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Changing patterns of interracial marriages of Asian Indians in California

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Changing patterns of interracial marriages of Asian Indians in California

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Content CHANGING PATTERNS OF INTERRACIAL MARRIAGES OF ASIAN
INDIANS IN CALIFORNIA
by
Dipa Gupta
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(SOCIOLOGY)
December 2000
Copyright 2000 Dipa Gupta
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UMI Number: 1407911
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Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Professor David Heer for his help, support and guidance
during this endeavor. I thank Professor Merril Silverstein for supporting and helping
me when I most needed it and Professor Jeff Nugent for his graciousness and
guidance to both my husband and myself. I am very grateful to my husband Atul for
his patience and help in statistical analysis. I also thank Arshad Mahmood and
Chetan Subramanian for their useful suggestions and comments.
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UNIVERSITY O F S O U T H E R N CALIFORNIA
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY PARK
LOS ANGELES. CALIFO RNIA > 0 0 0 7
This thesis, written
Jp ) ex.
under the direction of h.Q.C—Thesis Committee,
and approved by all its members, has been pre
sented to and accepted by the Dean of The
Graduate School, in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Master of Arts
D ate December 18, 2000
THESIS COMMITTEE
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CONTENT PAGE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii
LIST OF TABLES iv
ABSTRACT v
CHAPTER
I. INTRODUCTION 1
II. INTERMARRIAGE AND ASSIMILATION 3
III. INDIVIDUALS AND INTERMARRIAGE 4
IV. ASIAN INDIAN IMMIGRATION 6
V. ASIAN INDIANS AND INTERMARRIAGE 6
VI. HYPOTHESES 8
VII. DATA SOURCES AND VARIBLES 8
VIII. METHODOLOGY 10
IX. RESULTS 13
X. WHO MARRIED WHOM 18
XI. ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 26
XII. CONCLUSIONS 28
XIII. REFERENCES 30
iii
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LIST OF TABLES PAGE
1. Profile of Asian Indians in the Sample in 1990 7
2. Description of Variables 12
3. Descriptive statistics of variables in 1990 13
4. Descriptive statistics of males in the sample ini 990 13
5. Summary statistics of women in the sample in 1990 14
6. Qualitative comparison of values of variables in 1990 and 1980 15
7. Summary statistics of inmarried couples in 1990 15
8. Summary statistics of inmarried couples in 1990 16
9. Summary tables of 7 & 8 17
10. Pearson’s coefficient of individual variables in 1990 17
11. Distribution of interracial marriages in 1990 18
12. Comparison of Educational, Income, and Occupational characteristics
of all couples: Asian Indians in California inl990 19
13. Comparison of characteristics among intermarried couples 20
14. Logit analysis examining the effect of individual level variables 22
15. Probit analysis examining the effect of individual level variables 23
16. Logit analysis examining the effect of individual level and interactive
variables on intermarriage 24
17. Probit analysis examining the effect of individual level and interactive
Variables on intermarriage 25
iv
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Dipa Gupta Dr. David Heer
ABSTRACT
CHANGING PATTERNS OF INTERRACIAL MARRIAGES OF ASIAN INDIANS
IN CALIFORNIA
Using the Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) A of the 1990 Census for
California, this paper seeks to examine the factors affecting Asian Indians to
intermarry and to compare it with the findings from the 1980 Census data. A two
stage modeling procedure was employed to first examine the role of individual level
variables and then examine the role of certain interaction variables in explaining the
phenomenon of intermarriage. The most significant factors found to increase the
probability of intermarriage were being a citizen, native born with knowledge of
English.
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Introduction:
The first detailed sociological studies of interracial marriage emerged in the
US years prior to the Second World War. These studies, and those which followed
them, fall according to Barron (1951), in three main categories. First, there are
those studies, which have to do with etiology of intermarriage: the factors social,
and social-psychological, which induce individuals to cross group boundaries in
order to intermarry. Second, there are studies concerned primarily with the patterns
of selection: the frequency with which intermarriage occurs, trends over time and
regularity in group references with outside marriage partners. Third, material can
be found which examines the consequences of intermarriage in terms, for example,
of marital breakdown or patterns of identification by children. The objective of this
thesis is to carry out an empirical investigation into the causes and patterns
observed among the intermarried couples in the Asian Indian community in
California. Hence we will focus on the first two categories mentioned earlier.
The literature on the etiology of intermarriage is varied and extensive. To a
very large degree, however, much of what is written appears to have been based
implicitly on the model of inter group relations in the United States, which Gordon
(1961) has referred to as structural pluralism. Most systematically developed in
Gordon’s work, the origins o f this model are to be found in Kennedy’s study of
marriage patterns in New Haven, Connecticut, (1944, 1952). Kennedy’s New
Haven studies undermined the assumption that assimilation was inevitable and that
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the US was a melting pot within which were to be blended the nation’s diverse
races, creeds and nationalities and out of which would arise a new American race.
