New study: interracial relationships less likely to end in marriage
CVK
Newsday reports on a new study by researchers at Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania that says that while interracial relationships are on the rise, they are significantly less likely than same-race relationships to lead to marriage.
The study found interracial relationships were most common among young people, and not only because they live in times of increased racial tolerance…
Researchers have long believed that preferences for contact outside a person’s race become more restrictive as relationships become more intimate.
This is particularly true of marriage, which requires a public acknowledgment of the partnership, a lifelong commitment, and pooling of social groups, the report found…
“There’s been a definite shift in society where dating is a more recreational activity, whereas it used to be a function of finding a marriage partner,” Albers said.
That shift has loosened up the social restrictions and allowed people to date people outside their race they may have no intention of marrying, she said.
Hmmm… I don’t know if I necessarily agree with their interpretation of the findings. Isn’t is possible that people who date interracially may also have less traditional views on relationships and therefore don’t necessarily feel the need to get married? I think this emphasis on marriage as the ideal end-state is a bit archaic. To assume that interracial relationships are somehow “bad” because they don’t result in marriage - that sounds to me like a thinly veiled cautionary message against entering those relationships. (As I discussed in my article “Media Betrays Society’s Ambivalence Toward Interracial Relationships,” the media is full of these cautionary tales when discussing interracial couples.)
Anonymous wrote:
wow, my school (cornell u.) actually does research on IR?
Posted 03 Nov 2005 at 1:36 pm ¶
RachelS wrote:
Do you know where the orinigal study was published?
Posted 03 Nov 2005 at 2:07 pm ¶
Ida wrote:
I actually agree with the article that there may still be significant barriers against interracial marriage even where there are relaxed social barriers against dating relationships. It’s not just less traditional beliefs about marriage. As a person who is 1/2 of an interracial relationship, I know that while the person I am with is interested in committing to the relationship and we have discussed marriage, he faces significant obstacles within his family in the event that we choose to marry or have children. I love my boyfriend and I definitely don’t think it is right or fair to make him choose between a relationship with me and a relationship with his family (which is the ultimatum he would receive from his family), so we are stuck trying to find a way to balance things. In this case, my boyfriend is Asian and I am white, but I have heard stories involving people of various backgrounds. A roommate of mine was Indian, in an interracial relationship, and engaged to someone she had been dating for 4 years, but her family kept trying to find her a husband through friends and family in India.
I would note that the results don’t (and perhaps can’t) reflect the effect of global immigration on relationships. If you are comparing two American-born parties of different races that both have American-born parents, the study may have different patterns than if one party has a foreign-born parent. The obstacles against marriage seem particularly common when the interracial relationships involves first or second generation families. In both of the above cases (mine and my former roommate’s), family members resistant to the relationships were foreign-born and did not move to the US until quite late in life, while the children in those relationships spent their formative years in the US. It does not make things less difficult, but perhaps it is one factor that helps explain the findings.
Posted 03 Nov 2005 at 3:10 pm ¶
Luke wrote:
On Topic: Yea. I see parallels with Dan Savage’s argument in his book about gay marriage. Marriage, the religiously affiliated one, is now somehow the gold-take-no-prisoners standard when it comes to “truly being in love” and being in a “committed relationship.” Seems like their article suggests people act on fetishes too when in interracial relationships…
Off Topic: Have either of you seen a documentary interview piece called “Just Black”? My god, I just watched it today in my class and it was interesting to say the least, of what people said in response. The people interviewed gave story after story and the entire thing (made in 90’s) smacked of tragic mulatto^1000. I raise that possibility, saying that its dangerous to make this a universal tragic mulatto cautionary tale mixed representation trajectory based on the stories of 6 mixed race black + japanese, korean, white, etc, people (because that’s where the comments from the students were going)…and then a girl (who by my own, i know, stereotypical estimation, who was not multiracial black) goes “i’m mixed and i think it was all REALLY, REALLY accurate and honest. I’m going through my own identity crisis so its all right on target.” Then another chimes in in support. At this point, I think if that girl watched either version of Imitation of Life, she’d say “Nothing wrong with that! That’s the truth!”
Posted 03 Nov 2005 at 6:12 pm ¶
Rachel S wrote:
Do you know where the study comes from?
Posted 03 Nov 2005 at 7:00 pm ¶
Ida wrote:
I agree with the study. As 1/2 of a mixed relationship with someone who is equally interested in marriage, we face significant family opposition (based on race) to marriage, although there has been much more passive tolerance of our dating relationship. I have had several previous roommates (different racial groups from each other) who were in interracial relationships where there was passive tolerance of dating behaviors but strong opposition to interracial marriage. I think in all 3 cases, the parties involved have been interested in marriage.
We are considering various alternatives not because we are not interested in marriage, but because we are cautious about damaging family relationships. I am white, my boyfriend is a first generation Asian-American. In my roommates cases, one was American-born and Palestinian (with foreign born parents) dating a Caucasian man and the other was an American-born Indian dating a Hispanic man. In both of their cases, the girls’ parents were attempting to arrange marriages for them against their will. In my case, my family has not been an obstacle but his has threatened to permanently sever the relationship with him, and as a caring partner, I think it’s unfair to ask my significant other to have to make that choice.
Posted 07 Nov 2005 at 8:05 pm ¶
Malakai wrote:
this seems to be true alot of times, i think when the novelty wears off for some people they part ways or realize , the social opposition is just too hard. everyone can’t deal with that sort of thing you know, understandably. not to mention maybe when white girls find out that certain black men arent all the hype they were promised and voila you see a white girl pushing a beige baby in a stroller.
Posted 24 Nov 2005 at 5:51 pm ¶
elenamary wrote:
like many of the commenters I have to agree that the article might be correct in its reasoning on why the relationships don’t lead to marriage. I am in my twenties at university and see “interracial” relationships, but often times, I think the people in the relationship tend to exoticize their partner and the taboos of the relationship. Once the exoticism wears off or the taboos become to real the relationship terminates.
Posted 01 Dec 2005 at 1:12 pm ¶
Anonymous wrote:
Posted 27 Jan 2006 at 3:16 pm ¶
van wrote:
I still have no idea why people are doing studies on other people. Dont you realize that a white woman from South Africa that marrys a white american is still technically an African american. Why should you be concerned with how other people look at you when they dont live your life and they dont know how your mate treats you. Example. This happened to me. I dated a white woman in college who hid me from her parents for five years. She finally broke the relationship off to date a white guy. Needless to say she got strung out on coke, didnt finish college and then her best friend decided to tell her parents about me. The guy who got her into college, helped her pay off her car and numerous other things. So where is she now. Unhappily married to a white guy that is socially acceptable. Thats a miserable way to live. make you own choices. She still talks to me as a friend but she hurt me so bad that i could never go back to her.
Posted 31 Jan 2006 at 2:13 pm ¶
anonomous in boston wrote:
I’m currently involved in a interracial relationship and disagree about them
having no traditional values or morals. Wrong! I am married for 10 yrs
me: black, him: white and we have a very traditional marriage unbelievable
to most and i wouldn’t change it for the world. Your studies are wrong
interracial marriages have all the same problems as same race couples
we instill values and morals in our child and are very religious. What’s the
big deal if two people are of different races? answer there is no difference it’s
society that instill negativity upon the difference. This information is from
no study i’m living it.
Posted 07 Aug 2006 at 10:14 pm ¶