204 / 126
204
E
UR
A
MERICA
(F) Race of Married Partner
For the first marital event, both Filipinos and South Asian
Americans are significantly more likely than East Asians to marry an
Asian partner or a partner of other racial minority groups than to
marry a white partner. Such a pattern is stronger among Filipinos
than among South Asian Americans, as demonstrated in the odds
ratios listed in Table 4m. Similar to the models presented
previously for first cohabitation, this ethnic variations in partner’s
race/ethnicity remain robust even when socio-demographic
covariates are added to Model 2. In particular, the odds of
first-generation Asian Americans to marry other Asian coethnics
than to marry a white partner are about five times higher
(OR=6.04, p<.10) than third-generation Asian Americans.
Comparing Tables 4c and 4m, the tendency to marry a non-white
partner is much stronger in marital unions for both Filipinos and
South Asians than in cohabiting unions, when the reference group
is their East Asian counterparts. Hypothesis H4 is partially
supported because only East Asians are significantly more likely to
have a white married partner, but not Filipino Americans.
IV. Conclusions and Discussion
This study explores the understudied ethnic variations in first
union characteristics among Asian American young adults. The
findings show that the prevalence of ever having cohabited in young
adulthood is much lower among Asian Americans than other racial
groups. Very little ethnic variation is found across the three Asian
subgroups examined in this study: East Asian, Filipino, and South
Asian Americans. The findings show that it is nativity status that
matters for the likelihood of cohabitation, rather than ethnic group
membership. The odds of first-generation Asian Americans to have
never cohabited are two times higher than their third-generation
counterparts. Overall, the prevalence of cohabitation observed
among the 25- to 32-year-old Asian American young adults here is