Young Italians Research Articles

Bridging Real and Virtual: An Ecological Approach to Prevent Cyberviolence Against Women

ABSTRACTWomen experience gender violence more than men, in the digital world as well as offline. To understand and prevent this phenomenon, we must consider the continuum between the virtual and the real world and highlight that cyberviolence and offline violence follow the same patterns. Therefore, to comprehend cyberviolence against women, the present study aimed to examine the feelings and emotions of those who have had direct and indirect experiences with it. The research involved 43 young Italians, aged 20–35 and used a narrative approach with a stimulus composed of six questions. The textual material was analysed using reflexive thematic analysis and four main themes emerged: Emotional experiences of cyberviolence; the amplification of cyberviolence in the offline world; the role of bystanders; and actions to prevent cyberviolence. The results highlighted the importance of approaching cyberviolence against women from a holistic and multidimensional perspective through an ecological approach that integrates different levels of action: collective, organisational, interpersonal and individual. Cyberviolence against women entails interventions that are complex and multi‐focused on all those who inhabit the virtual dimension, as well as the offline dimension, where the consequences of online violence become evident.

Swipe & Slice: Decoding Digital Struggles with NSSI in Young Italians

IntroductionNon-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is defined as any deliberate destruction of one’s body tissue, engaged in for reasons that are non-suicidal. Online platforms, notably social media, witness a surge in NSSI-related content, amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. Young individuals increase video and post uploads, prompting scholarly inquiry into the impact on vulnerable demographics in the online environment. Despite potential benefits, concerns surface regarding content reinforcing self-injurious behavior. The Blue Whale phenomenon exemplifies serious consequences in this digital landscape.ObjectivesThe present study aims at screening the prevalence of NSSIs on SNS among Italian young people.MethodsAn observational cross-sectional study was conducted by recruiting 373 Italian young people (aged 18-25). Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS), Fear Of Missing Out Scale (FOMO), Inventory of Statements About Self-Injury (ISAS) were administered to investigate the relationship between NSSIs, social media use and frequency and underpinned motivations.ResultsOverall, 99.7 % (n=372) of participants declared to have used at least one social network. Around 92.5 % (n=345) declared to know Blue Whale Challenge and more than half of the sample (51.5%) referred to have looked for NSSI contents on SNS, mostly (28.7 % (n=107)) have sought for curiosity, 17.7 % (n=66) have sought for help/support. 53.4 % (n=199) of the sample was found to have problematic social media use (PSMU) according to BSMAS. 85 % (n=317) have committed self-injurious gestures in the past, 66.2 % (n=247) practice NSSI currently, most subjects practice them to vent 51.7% (n=193), calm themselves 41.6% (n=155), and punish themselves 30% (n=112). The mean age of transgender and nonbinary subjects (30 % n=112)) who sought/saw content pertaining to NSSIs appears to be lower (p=0.033) than cisgender subjects. Those who searched for content inherent to NSSIs scored higher mean scores on the FOMO (p=0.022) and BSMAS (p=0.013) scales. Those who follow social pages inherent to NSSIs scored higher on the FOMO scale (p=0.035). Subjects who practice NSSIs at their present state, on average, have higher scores on the FOMO and BSMAS scales (p=<.001). Linear regression analysis was conducted showing an association between BSMAS and FOMO (R²=0.199, B=0.260; F(1.371)=92.334; p=<.001). Logistic regression analyses were conducted to define the effects of FOMO, PMSU, sex, and NSSI search on the development of self-injurious conduct. The logistic regression model was statistically significant, χ2 (1)=3.909; p=0.048.ConclusionsThe study examines NSSI behaviors among young Italian college students on digital platforms, particularly social networks. It stresses the critical need for targeted interventions, addressing concerns like social media addiction, to provide essential mental health support and foster a safer online environment for this population.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

Angelenos? What’s That? Young Italians in Los Angeles in the Fiction of John Fante, Andrea De Carlo, and Chiara Barzini

ABSTRACT In the complex and varied history of Italian migration to the United States, the Californian experience has stood out for the original dynamics of its mobility, especially in relation to the transit of Italians to Los Angeles. This article investigates three descriptions of the Italian experience in Los Angeles in different moments in the city’s history as provided by three authors who embody different transnational Italian perspectives, namely John Fante’s Ask the Dust (1939), Andrea De Carlo’s Treno di panna (1983) and Chiara Barzini’s Things that Happened before the Earthquake (2017). This article explores how these representations of the Los Angeles experience have contributed to broadening the representation of Italian youth abroad. At the same time, my analysis identifies how the Italian experience has expanded the prism of literary interpretations of the city and deepened the knowledge of the metropolis and its dense stratification of ethnic communities and cultures.

