Intermarriage Among Italians: Some Regional Variations in Australia

Abstract

Using data from the 1986 Census this paper examines the patterns of intermarriage of the Italian-born, who constitute one of the largest non-English speaking groups in Australia. We also examine regional variations in the rate of intermarriage between the Italian-born and people born in Australia and other birthplace groupings. The ethnic composition of the Australian population has been changed by post-war migration and this has led to increased social interaction between diverse groups. It has been found that direct and continuing contact between groups with different cultural heritages results in an increased rate of intermarriage. However, this rate varies, and we found that the Italian-born and other southern European groups have significantly higher rates of in-marriage than British and north and east Europeans. The findings show that Italians in urban areas have higher rates of in-marriage than those in rural areas, due to age and gender differences in migration streams, which lead to a shortage of potential partners of similar ethnic background in non-metropolitan areas.