Convergence and Divergence in Ethnic Divorce Patterns: A Research Note

Studies of divorce among ethnically heterogeneous couples are rare. However a recent longitudinal study of marriages in Hawaii showed that the divorce rate was higher among ethnically mixed marriages compared with ethnically homogeneous ones. On the other hand the same study found no easily discernible pattern of group differences in the relationship of intermarriage to the risk of divorce. Jones (1994) uses Australian data from the 1970s to show that such risks are consistent with a modified model of behavioral convergence in which divorce rates for mixed marriages are largely a function of revealed group preferences for divorce and convergence between them. This note shows that an equivalent model also accounts for the Hawaiian data. A convergence model may offer a useful point of departure for understanding similar behaviors in other sociocultural settings. (EXCERPT)