Content area
Abstract
Regional variation in a wide variety of social and demographic characteristics of the U.S. population is readily acknowledged. However, very little is known about regional variation in racial and ethnic intermarriage. The dissertation describes broad regional variation in racial and ethnic intermarriage and also explores sources of this variation. After controlling for the effects of group size, the tendency to intermarry is stronger in the West and weaker in the Northeast and South. Under certain conditions, the tendency to intermarry is weaker when minority groups are larger in size. There is also evidence that intermarriage is more common when economic conditions are more favorable. The dissertation also investigates variation among groups in intermarriage. The different Asian groups and different Latino groups have greatly varying intermarriage patterns, suggesting that the composite categories Asian and Latino obscure a great deal of variability. However, there is an affinity that promotes intermarriage between members of different Asian groups, but no such pattern was found for members of different Latino groups. The dissertation also finds that the most important distinction affecting marriage outcomes is the divide between Blacks and non-Blacks.
