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Sexual debut and dating of university students in low fertility societies: Italy and Japan

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Abstract

The sexual debut and dating behaviour of the youth are vital to the process of personal and social transition from adolescence to adulthood and can have both direct and indirect influences on later union formation processes. Nonetheless, little attention has been paid to the sexual and dating behaviour of young people in Southern Europe and East Asia—both of which are categorized as societies with strong family ties and lowest-low fertility. The present study steps back to the initial events of the transition to adulthood and examines the sexual and dating behaviours of university students in Italy and Japan. Our results suggest that the world record-low fertility levels in Italy and Japan originate from very different processes in the transition to adult sexuality. In Japan, the sexual and affective behaviour of students in life’s early stages seems to be an important reason in explaining low fertility. In Italy, however, the reasons behind low fertility do not seem to stem from a problematic path of transition to adult sexuality and finding a partner, at least among higher educated individuals. We conclude that a focus on sexual and dating histories can provide an important perspective on the foundations of low fertility societies.

Suggested Citation

  • Ryohei Mogi & Daniele Vignoli, 2021. "Sexual debut and dating of university students in low fertility societies: Italy and Japan," Econometrics Working Papers Archive 2021_06, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti".
    • Handle: RePEc:fir:econom:wp2021_06
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    Cited by:

    1. Ryohei Mogi & Ryota Mugiyama & Giammarco Alderotti, 2022. "Employment uncertainty and non-coresidential partnership in very-low fertility countries: Italy and Japan," Econometrics Working Papers Archive 2022_07, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti".

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sexual debut; Transition to adulthood; Partnership dynamics; Italy; Japan;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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