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Childcare is a need that inevitably emerges once migrants establish themselves and their families in their destination country. However, migrants' use of informal childcare still constitutes an under-researched phenomenon. Using data from the ‘Social Condition and Integration of Foreign Citizens’ survey (2011–2012) for Italy and the ‘Trajectoires et Origines’ survey (2008–2009) for France, this paper examines differences between migrants living in the two countries in terms of their use of informal childcare and, more specifically, their informal childcare arrangements. We employ a comparative analysis because we hypothesised that parental choices would depend on the migrants' region of origin, the institutional context of their destination country and the interplay between these two elements. The results suggest that migrants' choices stem from a complex relationship between the norms and beliefs of the country of origin and those in the destination country, which are generally characterised by different family policies and levels of childcare availability. We show that the use of informal childcare is higher among migrants in Italy than it is among those in France, even among migrants from the same region of origin. The results also suggest that the use of particular informal childcare arrangements varies by region of origin regardless of destination country, supporting the hypothesis that migrants' cultural values and beliefs play a critical role in determining childcare arrangements. Finally, we demonstrate that household composition and parents' occupational status strongly influence migrants' childcare choices.

This research studies the residential mobility of Italians and foreigners in Rome from 2002 to 2019. We examine the differences in residential mobility patterns for (1) Italians and foreigners, (2) foreign migrants by selected country of origin, and (3) the effect of intra-urban mobility on residential segregation. Log-linear models and segregation indexes are used to analyze unpublished microdata on residential mobility by neighbourhood from the population register of Rome. Results show that foreigners are more mobile than Italians and more prone to move outside the area where they live, but with an increasing process of remaining in their current locations over time. Also, similarities and differences emerge by country of origin. Finally, we find residential mobility has increased the spatial concentration and clustering of foreigners in Rome, whilst reducing the dissimilarity from Italians at the same time.

Until the economic crisis of 2008, the principal Italian metropolitan areas of the Centre-North attracted strong international migratory flows and were affected by an intense process of residential diffusion from the city centres to the fringes. Over the last decade, labour migration flows from other countries drastically decreased, and the first signs of re-urbanisation of urban cores have appeared. Based on a large statistical dataset on internal migration and intra-urban residential mobility from the beginning of this century to the present, this paper aims to analyse how spatial patterns of urban mobility have changed the distribution of natives and migrants in the cores, rings and suburbs, with particular regard to the urban regions of Rome and Milan.

Sviluppato in collaborazione con l’osservatorio indipendente Neodemos, il secondo numero di Gnosis del 2023 propone un approfondimento specialistico sulla storia demografica del genere umano, i trend futuri e i loro possibili effetti in termini di sostenibilità economica e ambientale, globalizzazione, flussi migratori ed equilibri geopolitici, con un focus di riguardo sulla situazione italiana.

As migrants settle in their destination country, for those who reunited the family or after childbirth childcare becomes a priority. Most studies on migrants’ childcare arrangements have focused on parental use of formal childcare rather than on different informal childcare solutions by analysing only families with preschool-age children. Italy poses an interesting case study because its welfare system is characterised by a familistic model of care, based on solidarity between generations. In familistic countries, migrants’ childcare solutions are more constrained. In this study, we analysed differences in informal childcare needs and arrangements for children younger than 14 between Italians and migrants from different countries of origin. We merged two surveys conducted by the Italian National Statistics Institute in 2011–2012: ‘Social Condition and Integration of Foreign Citizens’, a sample of households with at least one migrant with foreign citizenship, and ‘Multiscopo—Aspects of Daily Life’, a sample of households in Italy. We found that household composition and parents’ employment status play an important role in shaping informal childcare arrangements. Overall, migrants are less likely to use informal childcare, especially grandparents, than Italians but when they do, they rely more on other relatives and non-relatives than Italians. Moreover, differences emerge across migrant subgroups. This study is the first in Italy to contribute to an understanding of the role of migrant status in determining parents’ childcare arrangements for children up to 13 years.

