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Title: Intermarriage across Race and Ethnicity among Immigrants

Citation Type: Book, Whole

Publication Year: 2009

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Abstract: Unlike the many studies on intermarriage that focus on black-white couples, this study differs in three important ways: 1) I focus on immigrants from Asia and Latin America and their U.S.-born children; 2) I make a key distinction between interethnic and interracial relationships; and 3) I move beyond a strong bias towards marriage, to include cohabiting unions. The first way in which this study differs is a focus on immigration as a key trend that influences the number, composition, and identity of mixed couples, and accounts for much of the diversity in the U.S. for the past four decades (since the 1960s). Until recently, black-white intermarriage was virtually synonymous with intermarriage; however, this pattern is drastically changing with increasing immigration from Asia and Latin America. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, the U.S. immigrant-origin population (first and second generations) numbers close to 64 million over one-fifth of the national population. Of these, close to 38 million were born in Latin America and Asia. Furthermore, this immigrant population is new: among immigrants arriving since 1960, just over 50% came from Latin America (more than 25% from Mexico alone) and close to 30% from Asia, making up 80% of first generation immigration since 1960. In addition, one-third of this population resides in California alone, whereas California only makes up 12% of the population in the U.S. This study examines the process of assimilation between different minority groups involved in intimate relationships in the United States, with a focus on first and second generations of immigrants from the Pacific Rim region (i.e., from Asia and Latin America living in California, and in the San Diego metropolitan area in particular). Mixed couples in San Diego are different from those in other parts of the country because of the high proportion of couples that involve immigrants from the Pacific Rim and their U.S.-born children. In 2000, San Diego was among the top ten metropolitan areas in the U.S. in numbers and percentage of first and second generation immigrants. Specifically, San Diego hosts a wide variety of immigrants from the following Pacific Rim countries: Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Mexico (and to a lesser extent, China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and India). In fact, San Diego is one of the most common destinations for Vietnamese, Laotians, and Cambodians. Moreover, no other place except for Los Angeles has a greater number of Filipinos in the country. Second, I make a distinction between race and ethnicity among mixed couples. Research on racial intermarriage originated in countries with high rates of immigration, such as the U.S. and has focused almost exclusively on racial groups. I treat race and ethnicity as two separate but sometimes overlapping phenomena. I refer to racial groups as those groups with an identity that is typically assigned to them by others, based on perceived common physical characteristics that are held to be inherent (i.e., white, Asian, black), and ethnic groups as those having common descent, a shared historical past, and a cultural focus on one or more symbolic elements (i.e., Irish, Chinese, Jamaican, Cuban). In a discussion of definitions of race and ethnicity, I also focus on the process of how these definitions are assigned and accepted, i.e., processes of racialization and ethnicization. Most studies on racial intermarriage leave out marriages that I would term interethnic (i.e., Japanese-Korean, or Cuban-Mexicanassuming they both identify by the same race in the Census). It is therefore imperative that we add interethnic relationships to what we often refer to as mixed unions. Whether interethnic relationships are different from interracial relationshipsand if so, how and whyare among the key questions that this research will address. Finally, I make a distinction between married and cohabiting couples. In the United States, we have witnessed enormous changes in the realm of marriage and family, which include rising divorce rates, more women entering the workforce, and increases in non-marital cohabitation and non-marital reproduction. In terms of this study, cohabiting unions are a crucial demographic component of intermarriage. The number of cohabiting couples has been on the rise for decades and now comprises 9% of all couples in the U.S. To not include these couples in studies of intermarriage clearly biases our sample in important ways. Even if it is true that cohabitation is often a preliminary step before marriage, focusing only on the later stage leaves out important information on the early stages of mixed relationships. Indeed, the 2000 Census shows that interracial couples are twice as likely to cohabit as to marry. Overall, the following questions that this research will address are: Who enters into mixed relationships and what are the implications? What role does marital assimilation play in the process of assimilation? Which of the two perspectives of assimilationstraight-line perspective or segmented perspectivewill Asian and Latin American immigrants and their children follow? I will use a variety of dataCensus, survey questionnaire, and in-depth interviewsto answer these questions.

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Authors: Morgan, Charlie V.

Publisher: LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC

Publisher Location: El Paso, TX

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Data Collections: IPUMS CPS

Topics: Family and Marriage, Migration and Immigration

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