Convergence across generations in the marital behaviors of immigrant youth compared to the native-born in Canada

Thomas LeGrand, Université de Montréal
Mélanie Meunier, Université de Montréal

18% of Canada was foreign-born in 2001. Immigrant youth are raised between the cultures of their parents and that of their new country; their attitudes and behaviors will determine in large part the place they will occupy in society as adults. This study uses logit regressions to study patterns of marriages and consensual unions of 1st and 2nd generation immigrant youth compared to the native-born, to examine convergence (or not) to local norms. Data are from the uncensored long-form 2001 Canadian census sample covering over 6 million individuals. This sample size allows us to distinguish detailed immigrant origins and examine how their behaviors evolve across immigrant generations, after controlling for age, religion, education, place of residence, community characteristics (ex: the % of the local population from the same group), etc. The analysis will distinguish Quebec from other Canada, which have strikingly different marital norms and behaviors, and men from women.