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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze whether and to what extent households living in southern Europe, i.e. Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy, experience similar conditions of financial vulnerability, considering that in comparative research these countries are often grouped together because of the substantial instability of their economies and the similarity of social and welfare model.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use data from Household Finance and Consumption Survey, a quite novel data set that covers the whole balance sheet of a sample of households. The authors compute four indicators of debt burden and in order to study households' risk of default the authors apply two-part model, which is a valuable alternative to the application of conventional regression models with zero-inflated data.FindingsAnalysis reveals that the burden of debts and the risk of default are very different among the four countries, in particular Spain and Portugal have the highest proportion of financially vulnerable households.Originality/valueThe study is one a few that have directly compared objectives indicators of households' financial vulnerability in all Southern European countries. Moreover, the authors employ a two-part model, a valuable alternative to the application of conventional logit or linear regression models. In the first part of the model the authors estimate the probability that households suffer financial vulnerability; in the second part, the authors estimate households' level of vulnerability only for vulnerable families.

Purpose– Poverty is one of the most significant economic and social problems that European countries have to face. In recent years, it has become widely accepted that poverty is a multidimensional concept and now many studies use indicators of deprivation to examine the phenomenon. The focus on financial resources alone does not capture people's quality of life as being poor means a lack of access to resources enabling a minimum standard of living and participation in the society within which one belongs. The paper aims to discuss this issue.Design/methodology/approach– Using a longitudinal component (2006-2010) of EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions data on 26 European countries, the author apply a second-order confirmatory factor analysis to estimate deprivation. To describe the patterns of change over time and to evaluate the role of household characteristics in deprivation level, the author employ a set of multilevel growth curve models.Findings– Three findings clearly stand out from my analysis. First, there is great variability in deprivation between European countries. Second, European countries show various patterns of change in deprivation over time. Third, households with different characteristics have quite different deprivation levels; moreover, the impact of household characteristics on deprivation can vary over time and between countries.Originality/value– This paper sheds light on the importance of analysing deprivation from a longitudinal perspective and that financial resources alone does not capture people's quality of life.

PurposeTransplantation extends and improves lives, but the shortage of organs is one of the main factors limiting the number of transplants in Italy, as well as in other countries. This study investigated the awareness about organ donation and the socio-demographic factors associated with donation will in a general population.Design/methodology/approachIn 2019, a survey was carried out by computer-assisted web interviewing. A questionnaire was sent via e-mail to 39,360 individuals (i.e. students, administrative and teaching staff of the University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy). The response rate was 10.6% and 4,191 weighted cases were used in the analysis.FindingsThis study showed a strong, positive attitude towards donation: over 96% of respondents stated to be keen on organ donation. Of the respondents, 40.8% considered themselves informed on medical procedures involving organ donation, and only 15.8% thought to have sufficient legal information. Overall, only 17.7% of respondents thought that the information available was sufficient to make informed decisions. According to the respondents, ethical and religious implications were the main reasons (30% of answers) that limited the level of information. Just 57.9% of respondents had already recorded their willingness to donate. Among them, renewal of the identity card was the most common motivation (55.8%) and the main motivation reported for lack of expression of donation will was the lack of opportunity or time (61.5%).Originality/valueA positive attitude towards donation demands a wide public education programme and opportunities to declare one's will to donate to increase the population of potential organ donors.

The book focuses on a well-established stream of research on disability which, both internationally and nationally, has proved fruitful in theoretical and analytical aspect, and was certainly fundamental in the process that led to the recognition of the rights of people with disabilities and the implementation of inclusive policies. The rigorous analysis present in all the chapters of the book also highlight the wide distance between the principles that guide the reflection on this issue, the policies for disability and the living conditions that people with disabilities experience daily. From the book emerges that the challenge is not merely the recognition of the rights of persons with disabilities but also making these rights enforceable. For this to be possible, both efficient and effective policies and a cultural change which recognizes disabled people "as part of human diversity and humanity" is necessary. This means placing at the center of discussion the aspirations and the empowerment of people with disabilities. The book is designed for scholars of disability, but also for social operators who work with disabled people.

During the last decades, researchers have shown an increased attention towards the practice of health information seeking online. This interest has been driven by a desire to understand how it influences health beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors among laypersons. Although many tools have been proposed to measure health information seeking, they present some limits. Through an online survey among 783 Italian university students, our study aims at developing a self-report instrument to measure individuals' online health information-seeking behavior, the Online Self-care Scale (OSS), considering the twofold activity of seeking and employing information (the "Information seeking" and "Self-care practice"). We examined the reliability and construct validity of the OSS's self-report scale and explored the association between Online Self-Care Scale and gender, socioeconomic status (SES), self-reported health status, and digital health literacy. Our findings show both acceptable discriminant and convergent validities for the OSS. The validity has also been assessed through the known-group validity, namely evaluating if OSS can discriminate between groups of individuals demonstrating different scores on the test. Therefore, the OSS Scale is a valid and reliable instrument to measure the level of involvement of individuals in health information retrieval, allowing researchers to distinguish between a merely information-seeking activity and an application of the information by the seekers.

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the extent to which family roles and settings can mediate the impact of unemployment on psychological well-being among Italian households.Design/methodology/approachUsing the European Health Interview Survey data for 2015, the authors adopt linear regression models to evaluate the effect of family settings on the mental health outcomes of unemployment, in particular on the likelihood of developing depression. The latter is measured using the internationally validated Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8). Since the gender gap in occupation has not ceased to exist in Italy, special attention is paid to the differences between males and females in the workforce.FindingsThe results suggest that involvement in parental roles has a moderating influence on unemployment mental health outcomes among both men and women, although it has a higher effect on the female workforce. Moreover, the study shows that "not living far from the family of origin" could be considered a crucial moderating factor for both gender categories.Originality/valueThe novelty of this paper lies in its consideration of the implications the social definition of gender roles may have on gender-related expectancies and attributions in life domains, such as work and family.

AbstractDiscrimination has a negative impact on immigrants' health and contributes to the (re)production of health inequalities. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of perceived discrimination on physical and mental health outcomes of migrants living in Italy. Data were taken from the Social Condition and Integration of Foreign Citizens (SCIF) survey, conducted in 2011–2012 in Italy, namely the first national survey that investigates social condition and integration of foreign citizens. In order to assess the association between perceived discrimination and both physical and mental health of immigrants, two binomial logistic regression models were fitted. The main finding of our study is that, also in Italy, perceived ethnic discrimination is associated with worse health outcomes, therefore, policymakers should develop and implement public interventions aimed at reducing health inequalities with the rest of the population and at promoting migrants' social integration.