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of 14,660. There are 8,148 whites, 3,168 African Americans, 2,302
Hispanics and 1,042 Asian Americans. There were originally 1,582
Asian American youths interviewed in Wave 1, but only 1,037 were
re-interviewed in Wave 4. Using the self-reports on Asian
background, three Asian subgroups were created: East Asians
(n=369, including Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans), Filipinos
(n=411), and South Asians (n=257, including Indians, Vietnamese,
and other Asians). Five cases lacked a valid report to this question
and were dropped from analyses, along with a few cases with
missing values on maternal education and generational status. The
final analytical sample consists of 14,618 respondents of all races,
of which 1,037 are Asian Americans.
C. Variables and Measurements
The outcome variables for the three sets of analyses are: (1)
dichotomous variables of ever cohabited or ever married by Wave 4; (2)
dichotomous variables of whether a first cohabitation ended in
marriage, or whether a first marriage was preceded by cohabitation; (3)
the race of first cohabiting or marital partners. In addition, covariates
of age, sex, family structure, maternal education, and generational
status were also included in the models. These variables all come from
the Wave 1 survey, except for age. Given that Add Health is a
multi-cohort survey, respondents’ ages at Wave 4 (between ages 25 to
32) were controlled. A dummy variable of male was created for sex.
Family structure is considered because prior research has pointed out
that children with divorced or step-parents are more likely to form
marital or cohabiting unions earlier than those from intact
two-biological-parent families (Michael & Tuma, 1985). This study
identified two-biological-parent families, single-parent families,
step-families, and other families (i.e., children living with relatives or
grandparents). In addition, maternal education is also controlled
because children of better educated mothers have fewer transitions to
cohabitation and marriage in young adulthood among white and