Volume 31 - Article 35 | Pages 1079–1106  

Religion and union formation in Italy: Catholic precepts, social pressure, and tradition

By Daniele Vignoli, Silvana Salvini

This article is part of the Special Collection 17 „Focus on Partnerships: Discourses on cohabitation and marriage throughout Europe and Australia“

Abstract

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.

Author’s Affiliation

• Daniele Vignoli - Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy EMAIL
• Silvana Salvini - Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

Uncertain lives: Insights into the role of job precariousness in union formation in Italy
Volume 35 - Article 10

Things change: Women’s and men’s marital disruption dynamics in Italy during a time of social transformations, 1970-2003
Volume 24 - Article 5

Socio-economic differences in ART treatment success: Evidence from Italy
Volume 53 - Article 20

‘Silver splits’ in Europe: The role of grandchildren and other correlates
Volume 46 - Article 21

Union formation under conditions of uncertainty: The objective and subjective sides of employment uncertainty
Volume 45 - Article 5

Time preferences and fertility: Evidence from Italy
Volume 44 - Article 50

Happy parents’ tweets: An exploration of Italian Twitter data using sentiment analysis
Volume 40 - Article 25

Persistent joblessness and fertility intentions
Volume 40 - Article 8

The positive impact of women’s employment on divorce: Context, selection, or anticipation?
Volume 38 - Article 37

Towards a new understanding of cohabitation: Insights from focus group research across Europe and Australia
Volume 31 - Article 34

Whose job instability affects the likelihood of becoming a parent in Italy? A tale of two partners
Volume 26 - Article 2

Rising marital disruption in Italy and its correlates
Volume 20 - Article 4

Fertility change in Egypt: From second to third birth
Volume 15 - Article 18

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

Neighbors’ social attitudes predict variations in live births among the Amish of Holmes County, Ohio, United States
Volume 53 - Article 25    | Keywords: Amish, diffusion, fertility, household, proximity, religion, spatial analysis

Socio-economic differences in ART treatment success: Evidence from Italy
Volume 53 - Article 20    | Keywords: assisted reproduction, infertility, Italy, social disparities, treatment success

Gendered adolescent time use in Japan, Korea, Finland, and the United Kingdom across three decades
Volume 53 - Article 17    | Keywords: adolescence, cross-cultural research, Finland, gender, Italy, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, time use, United Kingdom

The partnership context of first parenthood – and how it varies by parental class and birth cohort in the United Kingdom
Volume 53 - Article 16    | Keywords: cohabitation, cohort analysis, event history, event history analysis, family formation, intergenerational inequality, marriage, parental socio-economic status, parenthood, single parenthood, United Kingdom

Gendered labor market adjustments around marital and cohabiting union transitions during Europe’s early cohabitation diffusion
Volume 53 - Article 15    | Keywords: adult equivalent household income, cohabitation, employment income, gender inequalities, hours worked, intra-household specialization, marriage, union transitions