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The ethnographic fieldwork portion of the project - interviews with women of reproductive age, and when available their partners and mothers - was initiated and completed in 2006. For each of four Italian cities (Padua, Bologna, Cagliari, and Naples) studied ethnographically by trained anthropologists, both a working-class and a middle-class neighborhood were identified. These interviews (349 in number) have been transcribed without identifiers. All interviews have been coded and assigned 'attributes' (or nominative variables, such as gender, civil/religious status of marriage, etc.) using the qualitative data analysis software (NVIVO), and these reside in secure electronic project folders. This large body of qualitative interview data is now complete and ready for use across the international collaborative units. Preliminary research reveals the particular significance of family ties in Italy, the fundamental role played by gender systems, and the specific cultural, socio-economic, and politic contexts in which fertility behavior and parenting are embedded.

The First Baby Study (FBS) was a prospective cohort study designed to investigate the association between mode of delivery at first childbirth (cesarean or vaginal) and subsequent fecundity and fertility over the course of a 3-year follow-up period. Women were enrolled during pregnancy and interviewed by telephone in their third trimester. Enrolled participants were followed-up with and surveyed at 1, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 and 36 months postpartum. Participants were enrolled in 2009 to 2011 and the last interview was conducted in 2014.