Adolescent Romance and Union Formation Patterns among Immigrants.

Union formation patterns in the United States have gone through significant changes in the past few decades. Cohabitation has become the most common form of individuals' first unions. Furthermore, there has been an increase in the number of marriages that are preceded by cohabitation. In the early 1990s, most immigrants to the United States were from Europe whereas today, the majority of the current immigrant population is from Latin America or Asia. This influx of immigrants from Latin American has caused Hispanics to be one of the fasting and youngest growing racial/ethnic groups in the United States. Since 1960, the Hispanic population has increased from 4% to 12% in 2000, with a large proportion of immigrants comprising this share of the population. Furthermore, it is projected that this proportion will increase to 25% by 2050. Hispanic immigrants are one of the fastest growing groups, with a large proportion in their late teens and early 20s. Thus, it is important to understand how Hispanic immigrants adapt to the United States and what implications it has on their family formation patterns. Due to the diversity of Hispanics in the United States, it is important to realize that although these groups may share common experiences, caution should be used in generalizing findings from one ethnic group to all Hispanic groups. Using data combined from three waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health), the prevalence of romantic relationships in adolescence, cohabitation, and marriage is examined by generational status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]