David M. Heer

The Marital Status of Second-Generation Americans

This study analyzes 1950 Census data concerning the marital status by age and sex of secondgeneration Americans according to 13 countries of parental origin. In each of six age-sex classes the proportion of second-generation Americans who had never married was higher than that of the total white population of comparable age and sex. Considerable variation among the ethnic groups was found; in general, Americans of Irish descent were most likely either to marry late or never to marry, Americans of Mexican descent least likely. In each age-sex class there is a moderate correlation between the percentage never married in the American second-generation subgroup and that of nationals in the country of parental origin. Considerable support is given to an hypothesis that the percentage never married among young adults in each ethnic group is a function both of the aspiration for high socio-economic status in that group and of its attitude toward birth control.