Migrants' choices pertaining to informal childcare in Italy and France: A complex relationship between the origin and destination countries

Childcare is a need that inevitably emerges once migrants establish themselves and their families in their destination country. However, migrants' use of informal childcare still constitutes an under‐researched phenomenon. Using data from the ‘Social Condition and Integration of Foreign Citizens’ survey (2011–2012) for Italy and the ‘Trajectoires et Origines’ survey (2008–2009) for France, this paper examines differences between migrants living in the two countries in terms of their use of informal childcare and, more specifically, their informal childcare arrangements. We employ a comparative analysis because we hypothesised that parental choices would depend on the migrants' region of origin, the institutional context of their destination country and the interplay between these two elements. The results suggest that migrants' choices stem from a complex relationship between the norms and beliefs of the country of origin and those in the destination country, which are generally characterised by different family policies and levels of childcare availability. We show that the use of informal childcare is higher among migrants in Italy than it is among those in France, even among migrants from the same region of origin. The results also suggest that the use of particular informal childcare arrangements varies by region of origin regardless of destination country, supporting the hypothesis that migrants' cultural values and beliefs play a critical role in determining childcare arrangements. Finally, we demonstrate that household composition and parents' occupational status strongly influence migrants' childcare choices

Informal childcare arrangements: a comparison between Italians and migrants

As migrants settle in their destination country, for those who reunited the family or after childbirth childcare becomes a priority. Most studies on migrants’ childcare arrangements have focused on parental use of formal childcare rather than on different informal childcare solutions by analysing only families with preschool-age children. Italy poses an interesting case study because its welfare system is characterised by a familistic model of care, based on solidarity between generations. In familistic countries, migrants’ childcare solutions are more constrained. In this study, we analysed differences in informal childcare needs and arrangements for children younger than 14 between Italians and migrants from different countries of origin. We merged two surveys conducted by the Italian National Statistics Institute in 2011–2012: ‘Social Condition and Integration of Foreign Citizens’, a sample of households with at least one migrant with foreign citizenship, and ‘Multiscopo—Aspects of Daily Life’, a sample of households in Italy. We found that household composition and parents’ employment status play an important role in shaping informal childcare arrangements. Overall, migrants are less likely to use informal childcare, especially grandparents, than Italians but when they do, they rely more on other relatives and non-relatives than Italians. Moreover, differences emerge across migrant subgroups. This study is the first in Italy to contribute to an understanding of the role of migrant status in determining parents’ childcare arrangements for children up to 13 years

Rapporto sulla popolazione. Le molte facce della presenza straniera in Italia

Al di là delle emergenze recenti, l’immigrazione straniera è un fenomeno le cui origini risalgono a circa quaranta anni fa: proprio i demografi italiani furono tra i primi a segnalarne l’importanza, analizzandone cause, caratteristiche e conseguenze. Questo Rapporto permette di seguire la pluridecennale evoluzione dell’immigrazione e della presenza straniera in Italia, con attenzione alle specificità dei diversi contesti territoriali. Una ricca e affidabile documentazione statistica consente di illustrare le origini e le caratteristiche degli stranieri, i loro comportamenti demografici, l’inserimento nel mercato del lavoro e le condizioni di integrazione. Tra le questioni affrontate si segnalano quelle, rilevantissime, dei profughi, della cittadinanza e delle seconde generazioni

Intentions on desired length of stay among immigrants in Italy

Abstract The decision to emigrate from the country of origin may not be a permanent one: migrants can decide to return home or to emigrate to a third country. This phenomenon, established for some time in certain other European countries, has become an important one for Italy only recently. This paper contributes to the knowledge of migrants’ intentions in two ways: on the one hand, it analyses the factors associated with indecision about future plans; on the other, it focuses on the desired length of stay and its relationship with attachments (family, economic, socio-cultural and psychological) to host and home country. We used two logistic regression models: one for migrants’ indecision and the other for migrants’ desired length of stay. The data were collected by survey, coordinated by the ISMU Foundation and conducted in 2008 and 2009 with more than 12,000 migrants living in Italy. According to our results, indecision seems to be associated with an intermediate phase of migration at the early stage of family development in the case of negative balance of the migration experience, while attachment to the host country is associated with longer stay, and no attachments or attachment to the country of origin are associated with shorter stay

Crescere insieme, studiare insieme? Un'indagine sulle seconde generazioni in dieci regioni italiane

Collana ISM

Albanesi e marocchini in Italia: cosa dicono i dati ufficiali?

In questo capitolo ci si concentra esclusivamente sull’Italia, fornendo, in primo luogo, un quadro di riferimento sia sugli aspetti prettamente quantitativi (consistenza numerica della presenza legale e valutazione di quella illegale), sia sulle principali caratteristiche di albanesi e marocchini che emergono dalle fonti ufficiali disponibili. Si mostra inoltre come, nel corso degli ultimi anni, sia cambiato il volto di queste collettività e come siano riscontrabili a livello territoriale differenze collegabili al diverso grado di inserimento di albanesi e marocchini nei vari contesti locali

Famiglie e nuove famiglie

nell'ambito del rapporto sulla popolazione italiana, il saggio analizza le principali trasformazioni avvenute recentemente nelle tipolgie familiari italiane: dalle famiglie unipersonali alle famiglie ricostituite, dalle famiglie monogenitore alle famiglie degli stranieri e transnazionali

Il ruolo delle variabili individuali e delle realtà d???insediamento nell???integrazione degli immigrati

Il capitolo propone, con un approccio quantitativo, un'interessante analisi ad hoc che considera congiuntamente nei percorsi di integrazione le caratteristiche individuali dei migranti (fra cui età, sesso, istruzione, cittadinanza, anzianità migratoria, legame con il paese d'origine, rimesse) e le specificità dei luoghi di insediamento (fra cui PIL pro-capite, quota di abbandoni scolastici, incidenza degli immigrati sulla popolazione totale). Tale lavoro conferma l'importanza delle determinanti individuali e mostra quanto siano influenti le diverse realtà territoriali di inserimento dei migranti per comprendere e definire meglio i diversi percorsi di integrazione. In particolare, nei contesti ???estremi???, quelli in cui è più forte l'esclusione sociale (alti tassi di dispersione scolastica) e quelli a maggiore benessere economico (elevato PIL pro-capite), il livello di integrazione degli stranieri risulta minore anche se per motivazioni probabilmente differenti