This study involves a comparative analysis of intermarriage patterns of the six largest Asian-origin groups in the continental United States: Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese, Koreans, Asian Indians, and Vietnamese. The Principal Investigators will draw on data from the 1980 5% Public Use Microdata Sample of the U.S. Census (PUMS) to examine the tendency of individuals to marry a member of the same ethnic group or someone from a different ethnic group. Previous research on the intermarriage of Asians in the United States has been limited by geographical and/or group constraints. These researchers will rectify this situation by conducting a comparative analysis of the extent and determinants of Asian intermarriage. They will integrate two theoretical perspectives on intermarriage. The first, the assimilation model, assumes that people make marital decisions according to their cultural preferences and factors such as citizenship, ability with English, and socioeconomic attainment. The second, the structural model, suggests that marital decisions are constrained by the structural and demographic reality of the society in which they live, including such factors as the relative group size and racial and educational heterogenity. Combining these two perspectives provides a more realistic model of the actual dynamics of the intermarriage process in general, and for America's fastest growing ethnic minority -- Asian Americans. This is the first effort to provide a systematic analysis of Asian intermarriage encompassing the entire continental United States, and will advance current knowledge on the assimilation process of this important subgroup of the population. As such, this study will contribute to models of intermarriage that recognize sociocultural and socioeconomic diversity.