Leaving home across the recent cohorts in Italy: does economic vulnerability due to labour market status matter?

We focus on the process of leaving home among young Italians and aim to discern: (a) the extent to which the potential economic vulnerability associated with certain individual labour market conditions affects the pathway of leaving the parental home; (b) whether the impact of such conditions has changed over generations of young adults. Data come from the pooling of two cross-sectional rounds of the ‘Families and Social Subjects’ survey conducted by the Italian National Institute of Statistics in 2009 and 2016. Specifically, we consider young adults who at the time of interview were between the ages of 20 and 44, for a total of 22,218 respondents. We employ discrete-time event history models, including a competing risks approach. Our findings suggest that labour market status differs in its influence according to reason for exit and gender. While we observe a clearly negative impact of being out of the labour market for both union and non-union related reasons for men, this negative impact is observed only for non-union-related motives for women. Meanwhile, economic uncertainty connected with precarious jobs does not necessarily have a negative impact on the risk of leaving parental home, both for union and non-union related reasons. Furthermore, we see signs of differences across cohorts relative to this latter set of motives for men. The results highlight the importance of considering reasons for exit in analyses of departure from the parental home.

How Young Italians Negotiate and Redefine Their Identity in the Mobility Experience

In this article we analyze the formation of different identity models of Italian young people experiencing mobility. The article contributes to study the link between youth mobility and identity. It does so through the development of a theoretical perspective that combines Butler’s post-structuralism with Bourdieu’s category of embodied cultural capital. Drawing on this theoretical framework, we analyze the identity formation of young Italians who emigrated to Australia in the last 10 years. The data show the emergence of an identity made up of a complex set of interconnected levels, composed of an incorporated dimension that constitutes the basis of their roots and the performative part that represents the mobile dimension subject to transformation in the course of life evolution. This interpretative lens enables the understanding of how the process of incorporation is connected to the performative and self-transformative one of identity, but also how the different combination of fixed and mobile aspects defines different profiles of identity and a different way of perceiving being Italians.

Young Italians’ Speeches on the War in Ukraine and Perspectives of Peacebuilding

Young Italians’ Speeches on the War in Ukraine and Perspectives of Peacebuilding

The social impact of labour market flexibilization and its fertility consequences in Italy

Very low fertility in Italy is a social problem as it is largely involuntary and represents a threat to the continuity of the society and to welfare state accounts. Rising economic uncertainty is considered in the literature as one of the driving forces behind the postponement of childbearing and the reduction in fertility rates in contemporary Europe. Understanding whether employment instability causally and negatively impacts fertility decisions is of fundamental importance to providing clear recommendations to policymakers. To the best of our knowledge, the only study applying a counterfactual approach to the impact of temporary employment on parenthood is an article by Vignoli et al. [11]. The present study replicates such a paper utilizing more recent data for Italy (2016, instead of 2009), thus covering a period encompassing the Great Recession. We adopt the potential outcome approach to causal inference so as to quantify the net effect of having a first job with a temporary vs. permanent contract on the propensity to first-child conception. Our findings confirm a clear-cut causal effect of temporary employment on first-birth postponement. Largely overlapping previous results, we demonstrate how precarious work has become a structural factor discouraging the transition to parenthood among young Italians.

Generating places of integration. A network model toward the skills assessment of foreign students

The study shows one or more models of network intervention, qualified as good practice, capable of generating places of integration between Italian and foreign students, with a specific reference to family engagement. We assessed the quality and sustainability of different partnership styles among the school, the public, the third sector and families, working on the assumption that this alliance is particularly appropriate in everyday life to achieve cultural integration between young Italians, foreigners and their families and to spread a network perspective able to successfully address the encounter among cultures. The research has studied 30 partnerships active in Lombardy Region, that has the largest number of foreign students in Italy, adding 3 cases out of Region and 3 projects conducted in other European countries (Feel, La Maleta intercultural, Rucksack). The study has identified specific guidelines to enable and support integrated networks between public or third sector and schools, capable of promoting and managing places of integration. Among the factors considered above there is the consistency and the structure of the network, the type and degree of collaboration between these actors, the type of governance put in place, the level of articulation of the relationship between the network and the socio cultural context in which it operates. Secondly we considered the project methodologies, the operation time, the extent of the catchment area, the level of the experience growth, the expansion of the partnerships. Also important were the methods of assessing the degree of social and cultural integration, educational and academic achievement in relation to skills, business integration, involvement of family background.

