Does Cohabitation Lead to Weaker Intergenerational Bonds Than Marriage? A Comparison Between Italy and the United Kingdom

Intergenerational solidarity between parents and adult children: a qualitative research among cohabiting and married children in Italy

“…Thus no differences were observed in the frequency of contacts with their parents between adult children who cohabit or are married. Likewise, Nazio and Saraceno (2013) obtained similar results when they compared the exchanges between cohabiting and married children with their parents in two countries, Italy and Great Britain, where different cohabitation trends exist. In Italy, cohabitation is an uncommon choice, confined to select groups of the population who have specific characteristics (for example, those cohabiting resided in the cities of the Centre-North, were not religious, and the women were mainly in employment), whilst in Great Britain this family choice is consistently widespread throughout the population.…”

“…As an effect, their presence influences the frequency of contacts and the intensity of exchanges between parents and adult children. As noted in the research carried out by Nazio and Saraceno (2013), the duration of the cohabitation does not seem to influence the nature of the relationship, whilst the age of the grandchildren and the parents does affect the frequency of contact and of exchanges. Therefore, it appears that the family solidarity network is activated at critical moments, in the presence of children or of ageing family members, especially when the resources outside the family are scarce.…”

What Would Your Parents Say? The Impact of Cohabitation Among Young People on Their Relationships with Their Parents

“…An example of such unobserved traits is that people who choose cohabitation may have individualistic rather than collectivistic attitudes (Daatland 2007;Nazio and Saraceno 2012), and these attitudes might affect their relations with family members. Moreover, people with a greater propensity for cohabitation may have been raised in more tolerant families in which the parents did not try to interfere with their children's life choices (Rosina and Fraboni 2004;Di Giulio and Rosina 2007).…”

“…The time since the union formation may also moderate the impact of the partnership on the quality of the relationship with the parents. As was noted in (Nazio and Saraceno 2012), individuals in a newly formed partnership may need time to define their own social space, couple-specific customs and social relations; and may therefore have looser contact with their parents. However, once a partnership is well established, these individuals may find this boundary-setting less necessary.…”

“…1 Nazio and Saraceno (2012) found no evidence that cohabitation negatively affected the quality of intergenerational relations, as measured by the frequency of meetings with parents, in Italy and Great Britain. Maslauskait_ e (2011) showed that there was no significant difference in the frequency of meetings with parents between cohabiting and married children in Lithuania.…”