Examining the patterns on intermarriage from 1870-1940, Kennedy found that over
a 70 year period racial boundaries in New Haven had only rarely been breached by
marriages between blacks and whites. Marriages between differing nationality
groups had increased in line with the melting pot theory but only to the extent that
religious boundaries were not crossed. From Kennedy’s work later writers and
especially, Gordon (1961-1964) took the assumption that acculturation had been
extensive among the various ethnic and religious groups in the US barriers to
assimilation and primary relations remained substantial, relatively permanent and
immutable. However, such a model in its entirety can only be with difficulty
applied to the situation of Blacks in the US.
Intermarriage viewed from the perspective of “structural pluralism” or caste
models o f intergroup relations becomes inevitable equated with the breaching of
significant social boundaries. Explanations of the causes of intermarriage have
therefore tended to focus on these conditions which permit normative or relational
ties to his or her own social group to become ruptured and attenuated or ineffective.
Merton 1941 and Slotkin, 1942 have for example both produced typologies of
social types whose tendency to enter intermarriage is set to derive from a
generalized absence of normative constraints.
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Favorable orientations towards marriage with an out-group member has
been seen to arise out of an individual’s attempt to distance himself or herself from
in-group ties either as a consequence of estrangement or emancipation. Heiss
(1916) and Freeman (1965) have both noted a relationship between intermarriage
and the shedding of primary group ties through conflict with parents. Consistently
those who have become “emancipated” from the social group of their upbringing
have also been mentioned by researchers as having a predilection towards
intermarriage (Merton 1941, and Wolfe 1971).
Intermarriage and Assimilation:
Whether the extent of outmarriage of a group can be considered an index of
its assimilation into the larger society is debatable. There are those who argue that
marriage relations between members of different groups indicate the weakening of
group boundaries (Gordon, 1964), and indication of the acceptability of the
minority and the blurring of the small group distinctiveness (Scheon, Wooldredge
and Thomas 1989), and hence indicative of an immigrant group’s level of
assimilation (1991). Intermarriage has been described as “ the most severe test of
group cohesion (Drachsler, 1920:82)”. Others disagree; they argue that assimilation
without intermarriage and racial mixing is quite possible, though intermarriage
hastens assimilation (Galitzi, 1929, Markson, 1950). For them acculturation is more
a cultural than a biological process (Nelson, 1943). These assertions seem to equate
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acculturation with integration (Price and Zubrzycki, 1962) which is only a
preliminary step in the process of assimilation (Gordon, 1964).
I, however, proceed on the premise that intermarriage is essential and an
important stage in the assimilation of immigrants. If marriage is totally
endogamous it will “perpetuate the native folkways, language and cultural
outlook”. “Complete assimilation means that the alien group closes its social
visibility, interacting freely with the larger culture without prejudice” (Nelson,
1943).
There is hardly any group, which does not put restrictions on its members
intermarrying. Intermarriage therefore indicates the weakening of group boundaries
and a veritable index of assimilation.
Individuals and intermarriage:
An individual’s decision to marry within her own group or outside depends
on a number of factors, the most important of them being “the relative availability
of a suitable marriage partner from within or without the group; the barriers that the
individual group imposes upon marrying an outsider; the barriers that each of the
other ethnic groups places upon outsiders wishing to marry into it; and the relative
attractiveness of potential alternative partners, whether from the same group or not”
(Heer, 1980).
The following characteristics can be discerned from a broad survey of the
literature on intermarriages. The religiously less devout marry persons from
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different races with a higher frequency than the religiously more devout (Schanepp
and Yui, 1955).
Persons who have experienced disorganized and stressful parental families
are more likely to marry members of other races than those who were raised in
more cohesive and stable families (Hunt and Collier, 1957). Occupational mobility
is another factor that could explain intermarriage. It is argued that with greater
occupational mobility gaps among classes narrow, social contact between different
groups increases (Gordon, 1964). Age and education are two other factors that
promote intermarriage (Shneider, 1990) People who tend to intermarry tend to be at
an older age and also tend to be more qualified. Languages spoken by a group are
also important for endogamous marriages (Stevens and Swicegod, 1987) that
groups who continue to speak non-English languages should exhibit higher degree
of endogamy.
There is a wide spectrum of individualistic psychological theories that seek
to explain the attractiveness of particular partners. The most important theory in
this category is the exchange theory. This theory essentially states that persons seek
partners who are most likely to maximize their rewards from marriage. The
exchange perspective is evoked to explain the observation that an interracial
marriage involving black and white females, the social class of the husband is
generally superior to that of the wife. The theory implies that there is a trade-off, an
exchange of status for wealth: that the class achievement of certain black males
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enables them to bargain for lower class white females, who stand to gain by
marrying a well off black males than a white of their own class. In general, non
white males undertaking an interracial marriage appear to have a higher than
average socio-economic status and the white male and female and the non-white
female have a lower than average socio-economic level (Drake and Keaton, 1945)
Asian Indian Immigration:
At present, the fastest growing minority groups in the US are those with
roots in Asian countries. In the past decade, Korea and India have experienced the
most dramatic increase. The 1990 Census report accounts for a total Asian Indian
population of 815,447, of which 75% are foreign born (U.S. Bureau of the Census,
1993 a; U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1993b.)
