Age at Migration and Marital Exogamy: An Analysis of First Marriages

Kate H. Choi, Princeton University
Marta Tienda, Princeton University

Synthesizing insights from literatures that portray immigrant integration using synthetic “decimal” generations (Rumbaut, 2004; 2001), we examine whether the odds of marital exogamy depend on the age at immigration for persons who arrived in the U.S. during childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood. Net of group size, the odds of ethno-racial homogamy are considerably higher for immigrants than the native born. Comparisons of immigrants by age at immigration reveal that those who migrated as children are least likely and those who migrated as adolescents are most likely to marry a spouse within their ethno-racial group. This pattern is attributable to both: (1) educational differentials and the consequent divergence in opportunities to meet potential spouses outside one’s own ethno-racial group and (2) variation in the strength of preferences for endogamy due distinct degrees of socialization to U.S. institutions.