Early Partner Choices of Immigrants: The Effect of Preferences, Opportunities and Parents on Dating a Native

Abstract

This study focuses on the partner choices of immigrant adolescents who are involved in a romantic relationship. We formulate hypotheses about the effect of immigrants' preferences, parental influence and structural effects of the school and neighbourhood on the likelihood of dating a native partner versus a non-native partner. Using unique data from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU) which was conducted in over 100 schools in each country among adolescents of around 14-year-old and their parents (n = 1896), we show, first, that more conservative immigrant adolescents are less likely to date a native partner. In addition, parental influence is demonstrated by gender-specific effects of religious background and by positive effects of parents' social and structural integration. Meeting opportunities with natives at school and in the neighbourhood are prominent factors in explaining the choice of dating a native partner.

Interethnic Prejudice Against Muslims Among White Dutch Children

“…One form of explicit parental interethnic prejudice can be found in parental involvement in and attitudes toward child interethnic relations. Although some research has been conducted on this topic for parents of adolescent or grown-up children (e.g., Smith et al, 2015; Van Zantvliet et al, 2015), less is known about parental explicit attitudes toward their young children’s interethnic contact, and how these attitudes relate to child interethnic prejudice. Given that interethnic prejudice is especially high in young children (Raabe & Beelmann, 2011) and that parents can have a big impact on the social contacts of their children by, for instance, choosing their school, choosing a neighborhood to live in, and arranging playdates, the relation between the explicit parental measure on attitudes toward their children’s interethnic contact and child interethnic prejudice needs to be examined for younger children as well.…”

Forced migration in childhood and subsequent fertility: The Karelian displaced population in Finland

“…Social mechanisms may therefore operate to support marriages within specific cultural and social communities (Alba, ; Furnham & McClelland, ; Kalmijn & Tubergen, ). Family formation patterns may be influenced by the migrants' families and communities, where the wish is to uphold one's own culture, to promote intergenerational transmission of traditions within one's community, and to preserve wealth within the family (Carol, ; van Zantvliet, Kalmijn, & Verbakel, ).…”

How do family relations influence interethnic partner choices? The role of cohesion, affection and diversity in native and migrant families

“…Next, as previous research has pointed out ethnic groups differ depending on a broad variety of characteristics. For example, partnerships with migrants who have the same religious background as natives are more common than interreligious partnerships (Dribe/Lundh 2011;van Zantvliet et al 2014). Ethnic groups also vary in how they evaluate interethnic partnerships (Munniksma et al 2012;Carol 2013a).…”

“…Many studies confirm that the family plays a relevant role in interethnic partner choices (e.g., Kalmijn/van Tubergen 2006;van Zantvliet et al 2014;Carol 2015). Attitudes toward interethnic partnerships are formed in the family context (Huijnk/Liefbroer 2012;Carol 2013a;Huijnk et al 2013) and transmitted from one generation to the next.…”