A major shift in U.S. immigration policy in 1965 enabled Indians to enter
this country in significant numbers for the first time. Prior to 1965 quota
restrictions limited the number of immigrants from India to approximately 100
annually. The 1965 enactment raised the number of potential immigrants from any
Eastern Hemisphere country to an annual 20,000.
Asian Indians and Intermarria2e:
The objective o f this thesis is to investigate factors that could be used to
predict intermarriage patterns found among the Asian Indian community in
California using the PUMS A (1990) census data-set. PUMS A is a 5 percent
stratified sample of the population of the United States, a subsample of the full
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census. A similar analysis was carried out by Nanjiah (1993) using the PUMS A
data-set (1980). I will try to examine the validity of his results as well as determine
what are the significant changes that have taken place since 1980. Table (1) below
presents the statistics or the data used in our analysis. This sample has data on
1,456,011 Californians, out of which 7,685 are of Asian Indian origin. Some of the
statistics of this sample are:
Table 1: Profile of Asian Indians in the Sample in 1990.
Others Indians Total
Total Persons 1448326 7685 1456011
By Marital Status:
Married excluding separated 41.47% 48.64% 41.51%
Widowed 4.71% 2.80% 4.70%
Divorced 7.05% 1.57% 7.02%
Separated 1.93% 0.86% 1.92%
Never married/less than 15 44.85% 46.13% 44.85%
By Male:
Male 49.52% 53.21% 49.54%
Female 50.48% 46.79% 50.46%
By Citizenship:
Born in the US 77.27% 24.15% 76.98%
Born Puerto Rico, Guam 0.26% 0.05% 0.26%
Born abroad US parent 1.05% 0.86% 1.05%
Naturalized citizen 6.74% 24.44% 6.83%
Not US citizen 14.68% 50.50% 14.87%
Out of this sample I selected those 3738 Indians that were married but not
separated. I further cleaned up to exclude the observations that had one or more
missing variables that were necessary for my study. This left me with 3119
observations, compared to 1425 in Nanjiah (1993) which was based on the
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corresponding 1980 sample. Of these, 321 Asian Indians had intermarried,
compared with 121 in Nanjiah (1993).
Hypotheses:
I propose to test the following main hypotheses in this thesis.
1. Asian Indian males will be more prone to intermarry than Asian Indian females.
2. The propensity of an Asian Indian to intermarry will be directly proportional to
the educational level, occupational prestige and income.
3. Native born and citizens among Asian Indians will have a higher probability to
intermarry than foreign born and non-citizen Asian Indians.
4. The better an Asian Indian speaks English the higher will be their propensity to
intermarry.
5. Being a native, (born in the United States) increases the probability of
intermarriage.
6. Asian Indians involved in intermarriages with white spouses will exhibit higher
education, income levels, and occupational levels than their spouses.
Data Sources and Variables.
Data Sources
We can group all our variables under two categories: (a) Individual
variables, and (b) Structural Variables. Individual level variables are those variables
describing the characteristic of the given individual. This is distinct from structural
variables, which pertain to the structure of the group.
8
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Nanjiah (1993) in his analysis on interracial marriages in the Indian
community in California clearly establishes the role of structural factors such as
relative group size and heterogeneity in explaining the phenomenon of interracial
marriages in the group. We take this as a given and concentrate on the role of
individual level variables in explaining inter racial marriages in the Indian
community in California. Specifically, we are interested in examining which
individual level variables are still relevant in explaining inter racial marriage in the
Asian Indian community, when we examine it in the context of the census data
published in 1990.
The individual level data was obtained from the U.S Census of Population
and Housing, 1990: Public-Use Microdata sample A (PUMS A) for California.
PUMS A is a 5 percent stratified sample of the population of the United States, a
sub sample o f the full census. A dataset consisting of Asian Indians, who were
either married heads of households or their spouses was created.
Dependent Variable
The dependent variable for the analysis was whether the person was
intermarried or not. Intermarriage for the purpose of this analysis was defined as a
marriage involving an Asian Indian with another person from one of the other
Census categorized races. The variable INTERMAR was given a value of 1 if the
person was intermarried and 0 if the person was not.
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Individual level variables
The individual level variables used are gender, native born, naturalized
citizen, ability to speak English1 , education, occupational prestige, and income
from all sources.
The index for the variable prestige was calculated using the method
suggested by Nakao and Treas (1989). This method converted all detailed
categories in the 1990 Census occupational classification into prestige scores.
