UC Irvine

This dissertation examines intermarriage across generations of the Mexican-origin population in order to better understand how this population is incorporating in U.S. society, and looks at parental migration status and parental nativity as factors that may impede or facilitate intermarriage incorporation. Using data from the Immigration and Intergenerational Mobility in Metropolitan Los Angeles (IIMMLA) survey the research shows that: the majority of intermarriages among the Mexican-origin population occur with non-Hispanic white spouses, third-generation Mexican-American women are significantly more likely to intermarry with non-Hispanic whites compared with third-generation Mexican-American men, the children of naturalized mothers are more likely to participate in intermarriage with the non-Hispanic white majority group compared with children who have at least one parent that is unauthorized/unknown, second-generation Mexican-origin children whose parents are of mixed-nativity are more likely to participate in intermarriage with non-Hispanic whites compared with those whose parents are foreign-born, and second-generation daughters whose mothers are foreign-born and fathers are native-born demonstrate the highest likelihood of intermarriage participation with the non-Hispanic white majority group compared with those whose parents are foreign-born. Overall the results indicate that the Mexican-origin population is incorporating in U.S. society and demonstrate some evidence of delayed incorporation. Parental migration status, parental nativity, generation, gender, and parent’s gender affect intermarriage incorporation among the Mexican-origin population.