Is marriage losing its centrality in Italy?

Unlike the countries of north-western Europe, marriage in Italy has maintained a crucial role in the process of family formation. This raise doubts about the possibility that the theory of "second demographic transition" could adequately account for the behaviour of the European population living south of the Alps. The aim of this paper is twofold: to provide some empirical evidence that cohabitation is now spreading in Italy; and to propose an explanation of the delay of its diffusion until the 1990s. The hypothesis proposed here explains the delay, not so much in terms of limited interest of the Italian youth towards this type of union, but with the convenience of the children in the Mediterranean area to avoid choices which are openly clashing with the values of parents.cohabitation, Italy, strong family ties

Intergenerational family ties and the diffusion of cohabitation in Italy

Cohabitation has been spreading in the population during the last thirty years, and this is one of the most striking aspects of wider social changes that have taken place throughout the industrialized world. However, this change did not take place uniformly across Europe. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the current debate around the compatibility of cohabitation experiences with the Italian cultural context. Using an individual-level diffusion approach we obtain results that are consistent with the crucial role that family ties play in the choice of cohabitation in place of (or before) marriage.cohabitation, diffusion, family ties, first union, Italy

Lowest-Low Fertility: Signs of a recovery in Italy?

This study aims to describe the process of birth postponement and recovery in Italy, a country with persistent very low fertility levels. The case of Italy is particularly significant given that this country carries great demographic weight in "Southern Europe"; an area characterized by cultural and institutional specificities which have important implications for the timing of family formation and the final number of children. We use data recently published by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (Istat), applying a cohort approach to show changes in CTFRs and the timing of births for the 1950-1980 cohorts. In order to further evaluate the evolution of Italian “fertility ageing†across social groups (with a focus on female education) we also use individual level data from the 2003 Istat multipurpose survey “Famiglia e soggetti socialiâ€. We find that a recovery is presently in progress in the northern regions of Italy, even if not all postponed births are recovered. As expected, signs of recovery are above all evident among the youngest generations and more educated women.cohort fertility, education, fertility recovery, Italy, low fertility

Interdependence between sexual debut and church attendance in Italy

The influence of religion on an individual’s life-course in general – and on sexual behaviour in particular – has long been recognised by social scientists, although few studies have explored the reciprocal causal interdependence between religiosity and sexual debut, mainly in an overwhelmingly Catholic European context. In this paper, we study the dynamic bi-directional effect between first coital experience and discontinuance of church attendance among a representative sample of Italian students. Both effects work, contrasting the results of other authors regarding the USA, where only the effect of religion on sex has been detected. The present results do not change when the two processes are considered simultaneously and unobserved heterogeneity is taken into account. Some possible explanations are discussed.college students, Italy, religion, sexual debut, unobserved heterogeneity

Is marriage losing its centrality in Italy?

Unlike the countries of north-western Europe, marriage in Italy has maintained a crucial role in the process of family formation. This raise doubts about the possibility that the theory of "second demographic transition" could adequately account for the behaviour of the European population living south of the Alps. The aim of this paper is twofold: to provide some empirical evidence that cohabitation is now spreading in Italy; and to propose an explanation of the delay of its diffusion until the 1990s. The hypothesis proposed here explains the delay, not so much in terms of limited interest of the Italian youth towards this type of union, but with the convenience of the children in the Mediterranean area to avoid choices which are openly clashing with the values of parents

An analysis of extremely high 19th century winter neonatal mortality in a local context of northeastern Italy

