The present essay studies how the traditional family is one of the social institutions that has been swallowed by the vortex of social change. As a consequence, both the traditional functions and the role dynamics of its components have been deeply disorganized. The essay seeks to enlighten either the laborious search for a new internal balance or the factors that hinder it. The increasingly uncertain transition point that leads young people to adulthood is analyzed. The study is conducted through the discussion of the results of an administrative empirical research funded by the Department of social and youth policies of the province of Trieste and conducted on a sample of 836 young adults dwelling in the city of Trieste.