The variable MALE was given the value 1 for males and 0 for females. If an
individual was born in any one of the 56 states in the United States, the dummy
variable Native was given the value 1. The dummy variable CITIZEN was given
the value 1 when the person was a naturalized citizen.
The variable YEARSCH gives the number of years of school attended. The
variable RPINCOME gives the income of the person from all sources in 1989.
M ethodolo2v:
The dependent variable in my model is the Intermarriage variable. This
variable is dichotomous, taking on the value of 1 when the individual is
1 In our analysis the variable English was assigned value 0 if the person was fluent
in the ability to speak English. The numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 were subsequently assigned
declining values, ie, 1 represented a lower level of English fluency then the number
0. The number 4 was thus assigned the lowest index representing absolute lack of
knowledge of English.
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intermarried and 0 when not. The classes of econometric models, which analyze
cases when the dependent variable can take on discrete rather then continuous
values, are called Discrete Choice Models. The two most popularly used Discrete
Choice models are the probability regression models and the logistic regression
models. In order to establish the robustness of our results we will test the
hypothesis by using both sets of models.
Logit Models:
If Pz is the probability of being intermarried, the logit, which is the logarithm of
the odds- ratio, is given by:
ln(odds)=ln[Pz /( 1 -Pz )]
Where In denotes the natural logarithm. The fundamental assumption of the logistic
regression:
In (odds)=Xp
where X, refers to the set of Independent variables in the model, and P’s refer to
the regression parameters that need to be estimated..
The logit function was obtained using the LOGISTIC procedure of SAS.
The procedure uses the interactively Reweighted Least Squares (IRLS) algorithm
to compute the maximum likelihood estimates of the regression parameters.
Probit Models:
The fundamental framework behind probability regression models (probit)
is as follows.
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Prob(INTERMAR= 1 )=F[Xp]
In other words the probability o f a person intermarrying is estimated as a function
of a vector of independent variables X. The function F is assumed to have a
standard normal distribution. The probit function was obtained using the
PROBABILISTIC procedure of SAS.
Based on our theoretical discussion in the previous section we will employ a
two stage modeling procedure.
1. We first examine the role of individual level variables in explaining the
intermarriage phenomenon.
2. We examine the role of certain interaction variables in explaining the
intermarriage phenomenon.
Please refer to table for set of individual variables as well as interaction level
variables.
Table 2: Description of Variables
Individual Variables Interaction Variables
CITIZEN Naturalized Citizen SEI/SCH Prestige and
Education
YEARSCH Years of schooling SCH/NAT Education and
Native Born
ENGLISH Lack of Knowledge of English CIT/SCH Citizenship and
Education
MALE Gender CIT/ENG Citizenship and
English
NATIVE Bom in the USA SCH/INC Education and
Income
SEI •Prestige Index INC/SEI Income and
Prestige
RPINCOME Income from all sources MALE/NAT Gender and Native
Born
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The purpose of including interaction terms is to examine the role of any indirect
effects that might exist.
Results:
Table 3: Descriptive statistics of variables in 1990.
Variable N Mean Standard
Deviation
CITIZEN 3119 0.42 0.49
YEARSCH 3119 12.15 3.66
ENGLISH 3119 1.30 0.85
RPINCOME 3119 28735.62 35364.37
NATIVE 3119 0.02 0.13
SEI 3119 25.92 11.97
There were 3119 people in the sample o f which 1613 (51.7%) were males and 1506
(48.28%) were females. When I compare these numbers to the ones obtained from
the 1980 census I find that the number of citizens in the respondents increased by
41%, the average years of schooling declined by 24.77%, the index indicating the
knowledge of English shows a decline of 54.09%, Income shows an increase of
113%, Natives among the respondents shows a decline of 93% and the SEI index
shows a decline o f 33%.
Table 4: Descriptive statistics of males in the sample in 1990.
Variable N Mean Standard
Deviation
CITIZEN 1613 0.46 0.50
YEARSCH 1613 12.84 3.42
ENGLISH 1613 1.19 0.76
RPINCOME 1613 42921.39 39976.02
NATIVE 1613 0.01 0.12
SEI 1613 30.77 13.33
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When we compare the statistics to those that prevailed in 1980 we find that the
number of citizens among the males in the respondents declined 28.26%, years of
schooling declined by 25.45%, the index of education declined by 60% , income
increased by 109.5%, the natives in the respondents declined by 93%, and the
prestige index showed a decline of 35.78%.
Table 5: Summary statistics of women in the sample in 1990.
