American Indian intermarriage

An analysis of intermarriage patterns with data from the Public Use Microdata Sample of the 1980 Census shows that there is considerably more intermarriage between Indians and whites than between blacks and whites. Indians who live in traditional Indian areas are more likely to be endogamous than those who live in areas where Indians have not traditionally lived, though Indians in traditional Indian areas are also more likely to be married to whites than are Indians in nontraditional Indian areas (after adjustments are made to take into account the number of men and women in the different racial groups). The results also indicate that endogamous American Indians are poorer and less educated than any other type of couple, including endogamous black Americans.