Previous studies showed that assortative mating occurred based on different social dimensions, such as age, education, and race or ethnicity. However, these studies ignored the potential impact of place of origin on people’s place identity and habitus and their associations with assortative mating in the United States. Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), in conjunction with the Current Population Survey (CPS), this study finds a clear pattern of assortative mating based on place of origin. Moreover, the results suggest that there are regional differences in assortative mating by place of origin, especially for women. Also, the length of residence shapes people’s habitus and thus the pattern of homogeneous matching by place of origin. The significant effects of race or ethnicity and the conditions of the marriage market before marriage vary by scale of place and gender. These findings suggest that place of origin is another dimension of assortative mating.
Educational Assortative Mating across Marriage Markets: Non-Hispanic Whites in the United States
