Higher parental socioeconomic status accelerates sexual debut: Evidence from university students in Italy

Childbearing across partnerships in Italy: Prevalence, demographic correlates, and social gradient

“…On the one hand, several SDT markers, such as cohabitation, childbearing within cohabitation, and union dissolution, are now spreading rapidly in Italy (Pirani and Vignoli 2016;Vignoli et al 2016;Caltabiano et al 2019;Pirani et al 2021). On the other hand, several more mechanical forces seem to be pushing in the opposite direction: the lowest-low Italian fertility (few women have more than one child and, by definition, childbearing across partnership is visible only from parity two); the ingrained postponement of the first child and the lengthy average marriage duration (which leaves little space for separation, remarriage, and a second child with another partner); and the low number of children outside unions and at young ages (due to Italian youths' effective and careful contraceptive use; Castiglioni et al 2001;Guetto et al 2022).…”

“…In Italy, the Roman Catholic Church has maintained a stronger and more marked presence in the socialization of young people when compared with other European contexts, such as France or Spain (Caltabiano et al 2006), although the Church's force is gradually weakening (Minello et al 2020;Stranges and Vignoli 2020;Caltabiano and Dalla Zuanna 2021). Additionally, the role of normative parental pressures on children's decisions concerning family and sexual life is especially important there due to the strength of family ties and obligations (Guetto et al 2022). Parents tend to discourage non-normative behaviours in their offspring, and even adults tend to feel a high degree of parental pressure when making their own choices (Vignoli and Salvini 2014).…”

Adding up risks: Sexual debut and substance use among Italian university students

“…The baseline duration is the age, grouped into four classes: under 16, 16-17.5, 17.5-20 and 20 and older. We adopted a stepwise procedure estimating nested models with three steps to assess how risky behaviours influence the transition to first sexual intercourse and if their effects hold once controlled for micro-, meso-and macro-level characteristics identified as relevant in the literature (i.e., Coppola 2007;Caltabiano 2007;Rostosky et al 2004;Jones, Darroch and Singh 2005;Caltabiano, Dalla Zuanna and Rosina 2006;Guetto et al 2020). First, we estimated a model with the baseline hazard, namely age classes, and the three risky behaviours as binary time-varying covariates indicating if the student smoked marijuana, used ecstasy or got drunk for the first time during the process time (see Model 1a).…”

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices about HIV and other sexually transmitted infections among High School students in Southern Italy: A cross-sectional survey

“…Early sexual debut is reported in 21.7% of Italian High School students, especially among those from a higher socioeconomic background [14,15]. Evidence suggests that the primary contributing factor to the elevated risk of STIs, unintended pregnancies, and the need for elective abortions among individuals in this age group is the lack of comprehensive sexual education and insufficient awareness on these topics [16].…”