therefore, the aim of study is to analyze the structure of informal social support and its capacity to predict immigrants’ sense of community, resilience, and satisfaction with life. The results confirm that social support predicts satisfaction with life, sense of community, and resilience. Our findings highlight the way sources and frequency of support, and the satisfaction with which they are associated, have different degrees of predictive value on the dependent variables under investigation. In this study, it can be concluded that social support is an important factor in the well-being of migrants and their integration into the host community. The results have an important practical value in promoting interventions that improve immigrants’ support networks and, consequently, increase their satisfaction with life, sense of community, and resilience

The Effectiveness of Contract Farming for Raising Income of Smallholder Farmers in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: a Systematic Review

Contract farming is used by an increasing number of firms as a preferred modality to source products from smallholder farmers in low and middle-income countries. Quality requirements of consumers, economies of scale in production or land ownership rights are common incentives for firms to offer contractual arrangements to farmers. Prices and access to key technology, key inputs or support services are the main incentives for farmers to enter into these contracts. There is great heterogeneity in contract farming, with differences in contracts, farmers, products, buyers, and institutional environments. The last decade shows a rapid increase in studies that use quasi-experimental research designs to assess the effects of specific empirical instances of contract farming on smallholders. The objective of this systematic review was to distill generalised inferences from this rapidly growing body of evidence. The review synthesised the studies in order to answer two questions: 1: What is known about the effect size of contract farming on income and food security of smallholder farmers in low- and middle-income countries? 2: Under which enabling or limiting conditions are contract farming arrangements effective for improving income and food security of smallholders

Cultural identification, perceived discrimination and sense of community as predictors of life satisfaction among foreign partners of intercultural families in Italy and Spain: A transnational study

The  aim  of  this  paper  was  to  analyze  how  cultural  identification,  perceived  discrimination   and  the  sense  of  community  are  related  to  life  satisfaction  among  foreign  partners  in  intercultural   families.   The  study  compared  105  and  95  foreign  partners  in  mixed  families  resident  in  Italy  and  Spain,   respectively.  The  phenomenon  in  both  countries  displays  similar  sociodemographic  aspects.  In   contrast  to  Social  Identity  Theory,  the  results  show  that  in  both  groups  the  foreign  partner's   identification  with  their  own  ethnic-­‐cultural  group  is  not  associated  with  life  satisfaction,  nor  does  it   increase  perceived  discrimination.  In  turn,  increased  perceived  discrimination  leads  to  a  decreased   sense  of  community  and  life  satisfaction  among  foreigners.  Regarding  religion,  interreligious  couples  in   Italy  perceive  more  discrimination  than  mono-­‐religious  couples.  Finally,  we  found  that  a  low  sense  of   discrimination  and  a  strong  sense  of  community  is  related  to  life  satisfaction  among  mixed  families  in   both  groups.  The  implications  of  the  study  are  described  and  suggestions  for  future  research  discussed