RELIGIOUS INTERMARRIAGE IN THE UNITED-STATES - DETERMINANTS AND TRENDS

This article uses data from the 1987-1988 National Survey of Families and Households to study the determinants of religious intermarriage in the United States as well as changes over time in its prevalence. Sep arate legit regressions are estimated for exclusivist Protestant, ecum enical Protestant, and Catholic respondents. Variables identified as p laying a role in the intermarriage decision include the proportion of coreligionists in the relevant marriage market, various proxies for re ligiosity and for commitment to the parental faith, education, a prema rital pregnancy, and gender. The estimated effects are generally consi stent with hypotheses derived from a model of religious intermarriage. The results also show that the prevalence of religious heterogamy has increased significantly over the past decades for Catholics and ecume nical Protestants. Ln sharp contrast, there has been no perceptible ch ange in the probability of marrying outside the religion for exclusivi st Protestants, a group which continues to display distinctive pattern s of economic and demographic behavior. (C) 1998 Academic Press.