Young People Are Not All the Same! The Theory of Planned Behaviour Applied to Food Waste Behaviour across Young Italian Generations

To reach the SDG 12.3 target, understanding food waste behaviour (FWB) is fundamental, especially among young people. As future generations of parents, leaders, and citizens, they might potentially solve food sustainability issues and other matters arising from food waste. In such a context, this study extends the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) by including personal norms and environmental concern to explain and to predict the FWB of young Italians who belong to Generation Y and Generation Z. The theoretical model was empirically tested by administering a questionnaire to 322 Italian young people and by applying two distinct PLS-SEM models for Generation Y and Generation Z. Our results support not only the main relationship suggested by the TPB model with respect to FWB but also that, in affecting it, personal norms and environmental concern play different roles according to the generations. Understanding the mechanisms through which personal norms and environmental concern translate into reducing food waste is crucial to defining interventions aimed at changing youth behaviour. It could represent a relevant step towards preventing food waste and promoting sustainable management of food chains.

Self-Determined Intention to Vote and the Mediating Role of Politicized Identification

Abstract. This study tested the Politicized Identification Model of Intention to Vote as an integrated model of political participation and self-determination theory to understand what motivates young people to vote and inform policy and communication efforts. The results of path analyses on survey data from a representative sample of 1,960 young Italians (age range, 20–35 years) revealed that participative efficacy positively and negatively predicted internalized motivation and amotivation, respectively. In addition, politicized identification mediated the positive relation between the internalized motivations and intention to vote. Finally, amotivation negatively predicted voting intention. Civic education campaigns should promote young people’s awareness that they can contribute to society by voting (i.e., participative efficacy) and support internalized motivations to vote.

COVID-19 Pandemic as Subjective Repeated Strains and its Effects on Deviant Behavior in a Sample of Italian Youth.

Although over the past 2 years several studies have been carried out on the psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people, few of them investigated the pandemic as psychosocial strain and its effects on deviant behaviors. According to Agnew's General Strain Theory, a repeated objective psychosocial strain, such as the pandemic, exerts pressure on deviance when individuals associate with deviant peers and have weak attachment to parents. Using a sample of 568 young Italians (ages: 15-20 years; 65.8% females, 34.2% males) from north, central and south Italy, we tested for the possible correlation between COVID-19 as a repeated psychosocial strain, deviant behaviors and the role of some coping strategies not included in the Agnew's original theoretical formulation. Results back the thesis that, considering the COVID-19 pandemic as a repeated subjective strain, affect deviance results primarily through association with deviant peers and less through weak attachment with family. The mediating role of coping strategies was found to be weak. The predominant role of the peer group in the genesis of deviant responses to strain will be discussed.

Exploring the pro-environmental behavioral intention of Generation Z in the tourism context: the role of injunctive social norms and personal norms

The present research attempts to understand whether the members of Generation Z are willing to opt for sustainable transportation modes or book an eco-friendly hotel while they are planning a journey. On the theoretical side, this research assumes a normative perspective to investigate the two-abovementioned pro-environmental behaviors. Specifically, the injunctive social norms construct is integrated with the norm activation model to evaluate both the effect of contextual factors and intrinsic/personal motivations. To collect data a survey was distributed online. A total of 785 young Italians aged between 15 and 24 participated in this research. Descriptive statistics, crosstabs, and structural equation modelling were performed to analyze data. Results show that personal norms constitute the main predictor. Injunctive social norms exert a positive effect on Generation Z’s intention to opt for sustainable transportation modes both directly and indirectly through personal norms. Injunctive social norms do not have a significant direct effect on the intention to choose an eco-friendly hotel. However, injunctive social norms influence Generation Z’s intention to choose an eco-friendly hotel indirectly through personal norms.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Behavior toward COVID-19 Vaccination in Young Italians.

Purpose: The knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of young Italians towards the COVID-19 vaccination were analyzed in order to provide information useful to elaborate the strategies that can be implemented to obtain the best possible vaccination coverage in this population. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 5313 young people aged between 11 and 30 years. Data were collected through an online survey during the period from 1 to 10 March 2021. The answers to the questionnaire were analyzed using SPSS statistical software. Intention to vaccinate was studied by univariate analysis using Pearson's chi-square test to assess differences between groups for categorical variables, and by multivariate analysis applying the binary logistic regression model, and the Hosmer-Lemeshow test was performed to assess goodness of fit. Results: Television (32.1%), internet/search engine (25.9%), and social networks (10.4%) were the main sources of information for young Italians. The survey analysis showed that 74.5% (3956) of the respondents were willing to be vaccinated against COVID-19 versus 25.5% (1357) who were against it. Demographic data, in particular, age, gender, experience with influenza vaccine, and level of knowledge about the disease, were significant determinants (p < 0.001) for the choice to vaccinate against COVID-19. Discussion: These results suggest that in order to implement the vaccination campaign, correct information is needed to improve awareness of the vaccine and COVID-19, while also taking into account the target group, which differs not only in age but also in the sources of information used compared to the adult population.