Variable N Mean Standard
Deviation
CITIZEN 1506 0.38 0.48
YEARSCH 1506 11.41 3.77
ENGLISH 1506 1.42 0.92
RPINCOME 1506 13541.96 20800.14
NATIVE 1506 0.02 0.14
SEI 1506 20.73 7.36
Compared to the statistics in the 1980 census data we find that the number of
citizens in the respondents increased by 48%, the average number of years of
schooling declined by 20.83%, the index representing the knowledge of English
showed a decline of 46.39%, income showed an increase of 153%, the natives
among the respondents showed a decline of 93% and the prestige index showed a
decline of 26.5%.
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Table 6: Qualitative comparison of values of variables in 1990 to their values
in the 1980 census data.
Variables Overall (Mean) Men (Mean) Women (Mean)
1980 1990 1980 1990 1980 1990
Citizens 0.29 0.42 0.33 0.46 0.25 0.38
Years of Schooling 16.15 12.15 17.21 12.84 14.92 11.41
Income 13486 28735 20491 42921 5348 13541
Native 0.15 0.02 0.16 0.01 0.15 0.02
Prestige 38.78 25.92 47.91 30.77 28.26 20.73
Table 6 above summarizes the results of our analysis. The main results of this
section are as follows. When compared to the 1980 census data the percentage of
citizens in the respondents has gone up. It is however interesting to note that though
the percentage of citizens among the women respondents increased it decreased in
the case of men. Income increased uniformly among men and women; though the
increase among women was significantly higher than among men. The indexes
representing years of schooling, prestige and whether the respondent was a native
not all showed a uniform decline.
Table 7: Summary statistics of Individuals who are Inmarried in 1990.
Variable N Mean Standard
Deviation
CITIZEN 2798 0.41 0.49
YEARSCH 2798 12.06 3.71
ENGLISH 2798 1.37 0.82
RPINCOME 2798 27519.40 34148.70
NATIVE 2798 0.01 0.10
SEI 2798 25.49 11.59
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The table shows that compared to 1980 the percentage of inmarried couples who
are citizens has increased by 41%, years of schooling has decreased by 24%,
knowledge of English has gone down by 50%, income has gone up by 214%,
natives declined by 92%, prestige index is down by 33%.
Table 8: Summary statistics of Individuals who are Intermarried couples in
1990.
Variable N Mean Standard
Deviation
CITIZEN 321 0.52 0.50
YEARSCH 321 12.89 3.19
ENGLISH 321 0.63 0.80
RPINCOME 321 39336.77 43214.60
NATIVE 321 0.07 0.26
SEI 321 29.69 14.36
Table 8 looks at the characteristics of intermarried couples in the sample.
The percentage of citizens has increased by 48%, years o f schooling decreased by
29%, ability to speak English levels increased by 81%, income levels increased by
120%, prestige levels decreased by 36%.
Table 9: Summary of Tables 7 & 8.
Variables Inmarried Intermarried
Citizens Increase Decrease
Years of Schooling Decrease Decrease
Income Increase Increase
Native Decrease Decrease
Prestige Decrease Decrease
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Table 9 summarizes the results of Table 7 and 8. In the case of inmarried couples
all variables except citizens and income showed a decrease. In the case of
intermarried all variables showed a decrease.
Table 10: Pearsons coefficient that exists among the individual variables in 1990.
NBORN NATIVE LACK OF
ENGLISH
SEI RPINCOME YEARSCH
NBORN 1.000 0.919 -0.110 -0.04 -0.03 -0.04
(0.000) (0.000) (0.0000) (0.03) (0.06) (0.03)
NATIVE 0.919 1.000 -0.108 -0.04 -0.04 -0.04
(0.000) (0.000) (0.000) (0.03) (0.05) (0.03)
ENGLISH -0.110 -0.108 1.000 -0.33 -0.25 -0.52
(0.000) (0.000) (0.000) (0.00) (0.00) (0.00)
SEI -0.038 -0.040 -0.329 1.00 0.98 0.50
(0.035) (0.026) (0.000) (0.00) (0.00) (0.00)
RPINCOME -0.033 -0.035 -0.247 0.98 1.00 0.34
(0.063) (0.049) (0.000) (0.00) (0.00) (0.00)
YEARSCH -0.039 -0.039 -0.522 0.50 0.34 1.00
(0.030) (0.029) (0.000) (0.00) (0.00) (0.00)
In this table it is interesting to note that there is a positive correlation between
income levels, prestige, years of schooling and the knowledge of English. This is
consistent with Nanjiah’s findings.
W ho Married Whom:
The following table provides the pattern of interracial marriages of Asian Indians in
California.
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Table 11: Distribution of Interracial Marriages involving Asian Indians in
California, 1990.
