Marital Assimilation Among Hispanics: Evidence of Declining Cultural and Economic Incorporation?*

Abstract

Objective. We document intermarriage patterns between Hispanics and non‐Hispanic whites over the 1990 to 2000 period in 155 U.S. metropolitan areas and evaluate the effects of spatial, cultural, and economic assimilation on interdecade changes in intermarriage. We hypothesize that changes in Hispanic‐white intermarriage during the 1990s reflect changing spatial, cultural, and economic assimilation among U.S. Hispanics.Methods. We use data from the 1990 and 2000 Census Public Use Microdata Samples.Results. Analyses show that intermarriage between Hispanics and non‐Hispanic whites declined during the 1990s, a result fueled in part by burgeoning immigration of Hispanics, especially Mexicans. The 1990s also ushered in a period of increasing Hispanic segregation from non‐Hispanic whites, growing language barriers, and accelerated educational inequality, which also dampened Hispanic‐white intermarriage rates.Conclusions. Our results imply that the Hispanic population is at a transition point, if intermarriage rates are an indication, and possibly a new period of retrenchment in the assimilation process.