Findings suggest a shrinking social distance between racial groups, broadening the MMPI for African American women; yet, the low levels of interracial relationships are likely driven by preferences of men.

In fact, white men preferred not to date African American women at a rate of over 90% ( Feliciano et al. Additionally, the social distance maintained between racial groups, as indicated by rates of interracial relationships, appears to be primarily related to the preferences of men to not date African American women.The third set of logistic regression models identified the significant correlates of having dated a white man (see Table 6). This segregation would continue to limit the opportunities of individuals to date white men as they go through higher education, so although intentions may rise with education, opportunities for interracial relationships may still remain relatively low. Seventy percent of African American women said they would date someone white, but only 43% would date someone Hispanic. Using data from 595 predominantly disadvantaged African American women in Kentucky, this study examines perceptions about racial/ethnic partner availability, cultural mistrust, and racism as correlates of interracial dating intentions and behaviors with both white and Hispanic men. Multivariate findings also indicated that interracial relationship intentions were the most robust correlate of interracial relationship behavior.

It is possible that these women have dated outside their race because they face a smaller pool of eligible African American men than the general population of African American women as they may be deemed “less desireable” romantic partners due to their multiple disadvantaged statuses ( Oser et al. Nevertheless, examining the interracial dating intentions and behaviors of African American women with multiple disadvantaged statuses (e. S. However, this study still makes a significant contribution to the literature because it is conservative in nature. Additionally, because interracial relationships are still somewhat stigmatized and are by no means normative, people who have used drugs and been imprisoned already deal with strong social stigma and may be less averse to this form of “deviant” behavior.

He noted that these values were different across racial groups such that African American women had a considerably smaller pool of potential partners when compared to white women ( Wilson, 1987). The strong relationship between intentions and behaviors in the multivariate models in this study suggests the efforts by whites to answer in a dishonest, yet socially desirable way identified by Bonilla-Silva (2001) were not common among African American women. It could be an access issue, such that there is an increased social and geographic distance between African Americans and Hispanics as compared to African Americans and whites in Kentucky. Each one unit on the scale measuring racist life events is associated with an increase of 1% in the odds that the respondent would date someone Hispanic (p<0. There were 17 items in the SRE all pertaining to whether respondents experienced a series of events, “because you are black”.

In addition, respondents self-described skin tones were recoded as either “very dark,” “dark,” “medium,” “light,” or “very light. The results displayed in Table 6 are further clarified by Table 7, which provides the predicted probabilities of having ever actually dated a white man based on education, whether the respondent claimed they would date interracially, and whether the respondent believed it was easier to find an eligible white man. For purposes of childbearing, Clarke refers to unmarried parenting as “the only game in town” ( Clarke, 2011:100). Although their marriage certificate hung on their bedroom wall, their union was considered unlawful in their home state of Virginia, as well as fifteen other states at the time. The sample was relatively evenly divided with respect to criminal justice status, as 36% of respondents were in prison, 31% on probation, and 33% were not involved in the criminal justice system.Still, the belief that it was easier to find an eligible man who was white or Hispanic was significantly associated with an increased likelihood of interracial relationship intentions – women who thought it was easier to find an eligible man outside of their race were much more likely to intend to date outside of their race. First, it examines the relationship between African American women's perceptions about partner availability both within and outside their racial group and interracial dating.