Union formation of the Turkish second generation

Partner choice and union formation as well as the family formation are the results of various social determinants: many sociological and demographic studies have shown that social homogamy plays an important role in the partner choice and that the timing of the union formation as well as the first birth is highly determined by the level of education. Some changes during the last decades have been identified too: the age at first union and at first birth is considerably delayed and there is a strong decline of marriage. These changes are due to both the increase of the age at the completion of education and the transformation of norms and values regarding sexuality and matrimonial life. These general trends vary by country but they are quite well studied in Europe. Nevertheless, we know quite few things on the matrimonial practice of descendants of immigrants. Descendants of immigrants have to manage the differences between their parents' culture of origin and the culture of the society in which they have been raised. This is particularly true for descendant of immigrants coming from Muslim countries such as Turkey where the patterns of union formation are clearly different from those in Europe: indeed, marriage is universal and age at marriage remains low. Yet, little is known about the matrimonial behaviors of the women and men of immigrant parentage in Western Europe. This chapter aims at expanding this knowledge by focusing on the transition to a first union of young adults of Turkish descent living in Europe. We especially study the timing of the first union, the type of union (marriage or cohabitation), the partner's origin and the partner's characteristics and especially the trend to form a transnational union. Variations between countries and between cities are discussed from the history of the Turkish migration and the size of the Turkish matrimonial market in each country. to which descendants of Turkish immigrants form a specific group (or not) among young adults, and to what extent they combine the patterns of their parents' country of origin and of their country of residence. In addition, diversity within the groups will be studied in the different national and city-level contexts.