ERIC Number: EJ941239
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011-Oct
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0022-2445
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Changing Patterns of Interracial Marriage in a Multiracial Society
Qian, Zhenchao; Lichter, Daniel T.
Journal of Marriage and Family, v73 n5 p1065-1084 Oct 2011
We use incidence data from the 1980 Census and 2008 American Community Survey to track recent trends in interracial marriage. Intermarriage with Whites increased rapidly among Blacks but stalled among Asians and American Indians. Black-White intermarriage increased threefold over 1980-2008, independent of changing socioeconomic status, suggesting declining social distance between Blacks and Whites. Marriages between the U.S.- and foreign-born populations also grew rapidly. Marriages to immigrants increased fivefold among U.S.-born Asian women and doubled among U.S.-born Latinas since 1980. Out-marriage to Whites also was higher among self-identified biracial than monoracial individuals, but these differences were smallest among Blacks. Interracial couples were overrepresented among cohabiting couples. Finally, log-linear models provide evidence of growing racial exogamy, but only after adjusting for changing demographic opportunities for intermarriage. Marriages between U.S.- and foreign-born coethnics have been driven by new immigration while slowing the upward trajectory of interracial marriage in America.
Descriptors: African Americans, American Indians, Community Surveys, Marriage, Multiracial Persons, Immigrants, Census Figures, Whites, Socioeconomic Status, Racial Differences, Trend Analysis, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Interpersonal Relationship
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
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Language: English
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