Antonella Pinnelli

Living arrangements and family networks of older women in Italy.

As in many other industrialized countries, population aging in Italy is disproportionately a phenomenon associated with unmarried women, mainly widows. This article examines the extent to which older unmarried women live alone, and the extent to which they receive help in everyday tasks from others outside their households, using data from a large Italian household sample survey conducted in 1983. Older women can either live alone or with others, and may or may not receive external help in either case; thus there are four distinct combinations of outcomes analyzed. In both descriptive bivariate analysis. and a multivariate model of the outcomes, we find pronounced differences in behavior according to region of residence, educational level, age, degree of disability, work experience, and pension receipt. The findings indicate the importance of family as a source of help and/or co-residence in situations of need.

Mortality peaks in Italy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: Trends by age and sex

Infant and youth mortality fell steeply between the unification of Italy and the 1930’s, particularly due to the decline in infectious and parasitic diseases. A number of mortality crises, however, at times halted this decline: the 1908 Calabria-Sicity earthquake, the 1915 Marsica earthquake, World War I and 1918 Spanish influenza outbreak.This paper focuses as the repercussions of these events on the general survival status of young people from birth to puberty, as well as the main pathologies responsible for the rise in mortality.An analysis of differences in mortality according to sex during the various crises was also performed to ascertain whether the more difficult survival conditions during these periods affected males and females equally.RésuméLa mortalité infantile et juvénile a baissé très rapidement entre l’Unification de l’Italie et les années 1930. Cela est dû, en particulier, au déclin des maladies infectieuses et parasitaires. Cependant, un certain nombre de crises de mortalité ont arrêté à certains moments cette baisse: le tremblement de terre de 1908 en Calabre et en Sicile, le tremblement de terre des Abruzzes, la Première Guerre mondiale et l’épidémie de grippe espagnole de 1918.Ce article examine les répercussions des événements sur les chances de survie des jeunes de la naissance à la puberté, ainsi que les principales pathologies responsable de ces crises.Il réalise également une analyse des différences de mortalité par sexe, durant les diverses, crises pour voir si les conditions de survie pendant ces périodes ont affecté de la même façon garçons et filles.