Ever Changing Patterns of Courtship and Marriage Among Three Generations of Dominican and Dominican American Women

• In Event: 129 - Section on Latino/a Sociology Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 03. Latino Family Dynamics

Abstract

Abstract
This presentation discusses the changing patterns of courtship and marriage among Dominican-American Women. The presentation looks at three generations of Dominican and Dominican-American women. The research is based on interviews done over a twenty year period of first second and third generation Dominican and Dominican-American women in the same families.
The findings which are discussed in extensive detail show that three generations ago dating was largely non-existent and parents played a significant role in deciding who their daughter would see and someday marry and that parents closely supervised the visits between their daughter and the proposed future mate. Today dating is the norm with parents having only limited influence in mate selection.
Also in the past marriage was for life, but today divorce is common even though divorce is still frowned upon by some in the Dominican community in the Dominican community. This increasing use of divorce is reflected in the growing trend based on our research and the research of others toward single parent families that rely solely or mostly on the mother for support. Throughout the paper, we discuss the effect of immigration the changes that our data reflects

Authors

• Stefan Bosworth, City University of New York-Bronx Community College

• Rosie M. Soy, Hudson County Community College