Parenthood and self‑fulfilment: does having children matter to Italian young‑adults?

Italian fertility is often portrayed as suppressed mainly by external barriers – e.g., precarious jobs, high housing costs, limited childcare—that prevent people from acting on their desire for children. Shifting the lens, we investigate one motive that shapes family formation among young Italians: whether parenthood is seen as essential for self-realisation. Using the 2020 Youth Report survey of the Istituto Giuseppe Toniolo—the only large-scale Italian dataset that measures the perceived relevance of childbearing for a fulfilling life—we find that four in ten childless 18- to 34-year-olds say they would feel fully realised even without children, irrespective of their stated fertility intentions. Economic and employment insecurity help explain this stance, but so does culture: among women, stronger adherence to traditional gender-role norms is linked to a lower inclination to view parenthood as self-fulfilling. Finally, we show that this “self-fulfilment motive” adds a distinct layer to the usual measures of fertility preferences (i.e., desires, expectations, and intentions), offering a more nuanced picture of the forces behind Italy’s persistent low fertility and delayed parenthood.