Being NEET. Drawing a profile of Italian young adults living in Campania region

Youth not engaged in employment, education or training (NEET) represent one of the most problematic groups in the context of youth unemployment. In the last years, there has been increasing attention given to this population of disengaged youth and on consequences of this condition: difficulty in school-work transition (Cortini, Tanucci, & Morin, 2011), deep-rooted crisis of confidence in institutions (Pharr & Putnam, 2000), delayed in the transition to adulthood (Cavalli, 1997; Livi Bacci, 2008; Sica et al., 2016) influencing the development of the identity (Crocetti et al., 2012). It estimated that 30,3% of young neither studied nor worked in Italy, and the 41,5% of them lived in Campania, one of regions of the country most closely associated with NEET phenomenon (Istat, 2015). As part of wider research project that includes the analysis of psychological dynamics affecting the phenomenon, this paper aims to draw a profile of young NEET living in Italy and in particular in Campania region. This research carried out analysis on the young people using secondary data collected by Multipurpose Investigation Istat - "Aspects of daily life" (Istat, 2016). In particular, the current study focused on the differences between young NEET and non-NEET (students or workers) aged from 20 to 34 regard to specific thematic areas: transition to adulthood and economic dependence, wellness perceived, use and abuse of alcohol, free time, trust and political participation, use of the web and in particular of the social network.