Racial Diversity in the Marital Assimilation of Hispanics

Abstract

AbstractObjective: This study describes how the intermarriage behavior of Hispanic racial groups changed between 1990 and 2017.Background: Prior work on intermarriage trends has seldom examined the role of race in the mate selection behavior of Hispanics. The following three questions of fundamental importance have thus remained unanswered: (a) Did the intermarriage of all Hispanic racial groups slow down during the 1990s? (b) Did this trend persist after the 1990s? (c) Did the solidification and possible racialization of Hispanic pan‐ethnic identity contribute to changes in Hispanic intermarriage behavior over time?Methods: Using data from the 1990 U.S. Census, 2000 U.S. Census, and 2008 to 2017 American Community Survey, the author conducted log‐linear analyses to examine changes in the relative permeability of racial and pan‐ethnic boundaries between 1990 and 2017.Results: For Hispanic Whites, the odds of intermarriage with non‐Hispanic Whites remained unchanged during the 1990 but bounced back after 2000. For Hispanic Blacks, the corresponding odds increased steadily after 1990. For Hispanics who rejected official U.S. racial categories, the odds of intermarriage with non‐Hispanic Whites decreased over time.Conclusion: For Hispanic Whites, rates of intermarriages with non‐Hispanic Whites decreased during the 1990s in large part due to the surge of immigration from Latin America. Hispanic ethnicity may have become racialized over time for Hispanics who rejected official U.S. racial categories, but not Hispanic Whites and Hispanic Blacks.Implications: The findings from this study underscore the importance of considering racial heterogeneity when studying Hispanic intermarriage behavior.