Parental divorce, cohabitation and the celebration of marriage in Italy

The effect of parental divorce on the outcomes of children's marital relationships has been long studied and well documented in many contemporary Western countries. This paper investigates whether family history also has an impact on the early phase of marriages of offspring, especially on how the wedding is celebrated. The topic is whether parental divorce may affect the choices concerning the celebration of the marriage, in particular the choices concerning the rite of marriage, the wedding party, and the honeymoon trip. An empirical analysis of this subject was carried out on contemporary Italy. The data set used was produced by the survey Family and Social Subjects carried out in 2009 and published in 2013 by Istat (Italian National Institute of Statistics). The results highlight phenomena of social inheritance between generations. Children of divorced parents are less likely to marry under a religious ceremony, provide a banquet, and go on a honeymoon. There is also an intra-generational transmission of family models: those who have cohabited choose less traditional forms of marriage.