Ethnic Affiliation of Children and the Risk of Union Dissolution

Abstract

This paper illustrates that the ethnic affiliation of the first-born child can be used to deepen our understanding of ethnic heterogamy effects on unions’ dissolution risk. We use longitudinal population register data from Finland that cover the period 1971-2003, consisting of almost 65,000 unions, whereof the number of ethnically mixed unions is 11,365. Those in which a greater proportion of the parents are likely to have made a more deliberate choice for the child, meaning that the child and the father have the same ethnic affiliation, are found to have an almost seven per cent lower risk of dissolution than other ethnically mixed unions. We argue that the attenuated risk of union dissolution reflects that these parents are more perceptive with respect to each other’s preferences and more alike in terms of values, norms and tastes. The estimate is still likely an underestimate of the true effect of the ethnically mixed couples’ strategies and behaviours on the dissolution risk. We find also strong ethnic heterogamy effects, signalling that even after the birth of the first child, the distinctive attitudes of different cultures towards marriage, the family, and divorce remain important for the union’s survival.