(Page 1 of 18) - Puerto Rican Exogamy: Patterns in Puerto Rico 1990 authored by Aquino, Gabriel.

Puerto Rican Exogamy: Patterns in Puerto Rico 1990
Gabriel Aquino, Department of Sociology, University at Albany, State University of New York.
Albany, NY, 12222.
Submitted to Open Referred Round table, for the American Sociological Association 98

Annual

Meeting on August 2003.

Abstract
Exogamy has long been used as a measure for determining the level of acceptability between
ethnic and racial groups. This study will focus on exogamy between Puerto Ricans in Puerto
Rico and the largest national groups on the Island, specifically, Americans, Europeans, Cubans,
Dominicans, Other Latin Americans, and Others. The data for Puerto Rico the analysis comes
from the 1990 5 percent Public Use Micro Data Sample. A multinominal logistic regression was
conducted to determine the odds a Puerto Rican will have to form or will form an exogamous
relationship with either a European American, an African American, other racial non-Hispanic
groups, Mexicans, Cubans, Dominicans, other Hispanics, and those with a generic Hispanic or
Latino identity. Intermarriage that occurs in the island of Puerto Rico, the likelihood of exogamy
is closely linked to the person’s birthplace and to the parent’s birthplace. Puerto Ricans are
therefore much more likely to marry or cohabitate with another Puerto Rican born on the island
versus all other possible group combination. In some cases particularly with Cubans, and
Dominicans being a Puerto Rican born outside of Puerto Rico increases the likelihood of
exogamy considerably.

Introduction

Exogamy has long been used as a measure for determining the level of acceptability

between ethnic and racial groups. Many scholars looking at the level of group integration have
attempted to measure amalgamation through the marriage rates between distinct ethnic and racial
groups (Alba 1990; Alba and Golden 1986; Blau, C., and Schwartz 1982; Fu 2001; Gilbetson,
Fitzpatrick, and Yang 1996; Gordon 1964; Gurak and Fitzpatrick 1982; Kalmijn 1998; Model
and Fisher 2001; Oropesa, Lichter, and Anderson 1994; Qian and Lichter 2001; Sean-Shong,
Saenz, and Aguirre 1997; Stevens and Swicegood 1987; Yinger 1994). This study will focus on
exogamy between Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico and the largest national groups on the Island,
specifically, Americans, Europeans, Cubans, Dominicans, Other Latin Americans, and Others.

Following the logic of the acculturationist and assimilationist paradigm, marriage, being

the most personal of all types of relationships that people can form with each other, is used to
measure the level of tolerability between ethnic groups.

Scholars who have studied inter-

marriages between individuals of different ethnic, racial, religious, ancestral, status, or language
groups have often used marriage as a proxy variable in hopes of measuring the amount of
acceptability that group members will have for the other group and determine the amount of
growing similarities between the groups (Alba 1990; Alba and Golden 1986; Gilbetson,
Fitzpatrick, and Yang 1996; Gordon 1964; Kalmijn 1998; Stevens and Swicegood 1987; Yinger
1994).

Traditionally, these studies have argued that the development of these marital

relationships measures the level of assimilation between the groups who are intermarrying. Of
course, these studies argue that the assimilation process is a linear process, where the minority
group absorbs the cultural norms of the majority. As such, the minority either losses or adapts its
culture to that of the majority.