Woman’s Race
c
C O
Male
White
Black
■ o
c
c
CO
o
C D
E
< Japanese
Filipino
Chinese
Other Asian
Other
Total
Asian 142 3 3 4 14 7 13 28 214
Indian 44.24% 0.93% 0.93% 1.25% 4.36% 2.18% 4.05% 8.72% 66.67%
Male’s Race
Female
White
Black
American Indian
Japanese
Filipino
Chinese
Other Asian
Other
Total
Asian 89 3
n
1 1 2 7 4 107
Indian 27.73% 0.93%
U
0.31% 0.31% 0.62% 2.18% 1.25% 33.33%
The table indicates that Asian Indians typically marry Whites. However, when we
compare our results with those that were obtained in the Nanjiah study we find that
the percentage of Asian Indian males marrying white women has decreased from
73% to 44.23%.
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Table 12: Comparison of Educational. Income, and Occupational
Characteristics of all couples, in-married couples, and intermarried couples:
Asian Indians in California. 1990.
Difference
between
husband and
wife’s
All Couples In-married
Couples
Intermarried
Couples
Mean t-stat. Mean t-stat. Mean t-stat.
Education in
years
1.24 17.69* 1.31 16.21* 0.91 5.67*
Income (in
$1000)
27.21 25.68* 26.52 23.16* 30.22 10.30*
Occupational
prestige
9.23 26.68* 9.06 24.67* 9.95 10.65*
Source: Computations from PUMS A Sample for California, 1990 Census.
* Significant at .05 level
A study for the 1990 sample reveals that while the mean difference in
Education and Occupational Prestige between husband and wife has decreased for
all Asian Indian couples, in-married and intermarried when compared to the 1980
levels, the mean difference in Income has increased from $14,960 to $ 27,210. This
may appear strange at first glance but falls in place when we realize that the mean
income had also gone up from $13,456 to $28,338 in the same period (Table 12).
So the income differential has also reduced, when considered as a fraction of mean
income. The other observation is that the disparity between in-marriages and
intermarriages in terms of differences in the spouses’ Incomes and Occupational
Prestige has almost disappeared. In 1980 it was 19.43 and 13.17 respectively
whereas in 1990 it was 9.06 and 9.45 respectively.
19
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Table 13: Comparison of Educational, Income, and Occupational
Characteristics of Intermarried couples. Asian Indians in California, 1990
1 Difference
between
Husband’s
and wife’s
Indian men
marrying
white women
Indian men
marrying non
white women
Indian women
marrying white
men
Mean t-stat. Mean t-stat. Mean t-stat.
Education in
years
1.68 4.96* 1.38 3.53* 0.44 1.49
Income (in
$ 1000)
35.29 6.80* 23.38 5.47* 27.91 5.25*
Occupational
Prestige
11.63 7.01* 8.13 5.92* 8.91 5.34*
N 142 72 89
Source: Computations from PUMSA Sample for California, 1990 Census.
* Significant at .05 level
When we compare the results of this table with the one that prevailed in
1980 we find that in the case of an Indian male marrying a white female the
difference in education levels has decreased by 30% the corresponding difference
in the case of Indian women marrying white males has decreased by about 27%
when compared to the 1980 values. In the case of income the difference in the
incomes of Indian male marrying white females has increased by 150%, the
corresponding figure in the case of the Indian female has increased by 380%. While
these results are consistent with the general trend of rising incomes the increase of
380% in the case of Indian female marrying white males is significant to note.
20
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When we look at occupational prestige we find that in the case of Indian
males marrying white females the index has shown a decrease of 30%. The most
interesting feature of this table is the fact that in the case of Indian female marrying
white males the sign on the prestige variable is reversed when compared to the
value calculated by Nanjiah in his study in 1980. In other words the study by
Nanjiah seemed to indicate that Indian women married white males with a prestige
index that was lower then theirs. This trend seems to have been reversed in the
1990 census data. The other significant feature of this table is that in the 1980
census data in the case of Indian women marrying white men none of the three
variables namely difference in education levels, difference in income, and
difference in prestige levels between husband and wife are significant in the
analysis. This is however not true in the 1990 census data. Here we find both
differences in income and differences in prestige levels to be significant factors in
explaining inter racial marriages among Indian women. These results are some of
the key findings of this paper. The percentage of Indian women now intermarrying
has gone up from 8% to about 33%. In the 1980’s all the Indian women married
white males. This is not the case in 1990 as Table 13 shows. If intermarriage were
to be taken as an indicator o f assimilation in the society then there seems to be a
distinct trend of Indian women assimilating in the society.
21
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Table 14: Logit Analysis examining the effect of Individual level variables on
inter-marriage.
Variable
Parameter
Estimate
Standard
Error
Wald
C h i-
Square
Pr >Chi-
Square
t-statistic
INTERCPT 0.297 2.089 0.020 0.887 0.142
MALE -0.566 0.145 15.288 0.000 -3.910*
NATIVE 1.294 0.341 14.427 0.000 3.799*
ENGLISH -1.705 0.118 207.781 0.000 -14.414*
SEI -0.013 0.224 0.003 0.956 -0.056
RPINCOME 0.000 0.000 0.009 0.925 0.094
YEARSCH -0.040 0.145 0.077 0.781 -0.277
Source: PUMS A for California, 1990 U.S. Census
* significant at .05 level
AIC 1725.473
-2 LOG L 1711.473
Chi-Square 356.092
Somer’s D .550
Tables 14 present the results of the logit regressions carried out for the individual
level variables. Under the logit analysis the variables that were significant at the
5% level of significance were male, Native-born, Knowledge of English.
