PRIN 2022 PNRR
Unifi RU: Valentina Tocchioni
Other Unifi researcher: Elena Pirani
Project is lead by Università degli Studi di Padova (PI: Marco Tosi), in collaboration with
Università degli Studi di Bologna (RU: Marco Albertini)
Brief description of the proposal
Recent demographic trends, such as declining fertility and mortality rates and changes in union stability, will lead to larger numbers of middle-aged adults with fewer family members. Such a trend is of paramount relevance, given that individuals who have no kin may face greater risks of mental health deterioration and lack of personal care in later life. Yet, much of contemporary research has only focused on a small part of the family network, i.e. the nuclear family, or on vertical ties between parents, children and grandchildren. This focus ignores the potential effect of extended kinship relations on individuals’mental health and wellbeing.
The KinHealth project investigates whether the extended kinship, including in-laws, siblings, cousins, nieces/nephews, and uncles/aunts, plays a relevant role, over and above the nuclear family, in promoting individuals’ wellbeing. Focusing on a specific cohort of adults aged 50-65 who are relatively free from health needs and likely to have both older and younger relatives alive, we articulate this overarching question into three research objectives.
Objective 1: to uncover the extended kinship and describe its characteristics, i.e. the quantity of living kin and patterns of
residential proximity, contact and support exchange between relatives.
Objective 2: to assess the association between the extended kinship – i.e., the quantity and the geographical spread of kinship – and an individual’s mental health and wellbeing. The kinship network is a web of potential support that may promote feelings of reassurance and wellbeing, whether or not family members need it.
Objective 3: to assess whether providing support and care to older and younger relatives is associated with declines in mental health and wellbeing. This will provide new evidence on kinship as a social environment of shared responsibility and commitment to provide support, which may either increase or reduce the mental-health stress of support givers.
We will integrate the best secondary data sources on Italian families with primary data collection to address data limitations. The results of the project will have implications for public health services and the demand for institutional care.