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(Kalmijn & van Tubergen, 2010). Such racial variations in
intermarriage rates are due to religio-cultural differences between
the minority and larger society and to the stronger social
boundaries kept in the minority group. The practice of arranged
marriage further reinforces the pattern of racial/ethnic endogamy
among Asian Indians. Both of these factors have led to more
traditional union formation patterns among the Asian Indian
population in the U.S. Hence, they were grouped together with
other South Asians in later analyses.
Based on the literature reviewed so far, the variations in
socioeconomic profiles and cultural values between Asian
immigrants from East Asia, South Asia, and the Philippines are
valuable in conceptualizing ethnic variations in first union
characteristics among Asian Americans. Together with the
empirical patterns of ethnic differences in union formation
discussed above, four research hypotheses are posed for this study:
H1: Filipino Americans are more likely to have cohabited than East
or South Asian Americans.
H2: East Asian and Filipino Americans are less likely to be married
during young adulthood than their South Asian counterparts.
H3: First marriages formed by Filipino Americans are more likely
to be preceded by cohabitation, and their first cohabitations
are more likely to end in marriage than those of East and
South Asian Americans.
H4: East Asian and Filipino Americans are more likely to partner
with whites in both marital and cohabiting unions than their
South Asian counterparts.
II. Research Design
A. Data
The data come from the first and fourth waves of the Add
Health that were collected in years 1994-1995 and 2007-2008.