Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Entry and Stability of Cross-National Marriages in the United States

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-10-2019

Abstract

As more and more people move across borders, marriage is becoming an increasingly global affair. Yet cross-national marriage (CNM) migration has not received the scholarly attention it deserves. The present study examines the characteristics and marital stability of unions between U.S. nationals and their foreign-born (FB) spouses residing in the United States. Two data sources were used in the analysis—the American Community Survey (ACS) and the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). Our results indicated that, after controlling for race/ethnicity, socioeconomic background and marital history, marriages between U.S. nationals and their FB spouses who entered the United States as adults were less stable than unions between two native-born (NB) spouses. Compared with non-Hispanic Whites, Asian and Hispanic U.S. nationals were more prone to marry FB spouses. We also found that husband NB–wife FB marriages seemed to fare better than wife NB–husband FB types.

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© The Author(s) 2019

https://journals.sagepub.com/share/PHIIW8MCC8W3TUPJXHIJ?target=10.1177/0192513X19860186

Publication Title

Journal of Family Issues

DOI

10.1177/0192513X19860186

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