Verso una nuova genitorialità

Being parents one of the most distinctive elements of adult identity is to-day at the centre of a heated debate. Sociologically, parenthood can be de-fined as a specific social relationship, very closely connected to couple relation and linking the partners’ personal histories to family and social ones. Several forms of parenthood can be identified: (a) postponed for a variety of reasons the choice of becoming parents is postponed; (b) assisted which relies on medically assisted conception techniques; (c) social as in the case of adoption; (d) shared possibly in relation to separation and divorce; and, finally, (e) the childfree option non-parenthood by choice. The present paper deals with these different forms of parenthood in light of the social risk related to each of them, which materializes in a complex balancing of challenges and resources.