Living in Couple and Partnership Formation at Middle and Older Age: A Portrait of Italy

Elena Pirani, University of Florence
Revathi Palat Rao, University of Florence

Advancements in life expectancy have heightened the importance of understanding the familial dynamics and social connections among older adults. The ability to experience love, engage in meaningful work, and actively participate in society is not exhausted in adulthood. In today's ageing societies, older individuals lead rich and diverse family and social lives. The aim of this study is to offer an up-to-date demographic portrait of living arrangements and union formation dynamics in middle and older age in Italy besides investigating patterns of assortative mating. We do this by using data from the Families and Social Subjects (FSS) survey, carried out by the Italian National Institute of Statistics in 2016, the most updated nationally representative study available. Preliminary findings show that re-marriage, separation, and non-marital cohabitations start to become common life events also among middle-aged and older adults, leading to richer and varied family arrangements. Notably, there are intriguing differences by sex. Although still relatively uncommon, the percentage of remarried or cohabiting older Italians is significant. Recent trends in shifting family behaviours suggest that this complexity will continue to grow among midlife and older Italians in the coming years, underscoring the importance of focusing on these evolving dynamics.

Keywords: Families, Unions and Households, Older Adults and Intergenerational Relations, Population Ageing

See extended abstract.