In the early months of 2020, Italy had to face the spread of Covid-19, by intensifying the preventive public health and social distancing measures initially in some restricted areas, and gradually extended to the entire territory, up to the lockdown on 11 March 2020. The pandemic and the lockdown have changed people's lives with important economic, social and health implications. In this paper we present the experience of a pilot study that aimed at measuring the impact of the pandemic and the lockdown on the socio-economic behaviour of the Italian population in the short and medium term, by conducting a survey with a smartphone APP. The research design is proposed as a framework to collect longitudinal data, in order to measure the impact of an event as a change over time in the behavioural profile of individuals in everyday life. The survey has detected some sociodemographic variables related to the pre and post lockdown. At each measurement, both the current attitude/behaviour and the expected one in the short (two-month window) and long term (two-year window), have been detected. The survey is composed of two questionnaires: the first must be filled in just the first time, and the second questionnaire is proposed each time the respondent decides to participate. In November 2021 a first extraction from the data set counts 330 responses, corresponding to 189 individuals. In this paper we present some analyses od these data, with only illustrative purposes of the potentiality of the framework proposed. The potentiality of the tool is supported by the results of some analyses: socio-demographic characteristics of people (working, being female, and having experienced the event on oneself) determine the magnitude of the impact on loneliness; over time, the negative impact of the lockdown on the expectations tends to reduce, confirming the hypothesis of adaptation to critical circumstances; optimism about the future demonstrates the desire for resilience in the face of

Despite the growing interest in, and empirical research on, migrants’ health and well-being, few studies on these topics concern older migrants. Previous studies show that in addition to classical determinants, other migration-specific stressful factors negatively affect older migrants’ subjective well-being in the destination countries. In general, it is acknowledged that migrants at arrival have an initial advantage in terms of health compared to the native-born population, but migrants’ initial advantage is lost over time. The results concerning older migrants are mixed and strongly depend on the context, the migrant groups studied, and the health outcome considered in the analysis. Previous results show that migrants’ health at older ages depends not only on the number of years since migration but also on age upon arrival. Moreover, the empirical evidence show that older migrants have a higher life expectancy at age 65, lower rate of chronic disease but worse functioning and higher rates of disability. Previous studies have some limitations providing a fragmentation of country-specific studies, focusing on one or a few migrant groups in one destination country or analysing only one health dimension and limiting the analysis to cross-sectional data.

Unfortunately, the following articles were by mistake included in other issues but are part of the Special Issue on Well-Being and Territory: Methods and Strategies “Tomaselli, V., Giuffrida, G., Gozzo, S. et al. Building Decision-making indicators Through Network Analysis of Big Data. Soc Indic Res 151, 33–49 (2020). https:// doi. org/ 10. 1007/ s11205- 020- 02363-2 “Crocetta, C., Antonucci, L., Cataldo, R. eta al. Higher-Order PLS-PM Approach for Different Types of Constructs. Soc Indic Res 154, 725–754 (2021). https:// doi. org/ artic le/ 10. 1007/ s11205- 020- 02563-w “Greco, F., Polli, A. Security Perception and People Well-being. Soc Indic Res 153, 741–758 (2021). https:// doi. org/ artic le/ 10. 1007/ s11205- 020- 02341-8 “Riniolo, V., Ortensi, L.E. Young Generations’ Activism in Italy: Comparing Political Engagement and Participation of Native Youths and Youths from a Migrant Background. Soc Indic Res 153, 923–955 (2021). https:// doi. org/ artic le/ 10. 1007/ s11205- 020- 02487-5 An article note was included in the original version of the Editorial article stating the above information. The original article has been corrected.

The location quotient (LQ), a ratio of ratios, is a widely known geographic index (Isard, 1960). It is used to measure and map relative distributions or relative concentrations of a character in a sub-area compared to the area as a whole (Wheeler, 2005). It has been recently proposed as a local index in the study of residential segregation of foreign population (Apparicio et al., 2008; Benassi et al., 2016). The LQs are particularly useful when applied to a metropolitan area where they allow to identify the spatial units in which a population group is under-represented (LQ<11) or conversely, over-represented (LQ>1). Despite their apparent simplicity, the location quotients present some slippery features this contribution tries to reflect on. This paper examines some different ways to compute the LQs and their results, by using data on residents by citizenship in the metropolitan area of Milan. We analyse and compare the statistical distributions of the LQs of selected foreign population’s groups. Finally, we propose an alternative measure, the Locational Differential Index, to take account of density, conveying the spatial component, absent in location quotients.

