Socio-demographic characteristics of intercultural marriage: a study of a multi-ethnic community in Malaysia

Due to increased levels of social contact and loosening of traditional social norms between peoples from different races and religious backgrounds in South East Asia, there has been arise in the prevalence of intercultural marriages over the past fifty years (Hassan &Benjamin, 1973; Djamour, 1965; Kuo & Hassan, 1976). Despite the cultural diversity inMalaysia, systematic research on intercultural marriage, specifically concentrating onintercultural marriages among the Malay Bumiputras (natives), Chinese, Indians and Other Bumiputras and their socio-demographic characteristics, are still lacking. This study thusexplored the socio-demographic characteristics of intercultural marriages among Malay,Chinese, Indian and Other Bumiptura mixed-married couples from Malaysia. Based ondata from 357 mixed-married couples, significant differences were found betweenhusbands’ and wives’ personal characteristics, namely religion-of-origin, current age, age-at-marriage, and personal income. Results from Cramer’s V test of association further showed a significant association between the husband-wife ethnic background and their religion-of-origin, indicating that intercultural marriages in Malaysia also tend to be inter-religious marriages. Findings provide support for the theory of homogeneity and structuraltheory. The paper discusses the impact of ethnic and religious factors on variations insocio-demographic characteristics between intercultural couples.

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