In “CNEL Report 2024 – Demography and Workforce" Corrado Bonifazi e Angela Paparusso analyze the growing impact of immigration on Italian demography and economy, highlighting how migratory flows are essential to sustain the country's labor market.
With a constantly aging population and a declining workforce, immigration emerges as a key factor for demographic renewal and the strengthening of the production system.
Bonifazi and Paparusso propose more effective migration policies and integration strategies that can strengthen the positive contribution of immigrants, promoting greater social cohesion and more sustainable management of human resources.
According to a study by the MUSA (Social Changes, Evaluation and Methods) research group, suicidal thoughts today involve around half of Italian adolescents.
Article The developmental process of suicidal ideation among adolescents: social and psychological impact from a nation-wide survey – just published in the magazine Scientific Reports of Nature – investigates the mechanism that leads to the development of such thoughts.
From the survey conducted by Antonio Tintori, Loredana Cerbara e Giulia Ciancimino, IRPPS, with Maurizio Pompili, UniSapienza, and Gianni Corsetti, ISTAT, the psychological disorders that fuel suicidal thoughts do not constitute the origin of the problem, traced, instead, in particular dynamics of social interaction and in specific socio-demographic characteristics.
The interdisciplinary epistemological approach adopted has also made it possible to show how factors usually considered influential, such as tolerance for the use of alcohol and psychotropic substances in general, are in fact only secondary in explaining the phenomenon.
Irpps, with the Viva project, has published the results of the national survey on centers for men who commit violence (Cuav). The Viva project represents an important piece in the socio-cultural change necessary to combat gender violence.
IRPPS joins with CNR in Scholars at Risks, an international network that promotes protection activities for scholars in danger, advocacy and training for academic freedom. A course on "Guidelines for the reception of scholars at risk", necessary for those wishing to actively participate in the network, is planned.
In addition to highlighting theincreased use of pornography associated with a decrease in the age of its users, the research confirmed his reflections on the development of social and sexual identity. These are negative impacts on primary emotions, self-esteem and body satisfaction in adolescents and girls. But the study reveals in particular how early exposure to pornography also has positive effects, but only on girls.
In fact, a strengthening gender stereotypes in the context of relationships, adherence to gender roles also in the sexual sphere and an increase in tolerance towards discriminatory, violent and deviant behaviour. Conversely, for girls, pornography is aexperience of sexual liberation which, unlike males, goes beyond the confines of the stereotyped hierarchies of social spaces. This diversity is the result, according to the authors, of the "binary" socialization still prevalent today, which reproduces gender stereotypes from generation to generation, inducing a passive adherence to predefined male and female social roles.
The findings of this research suggest the importance and urgency of asex education that it is possibly offered in a school environment and with the mediation of professionals. This, in order to promote a critical - and not just passive - approach capable of overcoming the taboo of sex and going beyond mainstream, heterosexual and masculinized pornography, which provides a homogenized and unrealistic image of bodies, sexual performances and relationships social.
The study was conducted with a psychosocial research approach and is drawn from the results of the national survey The state of adolescence 2023, which involved 4288 young high school students throughout the peninsula.
Internationally, many studies have investigated the negative effects of early exposure to pornography, but the results are often controversial, due to the use of different research techniques and both methodological and theoretical shortcomings.
A research conducted among the staff of the National Research Council (CNR) on the perceived medium-term effects of forced work from home (WFH) on life and profession has been published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health: The medium-term perceived impact of work from home on life and work domains of knowledge workers during COVID-19 pandemic: A survey at the National Research Council of Italy.
More than 95% of the 748 respondents report that at least one area of personal life has changed, a percentage that reaches 97% for perceived changes in at least one area of professional life. These are mostly positive repercussions according to the participants.
The objective of the study - conducted in early 2022 by researchers from four CNR institutes in collaboration with the University of Genoa - was to evaluate how knowledge workers experienced the changes to their working habits after 18 months since the start of the restrictive measures related to the pandemic. The survey is part of the research, launched all over the world especially during the first lockdowns, on the well-being of workers.
How smart has working from home been during the pandemic?
The research was carried out through an online questionnaire. Among other things, CNR staff were asked to rate the impact of working from home on various areas from 1 (very negative) to 5 (very positive).
With respect to personal life, the quality of interpersonal relationships in the family and the lifestyle in general (including eating habits and health) benefited the most from working from home with 60% and 58% of responses being "very positive" or "positive". However, working from home does not seem to have had an impact on the quality of sleep and friendships (48% and 55% answer "none" respectively). The most frequent negative impact (20%) is instead recorded in relation to the psychological state. (Details of the answers in figure n.1)
Figure n.1: Responses relating to the impact of working from home on five areas of personal life. We report the percentages without decimals to make reading more usable, the sum of the reported values does not always add up to 100% due to rounding.
Professional level, ie respondents benefited from working from home in particular with respect to flexibility (organisation of personal workspace and personal workspace and working time management), initiative taking and quality of work. Three areas in which positive perceptions prevailed over both negative ones and lack of impact.
The participatory and relational aspects are those in which the perception of absence of impact prevails. At the same time, however, relationships with colleagues and participation in the work context are those that seem to have been most affected by the different working conditions and that have collected the largest number of negative responses (27% and 25%, respectively).
Figure n.2: Responses relating to the impact of working from home on seven areas of professional life. We report the percentages without decimals to make reading more usable, the sum of the reported values does not always add up to 100% due to rounding.
This perception was influenced by personal and organizational factors. In particular, the reduced number of days of face-to-face work and a longer commute time from home to work are associated with a positive perception of the impact of working from home on personal life. Even those who reduced their sedentary lifestyles rated the impact of working from home on all areas of their personal lives as positive. On the other hand, a negative perception is favored by having abandoned one's hobbies and having had to share the room used for work with other inhabitants of the house.
As the writer of the article points out, the results obtained suggest that measures to promote the physical and mental health of employees, strengthen inclusion and maintain a sense of community are needed for improve workers' health and prevent isolation perceived in research activities when recourse to working from home is envisaged, especially where work-life balance policies are lacking.
Insights from the frontline anti-violence work during the pandemic in Italy
Pietro Demurtas e Caterina Peroni have published in the Open Journal of Sociopolitical Studies “Participation and Conflict” an article entitled “We must draw a different future! Insights from the front line anti-violence work during the pandemic in Italy"
“In this article we analyze the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Italian anti-violence system, through the eyes of the practitioners of anti-violence centers, who are historically at the forefront in supporting women survivors of male violence. Their perspective is particularly relevant because, in Italy, anti-violence centers hold a “borderline” position, which lies between the political role of transformation and that of an actor of the private social provider of an 'essential' public service. On the basis of international recommendations, our analysis distinguishes two main areas of intervention on which national policies have been called to intervene: on one side, the protection of women victims of violence, and on the other their empowerment. Analyzing either official statistics and data collected through an online survey addressed to the practitioners of anti-violence centers during the lockdown, we highlight strengths and weaknesses of the policy measures implemented in Italy from their situated perspective, with reference both to the protection and the empowerment of survivors.”
The article is published in mode Open, freely available and downloadable