Unfortunately, the following articles were by mistake included in other issues but are part of the Special Issue on Well-Being and Territory: Methods and Strategies “Tomaselli, V., Giuffrida, G., Gozzo, S. et al. Building Decision-making indicators Through Network Analysis of Big Data. Soc Indic Res 151, 33–49 (2020). https:// doi. org/ 10. 1007/ s11205- 020- 02363-2 “Crocetta, C., Antonucci, L., Cataldo, R. eta al. Higher-Order PLS-PM Approach for Different Types of Constructs. Soc Indic Res 154, 725–754 (2021). https:// doi. org/ artic le/ 10. 1007/ s11205- 020- 02563-w “Greco, F., Polli, A. Security Perception and People Well-being. Soc Indic Res 153, 741–758 (2021). https:// doi. org/ artic le/ 10. 1007/ s11205- 020- 02341-8 “Riniolo, V., Ortensi, L.E. Young Generations’ Activism in Italy: Comparing Political Engagement and Participation of Native Youths and Youths from a Migrant Background. Soc Indic Res 153, 923–955 (2021). https:// doi. org/ artic le/ 10. 1007/ s11205- 020- 02487-5 An article note was included in the original version of the Editorial article stating the above information. The original article has been corrected.

Ageing and migration are two of Europe’s fundamental demographic processes, challenging a wide range of social policies. Their intersection generates a wide taxonomy of types of individuals, from the most well-off and active ones to those more deprived and marginalised and for whom being old and having a migration background represents a double jeopardy. Yet in discussions of the ‘demographic time bomb’ of ageing, the special circumstances of ageing migrants are rarely recognised. Thus far, in Europe, very little is known about ageing populations with a migratory background, and this is even more true for Italy, that turned into an immigration country only in the late 1980s and where older migrants are a neglected, although growing, group in the Italian population. In this paper, we unpack ageing migrants’ wellbeing by focusing on life satisfaction, as a broader indicator of individual’s wellbeing; in particular, we analyse the effect of migration experiences on migrants’ perception of the quality of life in old age. We use data from the Social Condition and Integration of Foreign Citizens survey (2011–2012) and build several indicators related to different structural and socio-cultural dimensions of integration to analyse different patterns of association with life satisfaction among different groups of ageing migrants in Italy. Our study has important implications form both theoretical and policy perspective as it contributes to the advancement of original knowledge on the factors that shape wellbeing in later life in a context of migration.

In this paper, we address the measurement of vulnerability at municipality level, by using novel non-aggregative tools for the construction of synthetic indicators and for the extraction of rankings, based on the theory of partially ordered sets. We compare the results of the non-aggregative procedure to those provided by the Italian National Institute of Statistics, through the Index of Social and Material Vulnerability (applied to 2011 census data) and show that, although the overall pictures rendered by the two approaches are very similar, they are not equivalent, some local areas being resolved and some municipalities being ranked differently. The synthetic vulnerability scores are complemented with a measure of the degree of diversity of the vulnerability patterns, to give a more faithful picture of the complexity of the phenomenon and provide policy-makers with a more realistic view on it.

Southern European studies of migrants' spatial distribution within metropolitan cities (MCs) are increasingly relevant to understanding residential segregation and marginalisation, particularly of foreign nationals. This paper leverages original and partially unpublished data to examine overall and foreign national specific segregation over two decades in Rome MC and Milan MC, the two largest Italian MCs. We introduce a 5-class concentric ring typology to describe and uncover geographical patterns within the MCs and focus on the spatial and temporal distribution of four selected foreign nationalities: Romanian, Bangladeshi, Chinese, and Filipino. Results reveal heterogeneity in overall and foreign national specific distributions over time both within and between Rome MC and Milan MC. Comparing across groups and MCs we identify similarities but also unique patterns. These results shed light on the peculiarity of the urban demographic Italian landscape and raise questions regarding recent theories about residential segregation in the urban contexts of Southern Europe.

