Joseph P. Fitzpatrick

Hispanic intermarriage in New York City: new evidence from 1991.

This study replicates research on Hispanic intermarriage by Fitzpatrick (1966) and Gurak and Fitzpatrick (1982) using 1991 marriage records from New York City. It examines trends in marital assimilation among Puerto Ricans and the non-Puerto Rican Hispanic population. The prevalence of intermarriage varies among the six Hispanic national-origin groups. Changes in intermarriage patterns since 1975 are documented. Results show very high rates of intermarriage with non-Hispanics among Cubans, Mexicans, Central Americans, and South Americans. Considerable intermarriage among Hispanics of different national origins is characteristic of all Hispanics. Finally, Puerto Ricans and Dominicans have distinct patterns of intermarriage, characterized by high rates of intermarriage with each other, lower rates of intermarriage with non-Hispanics, no intergenerational increase in exogamy, and higher rates of nonmixed ancestry among the second generation. Implications of these trends are discussed.

Hispanic-Americans in the Eastern United States

The eastern part of the United States contains a large and growing Hispanic minority. If present trends con tinue, all Hispanics will constitute the largest minority in the United States by the year 2000. Their influence is already felt in the social and political life of the nation. The largest con centration of Hispanics, mainly Puerto Ricans, in the East is found in the New York City area. Cubans predominate in the Dade County area of Florida, with large numbers also in New York City and in the northern New Jersey area. Newcomers from Santo Domingo and Central and South America are found in New York City and other large eastern cities. These populations vary in age, color, education, and occupation. Cubans and Central and South Americans tend to be at the level of the American middle class; Puerto Ricans and Dominicans tend to be at lower socioeconomic levels. Puerto Ricans are steadily progressing in New York City in terms of political representation and organizational activity. Those born in the continental United States are at higher educa tional and occupational levels than their Puerto Rican born parents, but they reflect the problems of identity common to previous second-generation newcomers. Hispanics may play as important a role in the United States during the next century as Americans from European backgrounds have played in the present century.