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Must Be Mama’s Home Cooking

By Charles Sizemore⋅ February 1, 2010 ⋅ ⋅ Post a comment

Last week, we had a blog post about the changing demographics of the Middle East based on data from the Christian Science Monitor. Today, we’re going to comment on another snippet from that issue (January 24, 2010) titled “Adults, and still in the nest.”

No, we’re not talking about American college kids who move back in with mom after graduation. We’re talking about Italians who are pushing 40 and still living with mama. We’ve covered this topic before, but it’s interesting to see it covered again by one of the top foreign affairs newspapers in the world. The Monitor writes,

The phenomenon of the bamboccioni, or grown-up kids that live with Mom and Dad until their late 30s, has prompted many jokes both here and abroad. Reluctance to give up Mama’s lasagna is just part of the picture.

A set of new data released in late December by Istat, the governmental institute of statistics, confirms some stereotypes but debunks others.

Four out of 10 men aged 30 to 34 still live with their parents, as do about 2 out of 10 women of the same age. Moreover, 17.5 percent of men and 9.3 percent of women aged 35 to 39 also live with their parents. What’s new is that at least half of them would like to move out, but 80 percent of them say they cannot afford to. High rents and low salaries don’t help.

Italy is in a bit of a vicious cycle. The country has one of the lowest birthrates in the world because many Italians cannot afford to start their own households. The low birth rates lead to slower economic growth which makes it even more difficult to afford a family. And a two-income family is not a viable option for many Italians because the country lacks many of the subsidies for day care services that it European contemporaries provide. So, many Italians continue to live at home until they are past their prime child bearing years.

We’re not sure how this problem gets “fixed.” Even if Italy introduced massive new subsidies for working mothers today, Italy would still have to deal with the economic consequences of a lost generation that was never born.

Charles Sizemore, CFA
Co-author of the recently-published Boom or Bust: Understanding and Profiting from a Changing Consumer Economy

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2 comments for “Must Be Mama’s Home Cooking”

Choosing Priorites:
I believe the Italians, who are known for being very family oriented, know that most often a mother can care for her own kin better than a stranger, government instituted daycare or neighborhood daycare. A pity more do not consider the quality of child rearing as much as they consider the quality of their cars, homes, clothes, even their T.Vs.
When I lived in Italy in 1990, we saw very few women with their young children in public, even at the parks, at least relative to the U.S. and other parts of Europe. After inquiring, “where are all the children and their mothers?” We continuously got the same answer: “They stay at home with the children.” (often added, “where they belong!”) This appears to set up an “either or situation” for Italian women: Either express your emancipation or stay at home all day as a mother. This hardly meets the needs of women who wish to fulfill their social, psychological and creative potential.
In America, esp.educated women, we have the resources to work at home and own a business and educate offspring in the process! This is QUALITY life and QUALITY child rearing.
(With hesitation I add, we did not own a T.V. for the first 5 years of our son’s life. We had 1 used car
for years, saved on joining a gym by much walking/biking and enjoyed home cooked meals. Yes, it can be better for a family’s physical health as well!)

Posted by alexsandra burt | February 3, 2010, 2:03 am
Thanks for the comment, Alexsandra. It’s interesting that birthrates have remained high in the United States, where women get comparatively little maternity leave and support, and in France and Scandinavia, where state support is enormous, yet birthrates have plunged in Southern Europe. I think you are right about the reasons. In the US and Northern Europe, a mother can “have it all,” within the limits of a family budget of course, whereas in Italy they have to choose. It’s too bad, because I rather like the traditional Italian family structure, and it is more or less dying, as the younger generation is not big enough to carry it on.

CLS

Posted by Charles Sizemore | February 3, 2010, 8:58 am

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