Suchergebnisse

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.

Women's status is a multidimensional concept. A growing body of literature strongly suggests that gender inequality has a significant impact on the demographic transition and on the socio-economic development of countries. The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationships between fertility and women's autonomy in different cultural contexts. Data collected through three surveys conducted in Botswana, South Africa and Rajasthan are analysed. Women, aged 15-49, were interviewed to obtain information about their reproductive life histories and educational and work status. Regression models and causal log-linear models are applied to describe the role of different aspects of women's autonomy on fertility. The results of the analysis carried out show some similarities and also very large differences. In particular, the women of Rajasthan have less autonomy (in terms of women's status) than do the women of Botswana and South Africa.

Les jeunes Italiens ne quittent pas facilement leur famille, car elle leur offre a la fois protection, confort et liberté. S'ils partent pour former un couple, ils choisissent une relation stable, presque invariablement sanctionnée, tôt ou tard, par le mariage. Comme ils ne décident d'avoir des enfants qu'après avoir obtenu diplôme, emploi et logement convenable, l'apparition d'un « syndrome de l'ajournement » concentre les décisions de procréation dans une tranche d'âge qui s'amenuise. La cohabitation prolongée des jeunes adultes avec leurs parents et la limitation des naissances découlent logiquement de ce que l'on a appelé le « familisme italien », qui consiste à maximiser l'utilité de la famille, identifiée avec l'utilité individuelle. La faible fécondité était aussi bien adaptée à l'austérité des années 1990, car elle permettait aux familles de protéger leur niveau de vie. En outre, les transferts sociaux destinés aux jeunes Italiens sont parmi les plus, faibles en Europe. Il sera intéressant de voir si l'amélioration de la situation économique contribuera à renverser les tendances récentes.

AbstractMany scholars share the assumption that demographic patterns in the world are converging over time. The present study analyses the temporal trends of specific parameters of mortality and fertility—together with certain socio-economic indicators—in 95 less and least developed countries during the period 1990–2015 and discusses whether mortality and fertility trends are convergent or divergent. We apply dynamic factor analysis and cluster analysis of trajectories to macro-data from major international sources. The results show that a large number of countries have a convergent trend in mortality, but sub-Saharan African countries affected by the HIV–AIDS epidemic show non-monotonic temporal trends. Trends in fertility are delayed and unclear and depend on individual attitudes and levels of women's empowerment. Fifty-two out of the 95 observed countries are collocated in similar mortality and fertility groups. Finally, countries at an advanced economic stage made the best improvements, while the least developed ones retained their deep pre-existing inequalities.