Noami Mena, a San Francisco State student, was attracted to her British boyfriend's strong Catholic upbringing.Assimilation into the American mainstream, say many social scientists, often takes two-to-three generations for most immigrant groups. A major part of that assimilation can usually be seen in the intermarriage of couples from differing ethnic backgrounds. It’s not unusual these days to find Americans with mixed Irish-German or Polish backgrounds, for example. But there was a time in American history that these groups would rarely intermingle.
So when children of immigrants begin dating outside of their ethnic group, the familial effects can be unexpected.
As part of our ongoing series on Immigration in the U.S., NPR’s Richard Gonzales reports on a growing trend among second-generation Americans who are choosing to date and marry with partners with whom they are “culturally comfortable.”
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