Marrying Out; more people finding partners outside their racial or ethnic group

The Pew Research Center recently released a report titled “Marrying Out; One in Seven New U.S. Marriages is Interracial or Interethnic”. CNN-online ran a story on this report recently. I thought it apropos of the current times that a story about inter-racial marriage trends in America should be reported not in my local newspaper where it would be read by thousands of people who look like me, but on the internet, where it will be read by millions of people, many of whom look nothing like me but are interested in the same things that I am. The study and subsequent report, by being posted on the internet, will be seen by millions of people who are educated, interested in diversity, aware of social and demographic trends, and are comfortable with in-depth discussion of ideas with like-minded people, not just people who look similar.

The report has some astounding statistics; coupled with comparative statistics from twenty and fifty years prior, we can see how far America has come from the olden days. For example: about 13% of currently married couples ages 25 or younger married outside their race; adults between the ages of 18-32 have the highest level of acceptance rates of inter-racial/ethnic marriage, with an unprecedented 93% approving of marrying outside one’s racial or ethnic background; and 35% of all adults report that a family member or close relative is married to someone of a different race.

“While blacks remain the most accepting of interracial marriage, approval is on the rise among whites. The proportion of whites who now say they “would be fine” with a relative’s marriage to a member of a different racial or ethnic group is up 8 percentage points since 2001. To some extent, this is the result of a decline in racially conservative attitudes across all generational cohorts, but it is also driven by the more racially liberal views of younger whites today.” (Pew Research Center, pg 30)

Higher education, internet dating and demographics all play a role in this trend. People who attend college are more likely to select partners who have the same level of education, regardless of race. And people who live west of the Mississippi River are more likely to marry out as well. CNN suggested that the internet has played a significant role in connecting people of differing races or ethnicities through dating sites and other social networking places, because people can look for prospective partners based on complementary personalities, goals and education, regardless of background.

The report discusses trends in immigration based on the three major ethnic groups; blacks, Hispanics and Asians. In the last forty years more Hispanics and Asians immigrated to America than any other ethnic group, greatly increasing the pool of people whose children are now coming of marriageable age. Because of the demographics of these immigrants, the Western states are seeing the highest number of inter-racial marriages (22% in 2008). The Northeast and South both had 13% of all marriages listed as inter-racial in 2008, and the Midwest had the fewest reported (11%).

“Today's attitudes and behaviors regarding intermarriage represent a sharp break from the not-too-distant past. For most of this nation's history, a majority of states had anti-miscegenation laws that made it illegal for whites and nonwhites to marry. Many states repealed these laws after World War II, and the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Loving v. Virginia in 1967 had the effect of declaring unconstitutional anti-miscegenation laws in the 15 states where they were still on the books… However, attitudinal and behavioral change did not come overnight. As of 1987 -- two decades after the Supreme Court ruling -- just 48% of the public said it was "OK for whites and blacks to date each other." By 2009, that share had grown to 83%. Acceptance has risen among all age cohorts, but it is highest among young adults. Among adults ages 18 to 32, 93% approve; among adults ages 64 and older, 68% approve.” (Pew Research Center, http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1616/american-marriage-interracial-interethnic)

When these inter-racial and inter-ethnic couples have children, the children will be brought into families that are increasingly accepting of mixed marriages. The children of such unions will create their own mixed-race pool of people from which to choose marriage partners, thus exponentially expanding the potential pool of inter-racial unions each generation.

Immigration in America has greatly expanded the pools of potential partners for all ethnic groups, and it is inevitable that within the first two generations of immigration, children raised in a mixed society force their parents to accept their spousal choice outside of racial and ethnic heritages. It’s entirely feasible that within another two generations, inter-racial and inter-ethnic marriages will occur in over 50% of all marriages in the Western states. Shifting demographics will slowly but steadily bring acceptance of inter-racial marriages and offspring into the more conservative Northeast, South and Midwest.

The recent Pew Research Center study, “Marrying Out; One-in-Seven New U.S. Marriages is Interracial or Interethnic” examines new marriages, race, gender and demographics. Each couple is counted separately, which means that each instance of marital pairing is unique to their location, family, educational status and beliefs. It’s with this same concept of uniqueness that people are determining their marriage partners. A majority of young people of marriageable age are looking at the whole of a person and passing judgment on qualities that are controllable, rather than basing opinions on things outside a person’s control; race, gender, ethnicity, family background. In short, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision for the future is coming into focus; young people all over America are seeking partners based on the content of their character instead of the color of their skin.

To read the Pew Research Center study in full, click here.

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