The "traditional" family, made up of father, mother and children, is an institution that we all have in mind. But more and more types of family structures and reproductive strategies are surfacing in society today. In addition to the family composed of parents and children, for example, childless couples, reconstituted families created as a result of divorce or remarriage, extended families, children born to unmarried parents and conceived through medically assisted reproduction are on the increase. To be fully understood, the pluralization of family forms and the issues it entails deserves the attention of researchers, and that is precisely what the Trento Family Festival did, in this edition, with an event dedicated to real-life families that are already part of society.
The University of Trento and the Agency for Social Cohesion of the Autonomous Province of Trento have brought together a panel of experts to talk about the obstacles and challenges these families face every day, with journalist Luca Cifoni as moderator and Barbara Poggio, vice-rector of the University of Trento for Equity and Diversity policies, giving the opening address. "There is a distance between the idea of the traditional family and real-life families in our society. This distance is determined by ongoing social change and is driven by various factors, including demographic decline, increasing marital and relationship instability, the general aging of the population. These are profound changes that policy should take into account. The university, in contexts such as the Family Festival and on other occasions, can make an important scientific contribution and stimulate discussion to find more appropriate and inclusive solutions to respond to new needs."
The meeting took inspiration from a reflection on the concept of family and the study of its evolution over time. "The definition of family has remained more or less the same in the past 70 years, whereas the composition of families has started to change since the 1960s and 1970s in Northern Europe. These profound cultural and macroeconomic changes started to affect Italy in the 2000s, with an impact on family choices and individual life decisions," said Agnese Vitali, demographer at the University of Trento. Italy has long been considered the place where nuclear families are the most common, where they would remain immune to change. Today marriage is no longer the only way to form a family: the number of couples opting for a non-marital cohabitation is growing, as the number of children born outside of marriage. Partnerships are formed and dissolved several times during life, including at an advanced age, which creates reconstituted families and family relations that become more complex among peers and between individuals belonging to different generations. Same-sex couples are also beginning to come out into the open: from the second half of 2016, when the law on same-sex unions came into force, to 2021, over 15,500 civil unions were celebrated, mainly between male couples, in the Northern regions and in large cities."
But how might family structure evolve in the future? "The nuclear family today is just one of many family types: couples with children made up less than a third of families (31.9%) in 2022, outnumbered by single member families. Based on ISTAT estimates, their percentage could fall to only 25.3% in twenty years, and single-member families and multi-person families (who do not constitute a family unit) should increase, as those composed of a single parent, due to the increase in separations. The number of childless couples is also increasing, as a result of the increase of life expectancy, where the couples' children have left their parents' homes, and because the number of couples who have never had children is increasing."
Raffaele Guetto, demographer at the University of Firenze, focused his lecture on how parental separation affects children's lives in these different forms of family. "Based on our analysis, there are "intact" families, that is, composed of two biological or adoptive parents at their first marriage ("traditional" families), families made up of cohabiting parents, and families with parents coming from a previous marriage. Then, there are reconstituted families, composed of a parent with a new partner, which may include children from previous relationships. And finally there are single-parent families, composed of single mothers or single fathers. A plurality of family forms and de facto families that often leave no trace in administrative documents and are still not so many but increasing. Until 1997, 97% of children lived with two parents united by the first marriage. In 2021, a third of children lived in "non-traditional" families. In more than half of the cases, these are reconstituted families including the children of the couple. While in 80-85% of single parent families, the parent is the mother."
Topics discussed at the event included the increase in the age of women giving birth to their first child and birth rates, with a focus on the impact of medically assisted reproduction techniques. Alice Goisis, demographer at University College London, analysed the concept of medically assisted reproduction in all its forms and the impact it has on families. "Conceptions through assisted reproductive technology have increased globally over the last thirty years. Over 10 million children around the world – the number is underestimated – were born in this way. Italian data are in line with this increase. In light of these numbers, it is important to learn how they are doing and to reflect on the parenting journey of these parents. We already know from the data that children conceived through medically assisted reproduction have an increased risk of low birth weight and prematurity. But medically assisted reproduction per se does not increase the risks. These are mostly related to the couple's infertility problems. In addition to this, twin pregnancies, which imply a higher risk factor, are more common with medically assisted reproduction. Based on studies, however, after childhood these children and adolescents do well with outcomes equal to or better than naturally conceived children. This advantage is due to the fact that these children grow up in more educated families, in more affluent environments and are usually strongly desired. Factors that affect cognitive development, education or life trajectories."
Graziella Romeo, a jurist at Bocconi University, made an overview of recently adopted policies and the latest developments in family law: "Family law tends to be protective of the traditional family. Children born out of wedlock have the same rights as naturally-conceived children, but there is still a long way to go for other matters and the family models inspired by heterosexual, stable couples tend to prevail. New reproductive strategies and family structures instead rely on the decisions of the Constitutional Court for the recognition of rights, which evolve through jurisprudence. Things change, but not thanks to specific legislative provisions. Non-traditional families themselves are not recognised."
Some individuals and couples choose not to have any children. Others, on the other hand, have a strong desire for parenthood but must overcome various obstacles to become parents. The topics discussed at the festival included the economic and employment issues that impact on the children's decision to leave the family household. This session, on the other hand, focused on obstacles to family formation, such as the older age of women giving birth and on legal barriers.
A discussion table then examined some of the challenges that new families have to face, such as the desire for parenthood among older heterosexual couples with women in late childbearing age and same-sex couples. But also about the educational achievements and psychological well-being of children after separation and access to assisted reproductive technology which, for the time being, is only available to those who can afford it.