Marrying into the American Population: Cross-Nativity Marriages in the United States

Gillian Stevens, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Hiromi Ishizawa, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Xavier Escandell, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Early in the 20th century, cross-nativity marriages between immigrants and native-born Americans were considered by scholars to be a requirement for the “fusing” of the foreign immigrant groups with the American population. In the paper, we describe patterns of cross-nativity marriage during the last half of the 20th century. Our results suggest that cross-nativity marriages are a complex, but increasingly common phenomenon that appears to be affected by immigration policy, the increasing ease of international travel and study, and the military deployment of American men and women overseas. We then provide an analysis of cross-nativity marriages using 2000 U.S. census data. These analyzes confirm the importance of military service while also showing complex sex-specific and race-specific patterns of cross-nativity marriage. They also suggest that cross-nativity marriage operates like other indicators of assimilation into the American population: cross-nativity marriage is more common among those who enter the U.S. earlier in life.