Today, 37 percent of men age thirty have never lived away from home

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

37. Hi.... I'm actually Italian

but from northern Italy. Mammismo is a bit more prevalent in southern Italy than in northern Italy, in part thanks to more patriarchal views still held in southern Italy where a man feels entitled to being coddled by women (mom or wife). Mammoni (those men who can't do anything without mommie or wifey) are made fun of regularly.

But the truth is that for both men and women in Italy there is absolutely no shame in living with your parents. Rents are sky high and owning a home is not for everyone. Universities are local (few if any dorms) and people tend to go to school where they live. Many of my friends lived with their folks well into their 30s until they either married or shacked up or got financially secure to move out on their own. I'm not sure about weddings in Calabria, but in Bologna -where I'm from - there is absolutely no expectation to have huge weddings or pay for a home or furniture. Most get married at the mayor's office, and IKEA is wonderful. Then again, Bologna is the Berkeley of Italy so we are all heathens and commies up there.

I remember my mom and dad being horrified by the attitudes of parents when we first came in the U.S. who couldn't wait until their kids turned 18 so they would leave the home. To my parents, that's an alien notion and even sending me and my sister to college was a very weird thing for them (and for us).

To this day, I don't see a problem with a man or woman who chooses (or has) to live with his/her parents.