Volume 19 - Article 48 | Pages 1693-1726

The influence of parents on cohabitation in Italy - Insights from two regional contexts


Date received:	30 Aug 2007
Date published:	23 Sep 2008
Word count:	18202
Keywords:	cohabitation, Italy, out-of-wedlock, qualitative methods, transition to adulthood, union formation
DOI:	10.4054/DemRes.2008.19.48
Updated Items:	The following sentence was added to the end of page 1722 on October 6, 2008: "This paper is part of a dissertation project, which was funded by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock (Germany) and by the land Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania."

Abstract

In view of the demographic changes that affect all European countries, the diffusion of new living arrangements such as non-marital cohabitation is particularly interesting. In this article we concentrate on Italy, a country that is characterized by a low pace in the diffusion of cohabitation. Earlier studies found statistical evidence of the impact of parents’ characteristics on young adults’ decisions for cohabitation. However, there is only limited empirical knowledge about the actual mechanism through which parents influence the choices of their children. We employ qualitative research methods and focus on two regional contexts in order to analyze if and how parents intervene in the choices of young adults.