22
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Table 15: Probit Analysis examining the effect of Individual level variables on
inter-marriage
Variable
Parameter
Estimate
Standard
Error
Wald
Chi-
Square
Pr >Chi-
Square
t-statistic
INTERCPT 0.033 1.092 0.001 0.976 0.030
MALE -0.305 0.074 16.956 0.000 -4.118*
NATIVE 0.863 0.197 19.184 0.000 +4.380*
ENGLISH -0.743 0.055 185.102 0.000 -13.605*
SEI +0.002 0.117 0.000 0.985 +0.019
RPINCOME 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.986 0.018
YEARSCH -0.035 0.076 0.218 0.641 -0.467
Source: PUMS A for California, 1990 U.S. Census
* significant at .05 level
Log Likelihood for Normal -873.958
Tables 15 present the results of the probit regressions carried out for the individual
level variables. Under the probit analysis the variables that were significant at the
5% level of significance were male, Native-born, Knowledge of English. The
results are robust since they are identical under both specifications.
23
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Table 16: Logit Analysis examining the effect of Individual level and
Interactive variables on inter-marriage.
Variable
Parameter
Estimate
Standard
Error
Wald
C h i-
Square
Pr>Chi-
Square
t-statistic
INTERCPT 1.987 2.524 0.620 0.431 0.787
MALE -0.500 0.158 10.065 0.002 -3.172*
NATIVE 0.788 1.617 0.237 0.626 0.487
MALE/NAT 2.189 0.752 8.466 0.004 2.910*
ENGLISH -1.598 0.150 113.475 0.000 -10.651*
SEI -0.109 0.249 0.191 0.662 -0.437
RPINCOME 0.000 0.000 0.007 0.934 0.083
YEARSCH -0.125 0.175 0.505 0.477 -0.711
ENG/NAT 1.326 0.549 5.827 0.016 2.414*
SCH/NAT -0.095 0.133 0.511 0.475 -0.715
CIT/SCH 0.024 0.015 2.456 0.117 1.571
SEI/SCH 0.004 0.007 0.364 0.547 0.604
CIT/ENG -0.407 0.226 3.240 0.072 -1.800**
SCH/INC 0.000 0.000 0.050 0.823 0.223
INC/SEI 0.000 0.000 0.015 0.903 0.121
Source: PUMS A for California, 1990 U.S. Census
* significant at .05 level
** significant a t . 10 level
AIC 1715.228
-2 LO G L 1685.228
Chi-Square 382.337
Somer’s D .559
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission
Tables 16 present the results of the logit regressions carried out for the individual
level and interactive variables. Under the logit analysis the variables that were
significant at the 5% level o f significance were gender, Level of Education,
Knowledge of English. The interactive terms that were significant were
MALE/NAT, ENG/NAT. The variable CIT/ENG was significant at the 10% level.
Table 17: Probit Analysis examining the effect of Individual level and
Interactive variables on inter-marriage
Variable
Parameter
Estimate
Standard
Error
Wald
Chi-
Square
Pr>Chi-
Square
t-statistic
INTERCEPT +0.548 1.299 0.178 0.673 0.422
MALE -0.273 0.080 11.692 0.001 -3.419*
NATIVE +0.557 0.922 0.364 0.546 0.604
MALE/NAT +1.346 0.428 9.896 0.002 3.146*
ENGLISH -0.679 0.065 110.459 0.000 -10.510*
SEI -0.025 0.129 0.036 0.849 -0.190
RPINCOME - 0.000 0.000 0.051 0.821 -0.229
YEARSCH -0.061 0.089 0.467 0.494 -0.684
ENG/NAT +0.553 0.303 3.336 0.068 1.827**
SCH/NAT -0.056 0.074 0.562 0.454 -0.749
CIT/SCH +0.018 0.008 4.997 0.025 2.235*
SEI/SCH -0.001 0.004 0.037 0.848 0.191
CIT/ENG -0.271 0.104 6.863 0.009 -2.620*
SCH/INC 0.000 0.000 0.544 0.461 0.738
INC/SEI 0.000 0.000 0.008 0.927 -0.091
Source: PUMS A for California, 1990 U.S. Census
* significant at .05 level
** significant a t . 10 level
Log Likelihood for Normal [ -858.794
25
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Tables 17 presents the results of the probit regressions carried out for the
individual level and interactive variables. In the probit analysis the factors found
significant at the 5% level were Gender, Level of Education, Knowledge of
English. The interactive terms that were significant were MALE/NAT, CIT/ENG
and CIT/SCH. The variable ENG/NAT was significant at 10%.
