Departments of Policy Analysis and Management and Sociology, 249 MVR Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853; e-mail: dtl28@cornell.edu.
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Immigration and Intermarriage Among Hispanics: Crossing Racial and Generational Boundaries†
Article first published online: 3 MAY 2011
DOI: 10.1111/j.1573-7861.2011.01239.x
© 2011 Eastern Sociological Society
Additional Information
How to Cite
Lichter, D. T., Carmalt, J. H. and Qian, Z. (2011), Immigration and Intermarriage Among Hispanics: Crossing Racial and Generational Boundaries. Sociological Forum, 26: 241–264. doi: 10.1111/j.1573-7861.2011.01239.x
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The authors thank Ben Cornwell, Tomás Jimenéz, Hyunjoon Park, Sharon Sassler, and the anonymous reviewers and editor of Sociological Forum for comments on earlier versions of this article.
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Departments of Policy Analysis and Management and Sociology, 249 MVR Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853; e-mail: dtl28@cornell.edu.
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Department of Policy Analysis and Management, 122 MVR Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853.
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Department of Sociology, 238 Townshend Hall,1885 Neil Avenue Mall, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210.
Publication History
- Issue published online: 3 MAY 2011
- Article first published online: 3 MAY 2011
- Abstract
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Keywords:
- assimilation;
- boundaries;
- generation;
- Hispanics;
- immigration;
- interracial marriage;
- race
Rates of Hispanic intermarriage with whites declined for the first time during the 1990s. One hypothesis, which we test here, is that the recent influx of new immigrants has provided an expanding marriage market for Hispanics, reinforced cultural and ethnic identity, and slowed the process of marital assimilation. In this article, we use data from the March Current Population Survey (1995–2008) to identify generational differences in Hispanic-white intermarriage. The results indicate that second-generation Hispanics were more likely to marry first- rather than third-generation Hispanics or whites, a pattern that was reinforced over the study period. The results suggest declining rates of intermarriage among second-generation Hispanics—a pattern that diverges sharply from those observed among third-plus-generation Hispanics, where in-marriage with other Hispanics declined over time. If couched in the language of straight line assimilation theory, third-plus-generation Hispanics are assimilating by increasingly marrying other third-generation co-ethnics and whites. On the other hand, assimilation among the second-generation is slowing down as its members increasingly reconnect to their native culture by marrying immigrants.