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E
UR
A
MERICA
Vol. 47, No. 2
(
June 2017
)
,
177-214
©
Institute of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica
http://euramerica.orgEthnic Variations in Characteristics of
First Unions among Asian American
Young Adults
Yen-hsin Alice Cheng
Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica
No. 128, Sec. 2, Academia Rd., Taipei 11529, Taiwan
E-mail:
aliceyh@gate.sinica.edu.twAbstract
This study investigates the characteristics of first
cohabitations and first marriages formed by Asian
American young adults, focusing specifically on ethnic
variations between East Asian, Filipino, and South Asian
Americans. The fourth wave of Add Health data, which
collects complete union histories of all respondents
between the ages of 25 to 32 in years 2007-2008, offers a
unique opportunity to study first unions formed by recent
young immigrants. The findings show that the level of
cohabitation is very similar across all Asian subgroups
when socio-demographic covariates are considered. East
Asians and Filipinos delay marriage longer than do South
Asians. Filipinos are more likely to turn a first
cohabitation into a marriage and to have a first marriage
preceded by cohabitation than are the other two groups.
Finally, East Asians are significantly more likely to have a
Received August 26, 2016; accepted March 31, 2017; last revised May 9, 2017
Proofreaders: Chih-wei Wu, Teyi Yu, Chia-Chi Tseng