Motivations for changing fertility plans and behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy

ABSTRACT This study accounts for the heterogeneous consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic on fertility plans and behaviours, by focusing on the motivations for suspended pre-Covid fertility plans and on those for new fertility plans that arose during the pandemic. We rely on unique data collected with a repeated cross-sectional survey conducted in April/May 2021 and October/November 2021 on a sample of young Italians (aged 18–34). We estimate a set of multinomial and logit models to examine some correlates of fertility plans and behaviours. Then, we provide a more qualitative analysis of the reasons behind the resulting patterns of associations. Changes in fertility plans and behaviours from pre-COVID intentions clearly show that the economic recession burdens unequally individuals and their opportunities to cope with obstacles to both work and family involvement. At the same time, those who started to plan childbirth during the pandemic, frequently cite as important motivations the increased opportunities to enjoy the family life, the more balanced work and family involvement, the higher share of domestic tasks in the couple, and the improved relationship quality. Our results suggest the need for exploring also positive channels through which the Covid-19 crisis had provided opportunities for planning new births.

Fertility plans in the early times of the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of occupational and financial uncertainty in Italy.

This study investigates the association between objective and subjective indicators of economic uncertainty, generated by the COVID-19 health and economic crisis, and young Italians' fertility plans during the 2020. We use unique repeated cross-sectional data, collected at different time points during the pandemic (March and October/November 2020) together with pre-COVID data (2016). The data offer a standard fertility intention question pre- and during-COVID, and also a direct question on whether pre-COVID fertility plans have been confirmed, postponed or abandoned. In March 2020, individuals with more vulnerable occupations show a lower probability of intending to have a(nother) child in the short-term and a higher probability of abandoning their pre-COVID fertility plan; in October 2020 changes in fertility plans do not vary by employment condition. Instead, both in March and October, those who suffered from a negative income shock and those with negative expectations on their future income and occupation are more likely to abandon their pre-pandemic fertility plan compared to their better off counterparts. Overall, economic uncertainty seems to have similarly affected men and women's fertility intentions. Our findings point to the fact that the unequal economic consequences of the pandemic also produced and will produce heterogeneous effects on fertility intentions.

Sideways moves to adult life: the transnational mobility and transitions of young Italians to Australia

ABSTRACT Since the Global Financial Crisis, Italy has become (again) a country of emigration for young people, with over one million Italians aged 18–34 living abroad [Fondazione Migrantes, ed. 2019. Rapporto Italiani nel Mondo 2019. Roma: Tau Editrice]. As the country of the ‘long family’, transitions to adulthood in Italy feature a distinctive, prolonged and late move out of the parental home. Transnational mobility thus provides not only an escape from high youth unemployment and economic stagnation, but allows young Italians to craft new ways to make an independent adult life. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 25 young Italians in Australia, we show how transnational mobility intersects with transitions to adulthood, focusing on experiences of independent dwelling and career trajectories in a unique, non-EU context. We argue that trajectories towards adulthood can be altered, anticipated, delayed and suspended by transnational mobility, and that young Italians actively renegotiate family expectations and migration requirements as they build ‘adult’ lives. While Australia’s relative economic stability provides opportunities for transitions ‘blocked’ in Italy, both adulthood and settlement are seldom fixed arrival points, and young people flexibly reconfigure their pathways as they navigate a complex immigration policy environment. Further, despite the freedom that considerable distance from family provides, transnational intergenerational relationships remain an important influence.

Return mobilities and Italian youth transitions: new meanings around adulthood

ABSTRACT Part of a larger ethnographic study on Italian youth mobilities, this paper investigates the transitions to adulthood of young returnees who have gone back to Italy after a period of living and working in Australia. Adopting the ‘mobile transitions’ approach, we illustrate the ways in which mobility affects transitions to adulthood. We suggest that upon return these transitions unfold like a palimpsest, where the old texts are layered over with new ones, unsettling conventions about adult life and disrupting assumptions that return is a final stage in the transition process. New meanings around adulthood emerge in these young Italians’ mobile experience that continue also after return. We explore this through their aspirations for the future and their renegotiation of family relationships. Return for these young movers means bringing home a new perception of their current and future selves and especially of their role within their family of origin and Italian social and political culture. This is significant if we consider that Italy is the ‘country of the long family’ (Cavalli, A. 1997. “La lunga transizione all’età adulta.” In Giovani del nuovo secolo. Quinto rapporto IARD sulla condizione giovanile in Italia, edited by C. Buzzi, A. Cavalli, and A. De Lillo, 38–45. Bologna: Il Mulino), where the youth condition is characterized by a delayed acquisition of autonomy and the consequent late assumption of responsibility and adult roles.

