Homogamous assortative mating among Puerto Rican families: intergenerational processes and the migration experience

Homogamous assortative mating is examined in the context of intergenerational processes and the migration experience in two generations of Puerto Rican families in New York City: mothers and fathers in a parent generation (100 pairs) and their married child and the child's spouse in the child generation (100 pairs). The variables used to examine intergenerational processes and to assess homogamy are age, education, and the degree of acceptance of two Puerto Rican cultural values--familism and fatalism. The findings indicate clear and pervasive intergenerational differences and discontinuities but homogamous marital patterns in each generation. The sociocultural dislocations resulting from the migration experience from Puerto Rico to New York City do not impede the restitution of marital homogamy in the host society with respect to either general or culture specific variables.