Mexican marital endogamy and educational homogamy in the USA, 1980-2000: a case of social closure?

• Autores: Albert Esteve Palós, Robert McCaa
• Localización: Papers de demografia, Nº. 354, 2009
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The high rates of Mexican immigration into the United States in recent decades raises questions about marital assimilation and social closure. We use data for approximately two million couples aged 30-39 from the 1980, 1990 and 2000 IPUMS census samples for the USA to analyze the demographic and social dynamics of ethnic endogamy and educational homogamy (N = 2,019,754). Log-linear models leave no doubt that endogamy remains the rule among the Mexican-born, Mexican-origin and Non-Hispanic Whites—both at the national and local levels (~2,000 PUMAS). The increase in endogamy among the Mexican-born, while significant, does not portend the emergence of social closure, perhaps not even a trend. Post-secondary education substantially weakens the endogamy rule for all three groups. The gender squeeze (more Mexican born males than females) forces the ruleto be broken in a large fraction of cases. 2010 census microdata will provide an important test of these findings.