Beginning in the mid-seventeenth century, infant mortality in Veneto (a region in northeastern Italy) began to increase, starting at 250‰ and rising to 350‰ by the mid-nineteenth century—one of the highest levels ever recorded in modern Europe. This dramatic change - in a period of worsening economic conditions - was due to variations in winter neonatal mortality, which was 3–4 times higher in Veneto than in other areas with similar winter temperatures (such as England). We combine micro-data on neonatal mortality with daily data on temperatures for a specific context during the period of 1816–1868 characterized by very high neonatal mortality. We find that the risk of death was particularly intense during the first week of life and strongly correlated with external minimum temperature. Through a comparison of these results with other findings in the literature, we suggest that the increase in winter neonatal mortality in Veneto could have principally been caused by the deteriorating physical condition of mothers, lessening the 'quality' of infants who consequently were quite susceptible to cold temperatures.À partir du milieu du 17e siècle, la mortalité infantile à Veneto (région au Nord-Est de l'Italie) a augmenté, passant de 250‰ à 350‰ au milieu du 19e siècle, l'un des niveaux les plus élevés jamais enregistrés dans l'Europe moderne. Cette évolution dramatique – dans une période de dégradation du contexte économique – était dûe aux fluctuations de la mortalité néonatale pendant l'hiver, mortalité qui était à Veneto 3 à 4 fois supérieure à celle d'autres régions ayant des températures hivernales similaires (telles que l’Angleterre). Dans cette analyse, nous avons combiné des microdonnées sur la mortalité néonatale avec les températures quotidiennes relevées dans un contexte régional spécifique au cours de la période 1816–1868, caractérisée par une mortalité néonatale très élevée. Il apparaît que le risque de décès a été particulièrement élevé pendant la première semaine de vie et fortement corrélé avec la température extérieure minimale. A partir d'une comparaison de ces résultats avec d'autres retrouvés dans la littérature, nous émettons l'hypothèse que l'augmentation de la mortalité néonatale en hiver à Veneto était principalement causée par une dégradation de la condition physique des mères, diminuant la "qualité" des enfants et les rendant par conséquent plus sensibles aux basses températures

Forever young? Prevalence and correlates of feeling old

Counting the number of birthdays a person has experienced from birth until a certain point in time i.e. chronological age, is a crude measure of ageing. Individuals with the same chronological age and health, may have different perceptions of ageing. We use a unique dataset, representative of the Italian population aged 65-74, to explore the factors associated with the perception of feeling old

Lowest-Low Fertility: Signs of a recovery in Italy?

This study aims to describe the process of birth postponement and recovery in Italy, a country with persistent very low fertility levels. The case of Italy is particularly significant given that this country carries great demographic weight in "Southern Europe"; an area characterized by cultural and institutional specificities which have important implications for the timing of family formation and the final number of children. We use data recently published by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (Istat), applying a cohort approach to show changes in CTFRs and the timing of births for the 1950-1980 cohorts. In order to further evaluate the evolution of Italian "fertility ageing" across social groups (with a focus on female education) we also use individual level data from the 2003 Istat multipurpose survey "Famiglia e soggetti sociali". We find that a recovery is presently in progress in the northern regions of Italy, even if not all postponed births are recovered. As expected, signs of recovery are above all evident among the youngest generations and more educated women

There is no evidence of a COVID-19 baby boom in Europe – but there is of a bust

Francesca Luppi, Bruno Arpino,and Alessandro Rosina find that the effect of the pandemic on fertility intentions is negative across Europe. Such consequences only exacerbate the effects of the Great Recession, as both crises have affected the fertility plans of the same generation

The decision of whether to have a child: does couple disagreement matter?

Most of the international studies on fertility are based on a female perspective. A major difficulty in couple-level research is the need for high-quality data that includes information on both partners. Using couple data from a longitudinal study conducted in Italy [2003-2007], a country with persistently low fertility levels, we examined the effect of disagreement within a couple about childbearing behaviour. The starting point was the hypothesis advanced in an earlier study that Italian women prevail in reproductive decision-making, because childbearing lies mainly in their sphere of influence. The data revealed that the decision rules are parityspecific. At parities zero and one, the disagreement produced an intermediate childbearing outcome irrespective of which partner wanted a(nother) child; while at higher parities, an asymmetrical veto power model in which the female partner had greater influence was observed. The findings suggest that the predictive power of short-term fertility intentions strongly improves if both partners' views are considered in fertility models, and thus support the adoption of couple analysis in fertility research