The Formation of Intimate Partnerships among Ethnic Minority Youth in Denmark: Generational Relationships & Religious Endogamy

The project was by conducted by the author and researchers from the Danish National Institute of Social Research Institute and draws upon a survey data (N=628) and qualitative interviews (N=61). The participants in the study are youth and parents belonging to the five biggest ethnic minority groups in Denmark, immigrants from Turkey, former Yugoslavia, and Pakistan, and refugees from Lebanon and Somalia.. 87% of the youth had answered that their religion is Islam and 7% had answered Christianity. The theoretical framework is broadly speaking social psychological, which combines the theories of modernization, generational relations in the family with effects of discrimination. The article indicates that the patterns related to religious endogamy affect the interaction between the minority and the majority population. The latest research from the United Kingdom showing similar patterns and paradoxical findings about the openness of British youth and the continued practice of religious endogamy among the Asian youth especially Muslims, adds a comparative perspective to the paper. The findings are seen in several ethic groups in the Nordic countries. Research in the Nordic countries further supports such a comparative perspective. Contrary to the wide spread beliefs that there are just serious conflicts between generations, findings of this research project indicate that there are differential patterns: parents can be cooperative or in opposition, depending on a number of factors e.g. their perception of how intimate partnerships are formed by Danish youth. The article presents a critique of the existing concept of the reductionistic either own choice or parental choice, and appeals for a broader concept, which focuses on both own choice and parental accept.