Employment protection legislation and household formation: evidence from Italy

While many studies have investigated the determinants of household formation and fertility in young adults, only a few have focused on the impact of employment protection legislation (EPL) on these outcomes. Moreover, to the best of our knowledge, no one has investigated how changes in EPL may alter the intentions of young individuals even before their realization. In this paper, we study the differential impact of the reduction in EPL associated with Italy’s 2015 Jobs Act on the household formation and fertility intentions of young Italians in various districts. We use data from a survey conducted on a sample of young people between the ages of 18-34 for the years 2012, 2015, 2016, and 2017. The identification strategy exploits local variation in the level of efficiency of the courts, measured in terms of the average duration of proceedings, to assess the existence of within-country and across-district heterogeneity in the reform’s impact. Indeed, firing costs used to be relatively greater in districts characterized by a longer duration of labor trials. The Jobs Act, by reducing firing costs and modifying the autonomy of judges, should have had a larger impact in districts with less efficient courts. According to our results, the reform seems to have indirectly leveled out the fertility and household formation intentions of young Italians living in districts with more and less efficient courts. Heterogeneities indicate that the results are mainly driven by older individuals and graduates who live in less disadvantaged areas.

Paper Soldiers on the March: Colonial Toys for Imperial Play

Abstract Under the Fascist regime, young Italians amused themselves by practicing the war games of adulthood. Paper soldiers marched across board games set in the newly established empire of Italian East Africa. To reveal how these vicious lessons worked, this article examines three types of toys. It starts with the design and deployment of paper soldiers: Italian Alpinisti, Eritrean Ascari, and Somali Dubat. Next, a playbook for The Conquest of Abyssinia boardgame provides a guide to military conquest. Finally, I examine where these toys come from, revealing the financial structures that underpinned colonial propaganda for Fascist government projects. Ultimately, toys wrote scripts for adult violence in the colonies.

Alcoholic Consumption of Young Italians During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic.

The international health emergency caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which, at the end of 2019, hit the world, forced the governments of all countries to adopt stringent restrictive measures to contain the spread of the virus. Several studies have revealed worsening levels of anxiety, depression and perceived stress related to these restrictions and the resulting lifestyle changes. Some studies have also confirmed the presence of a relationship between SARS-CoV-2-related emotional distress and drinking behavior. Indeed, is a wellknown fact that alcohol consumption is one of the behavioral strategies used to reduce negative emotional states. However, it was documented that young people developed different responses to alcohol use during the pandemic than adults. The aim of this work was to investigate the consumption habits of young Italians and how the consumption and purchase of alcoholic beverages have changed following the pandemic. New ways of drinking alcohol were also interesting to observe, such as online. Young people between 18 and 35 years old were subjected to an anonymous questionnaire of 22 questions on the adoption of forms of behavior at risk through alcohol consumption, the quantity and occasions of preferential consumption, and on the methods and quantities of alcoholic beverage purchase, before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The subjects who declared themselves "non-drinkers" were not included in the statistical survey. About 33% of the enrolled "drinkers" (268/823), adopted risky forms of alcoholic behavior. Males reported a higher average habit of drinking wine or alcohol (M = 1.9953 ± 1.39743, F = 1.7373 ± 1.36688, p <0.005); an increased frequency of drinking (M = 2.3025 ± 0.80610 F = 2.0494 ± 0.75043 p <0.001); a higher average number of drinks consumed (M = 1.5182 ± 0.85646, F = 1.2618 ± 0.53292, p <0.001) and binge drinking to the greatest extent (M = 1.1933 ± 0.96522 F = 0.8176 ± 0.85446 p <0.001). Education and employment were significantly correlated with the frequency of alcohol consumption (r = 0.107 p <0.005 and r = 0.120 p = 0.001 respectively). Subjects reported buying alcoholic beverages during the pandemic with a frequency of "less than once a month" (N = 291, 35.36%) and mainly in shops (N = 556, 67.56%), while before the pandemic they mainly bought alcohol once a week (N = 431, 52.37%) and predominantly in bars / clubs (N = 619, 75.21%). New ways of drinking alcohol such as online drinking, have not been significantly identified. A change in alcohol consumed and alcohol purchased before and during the SARSCoV- 2 pandemic was revealed.