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M. Manfredini, M. Breschi & A. Fornasin

Living arrangements and the elderly Casalguidi, 1819-59. M. Manfredini, M. Breschi & A. Fornasin. The starting point.

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M. Manfredini, M. Breschi & A. Fornasin

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  1. Living arrangements and the elderly Casalguidi, 1819-59 M. Manfredini, M. Breschi & A. Fornasin

  2. The starting point One of the main assumptions of family historians is that elderly people living in large and complex households could count on more favorable living conditions than those living in nuclear ones. There is in fact large agreement that complex households – multigenerational households in particular - could provide the elderly with “a secure existence through co-residence with their children” (Kertzer, 1995, 368), and that they were also in a position of power and great authority over the whole household. Our goal is to check whether such social and structural differences could turn into mortality differentials for the elderly of a Tuscan community of mid-19th century – CASALGUIDI - in which two opposite family systems co-existed, the joint family system of sharecroppers and the nuclear family system of day laborers.

  3. The population of Casalguidi, 1819-59 Mean Pop. Size 2,400 Mean Household number462 Economy Prevalently rural and characterized by the typical Tuscan sharecropping, called Mezzadria Political situation In the period 1819-59, Casalguidi belonged to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. In 1861 it became part of the Italian Kingdom Casalguidi

  4. Sharecroppers and day laborersTwo opposite family systems Sharecroppers Late marriage (yrs) 28.7 M 24.9 F High permanent celibacy rates (%) 14.8 11.5 Living arrangement Joint family system Day laborers Earlier marriage only for M (yrs) 27.3 M 25.0 F Lower permanent celibacy rates (%) 7.5 5.3 Living arrangement Nuclear family system

  5. Method Raw Data1. Parish registers of Birth, Marriage and Death for the period 1819-1859 2. Annual Stati Animarum (census-like data) 3. Family Tax Registers TechniqueNominative Record Linkage DatasetHousehold, individual and couple life-histories reconstructed year by year and linked to SES information. Up to date, the dataset consists of circa 100,000 person- years and 19,000 household-years

  6. The people 60+ years in Casalguidi

  7. Household structure and the elderlyHousehold perspective % of households with elderly people by household structure Complex = Multiple, extended, and frereche

  8. Headship rate Males Females

  9. Households with elderly people by Family Tax and structure (%) Total = Complex + Nuclear + One-person hh + No structure hh

  10. Event History AnalysisModels of Old Age Mortality – Variables • Household structure • Nuclear, both parents coresiding (reference category) • Nuclear, one-parent household • Complex, 1 conjugal unit • Complex, 2+ conjugal units • No structure • Family Tax (proxy of wealth and SES) • Untaxed (reference category) • Low Tax Group • Medium & High Tax Group The model controls also for individual’s age, position within the household (HH or not), and for the cholera epidemic of 1854-55

  11. Event History AnalysisModels of Old Age Mortality – Results In bold, coefficients statistically significant at p<0.05.

  12. Conclusions… • In the mid-19th century community of Casalguidi, two very different family systems co-existed: the joint-family system of sharecroppers and the nuclear family system of day laborers. • On account of the different socioeconomic status of the two farm categories, elderly individuals living in complex households were in better economic conditions than those in nuclear ones. • Did living arrangement and SES have an effect on elderly mortality? Which counted more? Event History Analysis of old-age mortality has showed that the survival of old age people was largely conditioned by household SES (Family Tax), whereas the form of living arrangement did play only a marginal (and not significant) role, both for males and females. …and future perspectives • Shifting from the rigid and schematic categorization of the forms of living arrangement to the more dynamic analysis of co-resident individuals • Including the kin network outside the household as a potential explicative factor of differentials in old age mortality.

  13. Household structure and the elderlyIndividual perspective Modifications/changes in living arrangements of elderly people. Only individuals observed for 5+ years. Nuclear – Complex = 55.6% Complex – Nuclear = 25.5% Others = 19.0% Complex = 69.9% Nuclear = 24.9% Others = 5.2%

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