Socioeconomic and cultural incorporation and marital disruption among Mexican Americans

Frank D. Bean, Ruth R. Berg, Jennifer V.W. Van Hook

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

49 Scopus citations

Abstract

This article examines how processes of socioeconomic and cultural incorporation affect marital-disruption patterns among Mexican-origin persons in the U.S. in comparison to non-Hispanic whites and African Americans. The results, which are based mainly on recent National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data, indicate that, once other variables are controlled, the correlation of level of education with marital disruption among U.S. native Mexican Americans is negative and similar in level to that of non-Hispanic whites. However, the correlation of educational level with marital disruption among Mexican immigrants is both positive and lower than that of other groups. It is argued that these results do not support the idea that cultural familism explains Mexican-origin marital-disruption patterns, nor the idea that segmented assimilation processes exert influence on marital disruption, but rather the idea that socioeconomic and cultural incorporation interact in their effects on marital variables.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)593-617
Number of pages25
JournalSocial Forces
Volume75
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1996

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • History
  • Anthropology
  • Sociology and Political Science

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Socioeconomic and cultural incorporation and marital disruption among Mexican Americans'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this