Unions that Divide: Interracial and Intergenerational Marriages among Mexicans

Yukio Kawano, Daito Bunka University

Qian and Lichter (ASR 2007) argued that Hispanic intermarriage had reversed its upward trend in the 1990s due to the increased inflow of coethnic immigrants. This research assesses this claim with respect to Mexicans with particular attention to marriages across generations. Two questions are asked: in the past 15 years, have Mexican intergenerational marriages increased compared to Mexican-white marriages? Do Mexican intermarriages involve such a status exchange as observed in black-white marriages? Quasi-independent and quasi-symmetric log-linear models are performed on 1994-2009 CPS March data. The results indicate that intergenerational marriages have been generally stable; Mexican-white marriages have also been stable except a slight decline for immigrant husbands. “Social distance” is stable within Mexicans, while it is somewhat widening between Mexican-immigrant men and white women. Further investigation into the earlier periods will be imperative. Status exchange was observed among Mexican husbands who tend to exchange their higher education with wives’ higher generational status.