Mixed Union Formation among 1.5 and Second-generation Immigrants in Denmark: The Role of Cultural Proximity and Opportunity Structures

Immigrants’ likelihood of mixed union formation differs depending on their country of origin for unclear reasons. Cultural proximity theory suggests that immigrants’ likelihood of mixed union formation depends on the cultural proximity between their country of origin and the receiving country. Opportunity structure theory, on the other hand, suggests that immigrants’ likelihood of mixed union formation depends on their opportunities to find suitable partners from their own national origin group in local partner markets in the destination country. This study uses administrative register data to examine union formation patterns among 1.5 and second-generation immigrants in Denmark. We follow 71,122 1.5 and second-generation immigrants from 120 different national origin groups residing in 11 local partner markets in Denmark from age eighteen until they form their first union or right censoring occurs. Our results using multilevel discrete-time event history analysis suggest that differences in the likelihood of mixed union formation are explained partly by cultural factors, such as religion, language, and degree of globalization, and partly by the opportunity structures in local partner markets, such as group size, sex ratio, and within-group educational similarity. However, cultural proximity explains a much larger proportion of the variation in mixed union formation between national origin groups than opportunity structures do.