Partner choice of the second generation: the importance of individual and neighbourhood characteristics

Suzanne Loozen, Statistics Netherlands
Helga A. G. de Valk, Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI) and Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Elma Wobma, Statistics Netherlands

In many European countries the second generation is coming of age and increasing numbers of those in the marriageable ages are of immigrant descent. The traditional framework for studying marriage patterns among immigrants has therefore to be revisited. With the growing second generation, marriage choices are not only determined by homogamous marriages with a partner of the same origin from the country of origin or heterogamous marriages with a native partner from the country or residence. Increasingly the second generation has the option of choosing a second generation from the same or different origin living in the countries they reside in. In this paper we first study the partner choices of the second generation from the largest immigrant groups in the Netherlands taking this diversity of partner origin options into account. Second, we question to what extent the neighbourhood (as potential meeting place) is important for the partner chosen. Data from the Dutch marriages statistics, including all marriages contracted between 2004 and 2008 are used to study the type of partner and marriage timing among the second generation of Moroccan, Turkish, Surinamese and Antillean origin. The data from the marriage statistics are enriched with individual and neighbourhood characteristics from the Social Statistics Database (SSB) in order to be able to test effects of individual and neighbourhood characteristics for partner choice among the different second generation groups. Bivariate analyses provide insight in the types of partner chosen by those of different origin and by sex. In addition we study whether timing of marriage differs between those with partners of different ethnic origin. Via multinominal regression analyses the importance of the diverse individual and neighbourhood factors on the four partner options are assessed. Finally we build multilevel models to get insight in the importance of neighbourhood for in- or out-group marriages.