Understanding Childlessness: A Longitudinal Study of Reproductive, Work, and Union Trajectories in Italy

Childlessness is a multifaceted phenomenon on the rise in most European countries. Remaining childless is a process that needs to be studied in relation to individuals' life trajectories, as this is the key to understand the complexity of paths leading to childlessness. Childlessness is influenced by the ever-changing context in which individuals live and by the choices they make in various spheres of their lives. Therefore, the primary objective of this thesis is to examine childlessness in relation to the life trajectories of men and women in Italy, utilizing a longitudinal approach. Data from the 2016 Istat multipurpose survey 'Families, Social Subjects, and Lifecycle' are analysed for this purpose. A life-course approach to reproductive, work, and union trajectories enables exploration of the variety and complexity of paths leading to childlessness at the end of the reproductive age. Using sequence and cluster analysis, individuals' histories are grouped based on the timing, occurrence, and ordering of events, revealing five profiles for childless women and men, with four profiles being similar for both sexes. Through multi-process hazard models, reproductive, work, and union histories are simultaneously estimated, hypothesizing their correlation due to a latent variable and evaluating the presence of such a variable. Finally, special attention has been paid to differences in life trajectories between men and women and across generational cohorts.