Concerns about the “disappearance of young people”, who too often choose to move abroad, are accompanied by social and economic fragility affecting new generations. 74.1% of the younger generation who still live in their original families are in low or medium-low socioeconomic status. Fresco The CISF Family Report 2025 starts from these data and investigates the psychological and relational well-being of Italian families through the results of research carried out by the company Eumetra on a sample of 1,600 subjects.
The number of young people who still live with their parents in middle to lower social and economic conditions is much higher than the average of respondents who live in the same situation, namely 45.6 percent. «These results – says the director of the International Center for Family Studies, Francesco Belletti – are an indirect confirmation of the conditions of economic marginality of the new generations, for whom the family continues to represent the only real system of social protection». Often precarious and low-paid work makes it difficult to realize independence projects.
Almost as a reaction, to overcome economic vulnerability, a “disengagement economy” developed: 32.5% of the families interviewed had to give up expenses dedicated to personal well-being and leisure; 32.4% for housing costs; while 18.5% is for health costs.
The report also focuses on the difficulties faced by the “sandwich generation” (currently 40/50 years old), which is particularly vulnerable to critical problems between the youngest and oldest generations: almost one in two families with children (42.6%) is also affected by the task of caring for a family member who is unable to be independent; of these, 53% said they felt burdened with childcare responsibilities more often than parenting duties. «Family support is taken for granted – adds Belletti – and this generates pressure that risks breaking down the resistance of the middle generation. Additionally, the depletion of family networks reduces the ability to care.”
Finally, from a health perspective, psychological well-being worsened: although more than a third of the sample (35.2%) reported at least one health problem, 60% stated they suffered from anxiety and stress (24.9% “often”; 37.3% “sometimes”). The causes are personal and family health problems as much as 45%, economic problems as much as 34.7%, and work problems as much as 32.2%.
