Neighbourhoods and the creation, stability and success of mixed ethnic unions

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Neighbourhoods and the creation, stability and
success of mixed ethnic unions

• Zhiqiang Feng
• Paul Boyle, Maarten van Ham, Gillian Raab

linking lives through time
www.lscs.ac.uk
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Why study mixed-ethnic unions?

• Geographical Segregation
• Numerous studies have ignored mixing within
  households/families
• Government actively promotes integration of
  ethnic minorities
• Mixed-ethnic unions
• Demonstrate break-down of ethnic barriers and are
  suggestive of degree of ethnic integration in a
  society
• Numbers are small but increasing
• Create new minority groups-mixed ethnic groups

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Proportions of mixed-unions by ethnic group
England and Wales, Data Source 1991 and 2001
HHSARs
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Theories

• Assimilation
• Most assimilated groups more likely to cross
  ethnic lines to out-partner
• Demography
• Sex ratio
• Relative size
• Social exchange
• Lower status majority members partner higher
  status minority members
• Segregation
• Reduce opportunity to meet potential partners

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Existing Studies in Britain

• Data sources
• Labour Force Surveys (Jones 1984, Coleman 1985,
  2004)
• The Fourth National Survey of Ethnic Minorities
  (1994) (Muttarak 2003)
• Census
• Household SARs (Berrington 1996, Model Fisher
  2002)
• ONS LS (Muttarak 2005)

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Studies in Britain

• Most are descriptive
• They tend to use cross-sectional analyses

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Some results from previous studies

• Positive effects
• Age
• Second generation
• Males
• Educational attainment
• Higher social class

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Some results from previous studies

• Negative
• Size of ethnic group
• Residential segregation
• Cultural distance

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Issues with cross-sectional analysis

• We dont know when or where marriage /
  cohabitation occurred
• Prevalence vs incidence
• Pre-marriage / cohabitation conditions unknown
• Socio-economic situations may change after
  marriage / cohabitation
• Not suitable for causal inference

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Longitudinal analysis

• Identify people who were already in Britain
  before partnering occurred
• Have data on pre-marriage / cohabiting situations
• First British study to use the ONS LS and SLS to
  identify geographical influences on mixed-ethnic
  unions

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Why study neighbourhood effects?

• Neighbourhoods may be important locations for
  social contacts
• Places reflect social relations and constitute
  and reinforce social relations (Delaney 2002)
• Places can be racialised predominantly ethnic
  neighbourhoods may create local cultures which
  discourage mixed-ethnic unions

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Why study neighbourhood effects?

• Previous studies find mixed-ethnic couples are
  more likely to live in mixed-ethnic
  neighbourhoods
• However, it is not clear whether this is because
  mixed-ethnic couples form there or move there
  after marriage / cohabitation
• Most studies use cross-sectional data so it is
  difficult to study event sequences

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Objectives

• Measure the growth of mixed-ethnic couples and
  their changing geographical distribution between
  1991 and 2001
• Test whether living in a mixed-ethnic
  neighbourhood makes it more likely that people
  will end up in mixed-ethnic couples
• Test whether people in mixed-ethnic couples are
  more likely to move into mixed-ethnic
  neighbourhoods
• Test whether mixed-ethnic couples are more likely
  to dissolve than single-ethnic couples

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Objectives

• 5. Test whether mixed-ethnic couples are less
  likely to dissolve if they live in mixed-ethnic
  neighbourhoods
• 6. Test whether living in a less deprived
  neighbourhood makes it more likely that people
  will end up in mixed-ethnic couples
• 7. Test whether people in mixed-ethnic couples
  are more likely to move into less deprived
  neighbourhoods

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Data source

• ONS LS
• Longitudinal 1971-2001
• 1 sample of England and Wales (500,000)
• SLS
• Longitudinal 1991-2001
• 5.3 sample of Scottish population (265,000)

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Definition of ethnic groups

• Presentation group
• in the study 1991 (ETHNIC9) 2001(ETHGRP0)
  
• White (W) White British
• Irish
• Other white
• Black (B) Black-Caribbean Black-Caribbean
• Black-African Black-African
• Black other Other Black
• Black White White Black
  Caribbean
• White Black African
• Asian (A) Indian Indian
• Pakistani Pakistani
• Bangladeshi Bangladeshi
• Other Asian (OA) Chinese Chinese
• Other Asian Other Asian
• Others (O) Other ethnic group White Asian
• non-mixed origin Other mixed
• Other ethnic group Other ethnic group
• mixed origin

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Classifications of mixed-ethnic unions
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Number of mixed-ethnic unions England Wales

• Mixed-ethnic unions 1991 2001
• White / Black (WB) 1231 1737
• White / Asian (WA) 641 902
• White / Other Asians (WOA) 643 730
• White / Others (WO) 998 1770
• Total 3513 5139

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Mixed ethnic neighbourhoods

• Relative size
• minority population / white population
• Exposure index
• Diversity
• Shannons entropy

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Mixed ethnic neighbourhoods

• Continuous?
• or
• Dichotomous?
• Use different forms in different models?

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Methodology

• Objective 1 (growth of mixed-ethnic unions, 1991
  vs 2001)
• ONS LS SLS
• Descriptive
• Logistic / log-linear models

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Methodology

• Objective 2 6 whether mixed-ethnic
  neighbourhoods or less deprived neighbourhoods
  have positive effects on formation of
  mixed-ethnic unions
• ONS LS data, 1981 vs 1991, 1991 vs 2001
• Whether people aged 6 single in 1981, ended up
  being married to, or cohabiting with, people from
  another ethnic group in 1991
• Repeat for 1991-2001
• Logistic Heckman selection model controlling
  for probability of partnering

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Methodology

• Objectives 3,4,5,7 whether mixed-ethnic couples
• More likely to move to mixed ethnic neighbourhood
• More likely to dissolve than single ethnic
  couples
• Less likely to dissolve if living in mixed-ethnic
  neighbourhoods
• More likely to move into less deprived
  neighbourhoods
• ONS LS 1991-2001
• Sample People who were married or cohabiting in
  1991
• Logistic model of the probability of these events
  in 2001

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Individual variables
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Work so far

• Literature review
• Research design
• SLS proposal approved
• Data request sent to ONS LS