福佬人傾向纏足，客家人傾向天然足。然而，在鄰近客家地區的福佬地區，包括桃園臺地東側、新竹沿海、臺中盆地東北側、屏東平原西側，纏足風氣遠不如其他福佬地區盛行。族群融合只能部分解釋這個現象。戶口調查簿資料顯示，具有跨族群家庭背景的福佬女性確實比較容易擺脫纏足。但福佬—客家邊區的福佬女性即使不具跨族群家庭背景，依然比其他地區的福佬女性容易擺脫纏足。本文指出，纏足有如「軍備競賽」。當周圍女性纏足的比率愈高時，父母愈有可能纏住女兒的腳，以免在婚姻市場中陷入劣勢。反之，若周圍存在大量不追求小腳的人群，競逐小腳的壓力就會大幅減輕。根據空間延遲模型的估計，鄰域的纏足比率減少1%，可使本地的纏足比率額外減少0.55%。這個機制有效解釋了福佬—客家邊區纏足風氣較弱的現象。

The Hoklo people preferred bound feet while the Hakka people preferred natural feet. However, in the Hoklo areas close to the Hakka areas, the custom of foot binding were not as popular as other Hoklo areas. Ethnic assimilation can only partially explain this phenomenon. Household registers data shows that Hoklo female with cross-ethnic family background were more likely to get rid of foot binding. However, the Hoklo women without such background in the Hoklo- Hakka frontiers were also easier to get rid of foot binding than who in other Hoklo areas. This article points out that foot binding was like the ＂arms race.＂ The more the popularity of foot binding in the surroundings, the more the likelihood the parents bind their daughters' feet, to avoid getting a disadvantage in the marriage market. Conversely, the existence of a lot people who do not pursue the lotus feet in the surroundings drastically reduced the pressure of pursuing foot binding. This mechanism effectively explains the phenomenon that the custom of foot binding were less popular in Hoklo-Hakka frontiers.