Access to and utilization of preventive health services are diversely distributed among immigrants. This paper aims to test the impact of structural, socio-economic, cultural, and contextual factors, and to test whether the acculturation theory holds true for migrants in Italy. Based on the “Social Condition and Integration of Foreign Citizens” survey (2011–2012), this paper shows that utilization of preventive health services among immigrants depends on structural characteristics and highlights the relevance of social interactions between foreigners and natives. Finally, the paper concludes that the acculturation model holds true for immigrants in Italy.

In the international literature, the principal task of grandparents is generally recognized as helping their children in providing childcare. Most of those studies analyzed grandparental childcare on the whole population, and few have focused on co-resident grandparent(s), which turns out to be an understudied topic in the European context. Further, most of them investigated the effect of childcare on grandparents’ health status. However, the elderly population can both provide and receive care. Using two Italian surveys released by the Italian National Institute of Statistics, the “Social Condition and Integration of Foreign Citizen (2011–2012)” and the “Multiscopo–Aspetti della vita quotidiana (2011)”, the study aims to analyze differences in grandparental childcare provided by co-resident grandparents between Italian and migrant households, considering both the role played by grandparents’ self-rated health (SRH) and gender. We identify four grandparents’ profiles by combining grandparents’ SRH and their attitude towards looking after their grandchild(ren). Subsequently, we apply multinomial logistic regressions, and we compute average marginal effects to facilitate results interpretations. Results display that migrant co-resident grandparents are less likely to declare bad SRH and no-childcare and are more likely to declare good SRH and to provide childcare than Italian grandparents. Moreover, when considering gender differences, the real role is revealed: we find that women have a higher probability to report poor health and care for their grandchild(ren) than men. Such findings illustrate that grandparents’ cohabitation decision is based upon the difference between their need for care and offer to care, and second, in addition to migrant status and SRH, gender is a determinant of grandparents’ childcare: women look after their grandchild(ren) more than men, whatever their health status.

In this paper, we apply the novel Fuzzy First-Order Dominance (F-FOD) methodology to rank migrant subpopulations in Lombardy (Italy), in terms of multidimensional poverty and social fragility, for the year 2014, with the purpose to possibly provide useful support to policy-makers, in targeting relief interventions from poverty and discomfort. The F-FOD methodology allows for the direct comparison of different distributions of poverty and fragility, assessed by means of suitable ordinal multi-indicator systems, so extending to this more complex setting, the usual univariate first-order dominance criterion. It also provides complimentary “incomparability” scores, to assess to what extent the final rankings are reliable or instead forcing. It turns out that the levels of poverty and fragility of migrant subpopulations are quite different and, in particular, that the time since migrations has a key impact, on the identification of most critical cases, which typically involve recently migrated people. Evidence also emerges that the temporal poverty/fragility trajectories of migrants, distinguished by country of origin, follow different paths, suggesting how policy interventions must be properly, and differently, tuned to be effective.

Using the ‘Social Condition and Integration of Foreign Citizen’ survey (2011-2012) for Italy and the ‘Trajectoires et Origines’ survey (2008-2009) for France, we examined differences in the need for informal childcare and parental preferences in childcare (grandparents, other family and extra-family members) between migrants in Italy and France according to family demographic and socio-economic characteristics, migrants’ background and contextual factors. Results suggest that migrants’ choices and preferences are strongly affected by the household composition, mother occupational status and migrants’ country of origin. Furthermore, our results highlight the role played by the destination country, which can shape migrants’ choices and options. The use of informal childcare is higher for migrants in Italy than in France, even among the same origin areas.

In this study we focused on migrants’ loneliness, in order to unpack risks for, and protective factors against, loneliness among migrants in Italy. Our data come from the ‘Social Condition and Integration among Foreign Citizens’ survey conducted by ISTAT during 2011–2012 on a sample of 25,000 individuals living in a household with at least one foreign-born member. Our results show that economic resources and employment protect from loneliness feelings, whereas education does not. Family and social embeddedness and satisfaction with life are protective factors, whereas discrimination, language barriers, deprived neighbourhoods and poor health are associated with a higher risk of loneliness. Gender is a key lens to consider when analysing loneliness especially in relation to fragile populations like those with a migratory background.

