More on mixed race & matrimania
Many thanks to John for pointing out this poll that links opinions about interracial marriage with opinions about political candidates. (Click through to see the difference between Palin and Romney fans.)
We asked voters on this poll whether they think interracial marriage should be legal or illegal- 46% of Mississippi Republicans said it should be illegal to just 40% who think it should be legal.
Fascinating, because the New York Times recently reported that “Mississippi led the nation in the growth of mixed marriages for most of the last decade,” and cited data “suggesting that much of the growth in the mixed-race group can be explained by recent births.”
The Times still describes marriage as the only indicator of mixed-race relationships and the only source of mixed-race births. This feels inaccurate to me, but a wonderful fact sheet published by our friends at the Council on Contemporary Families suggests why my instincts might be wrong.
- Interracial daters report receiving less social support, such as positive affirmation or help from friends, family, or just people they interact with in public.
- Due to perceived lack of support, interracial couples are less likely to … report thinking of themselves as a couple.
- …The odds of going from dating to living together or getting married are 1 in 4 for same-race daters and about 1 in 5 for interracial daters.
- Interracial couples who cohabit are only 60 percent as likely as same-race cohabiters to get married to each other.
I’m still willing to guess that interracial cohabiters are less likely to marry because they are less bound by traditional views about relationships, rather than assume their relationships don’t work out. I’d love to see some research on that.
I’d also love to see stats on the marital status of parents of mixed-race children. The CCF fact sheet does not mention childbirth – perhaps we can inspire them to look into that question for a future fact sheet.
Meanwhile, more of you have responded to our quiz about interracial identity and relationships. Thank you! Here’s an update based on your 56 responses:
- 40% identify yourselves as multi-racial or multi-ethnic
- 14% of your parents were unmarried when you were born
- 93% of you are unmarried
- 82% of you are in committed relationships including marriage, and 80% of those relationships are with one different-sex partner
- 67% of your relationships are interracial, including 50% where your partner is one race/ethnicity that is different from yours, and 17% where your partner has a mixed-race identity
- 43% of you have mixed-race/ethnicity children
