Intermarriage among latin-americans and spaniards: integration or migration strategy

Abstract

From the standpoint of assimilation theory, mixed marriages have traditionally been considered as the final stage of the integration process for the immigrants into the host society. From this perspective, we have made use of the recent National Immigrant Survey (2007) in Spain to analyze mixed marriages affecting Latin American immigrants and native Spaniards. Bivariate and multivariate approaches are used to analyze the contexts of these types of marriage, controlling for indicators such as sex, education, current citizenship, year of arrival, and the time between marriage and migration. The results reveal a fascinating and complex portrait of a type of marriage behavior that can vary significantly by country of origin.