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The United States military services provide contact and opportunities for inter-group marriages that do not exist in the larger society. The services recruit men and women from all ethnic and racial groups. Since the military serves in all parts of the world, military personnel meet individuals from a variety of countries. Further, the military services emphasize non-discrimination and equal opportunity, and individuals of all groups train together. We argue that these factors provide an environment that is relatively tolerant of heterogamous marriages. We examine the effects of current and past military service, military rank, and type of service on rates of inter-group marriage. The data are from public use microsamples of the 1990 census (PUMS) and the Current Population Survey (CPS) from 1976 to 1998. The results show increases in exogamy rates for blacks and whites, but not for Hispanics and Asians. Considerable variation is found by period, rank, and type of military service.
INTRODUCTION
Inter-marriage between individuals of different racial and ethnic groups long has been used as an indicator of assimilation and acceptance of different racial and ethnic groups in society. Persistent low rates of out-marriage, or marriages across racial lines, suggest that assimilation and acceptance are far from complete, however. In this paper we examine inter-group marriage in one arena, the United States military services, where many of the traditional barriers to heterogamous marriages are significantly reduced. The weakened barriers we discuss include demographic patterns (segregation and age differences) socioeconomic factors (education), societal norms, and homogeneity of local marriage markets. We compare patterns of interracial marriage in the military to national rates, and we examine the effects of military rank, type of service, and periods of military service on inter-group marriage.
A basic proposition on group size, incorporated by Blau and others, provides a general theoretical perspective for inter-group marriage. Blau and others (see Blau, 1977; Blau, Blum, & Schwartz, 1982; Blau, Beeker, & Fitzpatrick, 1984; Blum, 1984; Sampson, 1984; Alba & Golden, 1986; Hwang et al., 1994) argue that relative group size is critical in determining the amount of outgroup contact that individuals are likely to experience. This increased contact can lead to romantic interest and increased rates of out-marriage. This is particularly true for small groups. Since group size...