Cuban and Afro-Caribbean immigrants: an analysis of intermarriage and subsequent assimilation among second-generation Caribbean immigrants.

This paper uses the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study to examine the effects of race, class and gender on the intermarriage of Cuban and Afro-Caribbean second-generation immigrants in the United States. Results indicate that gender and racial identity are significantly related to intermarriage for this group of immigrants. Interestingly, the immigrants' socioeconomic status and family's social class have a very minimal impact on intermarriage. Using Cuban white, Cuban Hispanic and Caribbean black as racial categories, the study shows that Caribbean black men are the least likely group to intermarry, and Cuban white men are the most likely to intermarry. Cuban Hispanic men are less likely to intermarry compared to their Cuban white counterparts. Lastly, Cuban white women are the most likely to intermarrycompared to Cuban white males for this sample population. A structural explanation for these patterns posits that differences in the relative size of each racial group in marriage markets affect their chances for intermarriage. From an assimilation perspective, the literature also suggests that differences in social distance with whites influence the propensity for co-ethnic intermarriage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]