Analysis and Discussion:
In his analysis of individual level variables using 1980 census data the only
variables Nanjiah found significant were gender, number of times married and the
interaction terms of ENG/NAT and CIT/ENG.
My analysis was carried out in two stages. In the first stage I chose to
regress only the individual level variables and did not include the interactive terms.
Here I found that the variables gender, knowledge of English and native-born were
significant. When I included the interactive terms, however, I found the variables
MALE/NAT, MALE, CITIZEN, CIT/ENG, NAT/ENG to be significant. Following
below is an analysis of the second set of regressions which includes both the
individual as well as the interactive terms.
It is interesting to note that the variable MALE, which stands for gender, is
significant and negative. This indicates that being an Asian Indian female increases
the probability of intermarriage. This is in contrast to what was obtained by
Nanjiah in whose study the male variable was significant.
26
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Though the variable NATIVE was not significant, the interaction term
MALE/NAT did turn out significant. This term represents an Asian Indian woman
born in the U.S. The coefficient on this term is positive and significant. What this
implies is that an Asian Indian female has a higher probability o f intermarriage if
she is born in the United States. Based on our analysis in Table (5) we decided to
include this new variable. This was something that Nanjiah did not include in his
analysis. This result is completely consistent with our intuition in Table(13) from
which is inferred that 81% of native born females intermarried compared to only
21% o non-native born females. This is in contrast to only 21% of native born
males intermarrying. Once again this point in the direction of a growing
assimilation of Asian born Indian female into the American society.
Knowledge of English turns out to be significant and this is in accordance
with what Nanjiah obtained. The index representing prestige, income and years of
schooling all turned out to be insignificant. There is little different for the results
obtained from the 1980 analysis. There the impact of years of schooling was found
to be negative and significant. This strikes one, as being counterintuitive as one
would expect that the increase in the number of years o f schooling would have a
positive effect on the probability of getting intermarried. In our paper we don’t find
the coefficient on the years of schooling to be significant. We however find that the
coefficient is positive. This seems to be more intuitive and consistent with the
theoretical foundations behind intermarriage. The coefficient on Income was found
27
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to be positive and insignificant and the coefficient on the Prestige index was
negative and insignificant. Nanjiah (1993) obtained these results too.
The two studies also find the interactive variables CIT/ENG and NAT/ENG
to be both significant. The coefficients on these variables are positive thus lending
credence to the theory that being a citizen, and being native born, with knowledge
of English does increase the probability of intermarriage.
Conclusions:
The main objective of this paper was to examine the factors that affect
interracial marriage among Asian Indians in California using the PUMS A data of
1990. We also wanted to test whether the results obtained by Nanjiah (1993) using
the 1980 PUMS A census data examining inter racial marriages still held and what
were the significant changes that had taken place in the ensuing decade.
To summarize the results in the last section I find that there seems to be
evidence of increased assimilation of the Asian Indian community in the American
society since 1980. This is particularly true of the females in the group. In our
regressions though we find male gender to be a significant factor we find that the
coefficient appears with a negative sign. This indicates that being an Asian Indian
female does increase the probability o f getting intermarried. We also introduce a
new interaction term called MALE/NAT that was an interaction term indicating the
person’s male gender as well as that the person was a native. This term turned out
to be positive and highly significant leading us to the conclusion that if an Asian
28
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Indian was a male, the impact on intermarriage of being a native, that is born in the
United States, was greater than for a female.
We also find gender, knowledge of English, being a citizen, being native
and having a knowledge of English as being significant features in explaining
intermarriage. We also find that Asian Indian males typically marry white women
though the percentage has come down from a staggering 73% to 44%. In the case
of Asian Indian male’s income, education levels and prestige levels still are
significant in explaining this phenomenon.
Future trends indicate that there will be an increase in interracial marriages
in the Asian Indian community, especially among those born in the United States.
In this paper the main finding is an increase in inter racial marriages among the
Asian Indian women. We also find that in the case of males, factors such as
differences in income levels between the spouses has increased lending credence to
the exchange theory. In the case of women it seems to be working in reverse. Asian
Indian women seem to be marrying white men of higher income, status and
educational levels, which is counter-indicative of the exchange theory. It would be
interesting to look at the 2000 census and see if this pattern will continue or break.
On would also like to carry out a similar investigation in other states in the United
States and examine if the patterns are consistent.
29
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Asset Metadata

Creator Gupta, Dipa (author)

Core Title Changing patterns of interracial marriages of Asian Indians in California

School Graduate School

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Sociology

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag OAI-PMH Harvest,sociology, demography,sociology, ethnic and racial studies,sociology, individual and family studies

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Advisor Heer, David (committee chair), Nugent, Jeffrey B. (committee member), Silverstein, Merril (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c16-39436

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