Cruz, Cristina Elizabeth (2017-04). Marriage Patterns of Undocumented Male and Female Mexican Immigrants in the United States 2008-2012. Doctoral Dissertation.
Thesis
My dissertation focuses on the marriage patterns of undocumented Mexican immigrants in the U.S. I infer which married Mexicans are undocumented in the 2012 American Community Survey 5 year (2008-2012) population estimates and use the mate selection, self-disclosure, and assimilation literatures as the foundations for my main hypothesis expecting endogamy among undocumented Mexicans. That is, I expect the majority of undocumented Mexicans to be married to one another. My analysis shows that my hypothesis is supported in both the data for the males and females. Furthermore, there are two main objectives in my dissertation. First, I identify and provide statistics for the main marriage paths taken by undocumented Mexican men and women. Then, I examine the effects of race, time living in the U.S., and English proficiency on these main marriage paths by estimating multinomial logistic regression models. I find that English proficiency may be the best predictor of the type of spouse an undocumented Mexican is likely to have. English proficiency increases the likelihood that a respondent is married to a non-Hispanic white, versus an undocumented Mexican the most. Both race and years lived in the U.S. produce inconsistent results in terms of direction and statistical significance. My research suggest that having an undocumented status affects many aspects of people's lives, including their intimate life.
ETD Chair
Poston, Dudley George T. and Gladys H. Abell Professor of Liberal Arts
