Household Expenditures and the Status of Children: An Analysis of the Italian Case

Several factors influence consumption choices, which are not all related to the economic dimension. In this paper, we analyze Italian household consumption depending on family characteristics, such as the parents’ working status, their level of education, and the status of children (aged 21 through 30) as students, workers, or NEETs. We rely upon household consumption microdata and apply the «budgetary unit» concept to investigate preferential patterns of family consumption depending on the aforementioned characteristics. In particular, we are interested in understanding whether and how the status of children shapes the consumption patterns of the family unit. We analyze secondary data collected by the ISTAT through the Survey on Household Consumption in Italy in the period 2001-2013. Our results show that households with NEET children show peculiar consumption patterns, which are more oriented toward less functional goods and services than families with student or worker children. This paper contributes to understanding NEET habits within the family through the lens of the sociology of consumption. Policy implications and directions for further sociological research are discussed, as guided by the observed association between the mothers’ working status and the probability that children are NEETs