There is rising attention in Italy and Europe to the occurrence, consequences, and factors related to sexual violence. The focus on women as the primary victims of sexual violence has, however, left data collection and research on young men and sexual minorities in the background. Moreover, young people’s experiences of sexual abuse in the context of their relationships with peers are hardly recognised as a policy concern. The ultimate aim of this paper is to disentangle intersectionalities between gender, migration background, sexual orientation, and sexual experience in shaping the risk of experiencing sexual violence among university students in Italy. We use data from the Sexual and Emotional LiFe of Youths (SELFY) survey carried out in Italy in 2017. Our data confirm that women and foreign-born students are at higher risk of sexual violence. Our data also support previous evidence that bisexual women are at a higher risk of sexual violence victimisation compared with peer students with other sexual orientations. Previous same-sex sexual experience is more relevant than sexual orientation in shaping the risk. The effect is gendered: the risk of sexual violence is lower for women with previous same-sex sexual experience compared with their male peers. The intersection between gender, sexual orientation, and same-sex sexual experience generate specific high-risk profiles whose needs should be targeted by support services.

This paper examines the determinants of sexual satisfaction among Italian young men and women at the beginning of their adulthood, taking into account the different stages of sentimental and sexual transitions. We based the analyses on the data collected in 2017 by the SELFY Survey on a sample of 7842 university students in Italy. Results of the logistic regression models highlight that, above all, sexual satisfaction is positively associated with the frequency of intercourse within a stable and exclusive relationship. Furthermore, results highlight the essential role of all transitions, sexual and sentimental, in enhancing sexual satisfaction, both in a positive and negative direction. Religion has a positive effect too, but only among students who have not yet had intercourse, expressing a protective effect of the adherence to beliefs. Significant differences between young men and women emerged mainly concerning performance, other conditions being equal.

Quante saranno e come saranno le famiglie italiane nei prossimi vent’anni? Gli scenari che emergono dalle previsioni sembrano convergere verso tendenze già note: la crescita (fino a un milione di famiglie aggiuntive) del numero di famiglie, oggi pari a 25,8 milioni di unità; il prolungamento della permanenza dei figli nella famiglia d’origine, anche fino ad età avanzate (fino a 45 anni), con il conseguente slittamento in avanti della formazione di nuove famiglie; famiglie sempre più piccole, individuali (di giovani, ma anche meno giovani –i single di ritorno-, e di anziani) o coppie senza figli; famiglie con figli in progressiva riduzione. Dal quadro che emerge si possono fare alcune considerazioni. L’orientamento verso un sistema valoriale individualistico pone la riproduttività (oggi attestata a 1,29 figli per donna) in seconda linea nello scandire le fasi di vita degli individui e ciò si riflette in una sempre più bassa fecondità e un sempre più accentuato invecchiamento della popolazione. Il continuo prolungamento della permanenza dei giovani nella condizione di figlio deve indurre a riflettere sulla necessità di fornire a questa popolazione i necessari strumenti per consentire loro di emanciparsi, per entrare, a pieno titolo, nella parte attiva della popolazione. Infine, il quadro descritto non tiene conto degli effetti della pandemia da Covid-19. Realisticamente essa lascerà un segno sulla mortalità della fascia di popolazione più anziana e verosimilmente invertirà la tendenza alla crescita della speranza di vita. Gli effetti indiretti sul sistema economico, in particolare sulla disoccupazione, potranno costituire un forte freno alla formazione di nuove famiglie, soprattutto quelle dei giovani, con la conseguenza di un calo della fecondità, stante l’incertezza dei progetti di vita. Non sono altresì trascurabili neppure gli effetti psico-sociali indotti dal “social distancing”: la paura del contagio e la contrazione delle opportunità relazional

The internal movements of migrants are less frequently studied than international migration, although they have important labour, social, welfare and immigrant policy implications. By assuming the family as the unit of analysis, this paper examines the mechanism of selection between the foreigners who move internally and who do not, in Italy. Hypotheses are that having a family, improved economic performance, incorrect information about the first location, and discrimination, increase the propensity to move. Data come from the Italian survey “Social Condition and Integration of Foreign Citizens” (Istat 2011–2012). Results of the models show that internal migration is positively associated with family commitment, scant knowledge of the first destination, and no welcoming network. The paper enlarges the literature by stressing the intertwines between internal and international migration and the family commitment as the main driver of internal mobility of foreigners in Italy.