“Mamma” and the Diffusion of Cohabitation: The Italian Case

Alessandro Rosina, Università Cattolica, Milan

In this paper we explore the role of parental attitudes in the likelihood to start cohabiting in Italy. The Italian context is characterized by a low prevalence of cohabitation, and by the presence of particularly strong ties between parents and children. Following Rosina and Fraboni (2004) we hypothesize that the limited diffusion of cohabitation in Italy is not so much due to the limited interest of the Italian youth towards this type of union, but most of all to the convenience of the children in the “familistic” Italian society to avoid choices which are openly clashing with the values of parents. To test this hypothesis, we use data from a new survey on Italian youth and their mothers and model the likelihood to start cohabiting. Our preliminary results (on women only) document the importance of the societal context (i.e. the area of residence) but also of the perceived parental attitude.