Whom Do Immigrants Marry? Emerging Patterns of Intermarriage and Integration in the United States

• Date: 01 November 2015
• Author: Zhenchao Qian,Dmitry Tumin,Daniel T. Lichter
• Published date: 01 November 2015
• DOI: 10.1177/0002716215594614
• Subject Matter: Section I: Intermarriage, Boundary Crossing, and Identity

ANNALS, AAPSS, 662, November 2015 57

DOI: 10.1177/0002716215594614

Whom Do

Immigrants

Marry?

Emerging

Patterns of

Intermarriage

and Integration

in the United

States

By

DANIEL T. LICHTER,

ZHENCHAO QIAN,

and

DMITRY TUMIN

594614ANN The Annals of the American AcademyWhom do Immigrants Marry?

research-article2015

We document patterns of intermarriage between immi-

grants and natives during a period of unprecedented

growth in the size and diversity of America’s foreign-

born population. Roughly one in six U.S. marriages

today involve immigrants and a large share includes

U.S.-born partners. Ethno-racial background clearly

shapes trajectories of immigrant social integration.

White immigrants are far more likely than other groups

to marry U.S.-born natives, mostly other whites. Black

immigrants are much less likely to marry black natives

or out-marry with other groups. Intermarriage is also

linked with other well-known proxies of social integra-

tion—educational attainment, length of time in the

country, and naturalization status. Classifying America’s

largest immigrant groups (e.g., Chinese and Mexican)

into broad panethnic groups (e.g., Asians and Hispanics)

hides substantial diversity in the processes of marital

assimilation and social integration across national origin

groups.

Keywords: intermarriage; foreign-born; race; natu-

ralization; national origin

For immigrants, intermarriage with the native-

born population is often viewed as the “final

step” in the assimilation process (Gordon 1964;

Qian and Lichter 2007). Intermarriage provides

indirect evidence that intergroup boundaries

have weakened and increasing shares of the for-

eign-born population are exposed to natives by

Daniel T. Lichter is the Ferris Family Professor in the

Department of Policy Analysis and Management, a

professor of sociology, and director of the Cornell

Population Center, all at Cornell University. His work

focuses on changing racial boundaries, as measured by

shifts in racial segregation in America’s settlement sys-

tem and by new patterns of interracial marriage and

cohabitation during a period of massive immigration.

Zhenchao Qian is professor of sociology and faculty asso-

ciate of the Population Studies and Training Center at

Brown University. His research focuses on changing pat-

terns and consequences of marriage, cohabitation, and

assortative mating, and how the patterns vary by gender,

race/ethnicity, nativity status, and educational attainment.

58 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

living in the same neighborhoods, attending the same schools, speaking the same

language, and sharing the same economic status. Intermarriage with natives thus

represents a clear indicator of social integration of the foreign-born population.

Intermarriage connotes boundary blurring or crossing between population groups.

This is perhaps reflected most often in the large literature on interracial marriage

(Qian and Lichter 2011; Rosenfeld 2008). But assortative mating also can be

observed on a variety of other salient characteristics, including education, nativity,

and religion, among others. For example, whereas interracial marriage signals the

dissolution of racial barriers, increasing educational homogamy provides empirical

evidence of the rigidity of class boundaries (Monaghan 2015; Torche 2010). In the

European Union, cross-border marriages constitute evidence of the breakdown of

national boundaries and the ascendance of a common European identity (Koelet and

de Valk 2014; Schroedter and Rössel 2014). Intermarriage reflects and reinforces

intergroup social integration.

Our conceptual framework links intermarriage to the breakdown of intergroup

boundaries and to the promotion of greater immigrant integration. In this article,

we use data from the 2008–2012 American Community Survey (ACS) to document

the extent of U.S. intermarriage between immigrants and natives during a period

of unprecedented growth in the size and diversity of America’s foreign-born popu-

lation. We have several specific objectives. First, we provide an update to Qian and

Lichter (2001) and document percentages of recent marriages between the native-

and foreign-born populations over the 2008 to 2012 period. Second, we examine

variation in native-foreign intermarriage within and between panethnic groups.

Specifically, we ask if foreign-born and native-born panethnic groups increasingly

marry each other rather than marrying out to whites or American minority popula-

tions. Observed differences in native-immigrant intermarriage suggest that immi-

grant integration is uneven and provide evidence of possible segmented assimilation.

Third, we evaluate whether variation in intermarriage in the foreign-born popula-

tion is rooted in predisposing conditions: race and ethnicity, national origin (which

may reflect barriers to intermarriage arising from religious beliefs or other cultural

traits), economic incorporation (e.g., education, length of U.S. residence, naturali-

zation status), and preferences (i.e., variation unexplained by observed predispos-

ing characteristics).

Background and Theory

Immigration and social integration

The social boundaries between immigrants and natives are “bright”—distinct

and easily illuminated in day-to-day interactions (Alba 2005). For example, at the

time of their arrival, immigrants—especially those with few job skills—are often

Dmitry Tumin is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at The Ohio State University.

His research focuses on the predictors and consequences of transitions into marriage, socioeco-

nomic influences on the process of divorce, and the interrelation between marital transitions

and health disparities.