Marriages and same-sex civil partnerships in Italy: focus on the age-gap

Maura Simone , Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT)
Antonella Guarneri, Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT)
Claudia Iaccarino, Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT)

Some research analysed the age gap between spouses in mixed couples. These studies represent a situation where mixed marriages are usually more heterogamous relative to age (Elwert, 2020) and are often characterized by a larger age gap between partners (Stamper Balistreri et al., 2017). Different assortative mating patterns define a sort of “bargaining” between foreign and native partners: former’ relative youth in exchange presumably of latter’ social status and economic security (Gabrielli et al., 2016). In previous research, we have studied the age gap of the spouses, in relation to the type of couple. The aim of the following work is to compare the age gap between partners in marriages and in same-sex civil partnerships, in relation to the main socio-demographic characteristics of the couples. The analysis has been carried out using data collected from the Survey on Marriages and the Survey on Civil Partnerships. The two surveys, conducted by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), provide the official data of all marriages (religious and civil) and all same-sex civil partnerships (by gender of the partners: both males, both females) in all Italian municipalities. We would like to verify if the same-sex civil partnerships confirm the age-assortative mating patterns observed in marriages with at least a spouse with migratory background. Through descriptive and multivariate analyses, we will compare the profiles of foreign citizens, new Italians and Italians by birth distinguished by gender.

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 Presented in Session P1. Fertility, Family, Life Course