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CommentsThe (interracial) dating game
Younger Latinos are leading the way when it comes to ‘multicultural’ relationships
(page 1 of 3)
When it came to matters of his heart, Javier Morales says he never once thought about race or ethnicity.
“My generation doesn’t do that,” explains Morales, a 20-something Arizona State University graduate and computer engineer. “We just hang out and date people we like and have things in common with. We go with the chemistry.”
In fact, while reflecting back on the relationships in his life, Morales says he’s really been very “multicultural.”
Morales isn’t alone. When it comes to interracial relationships, Latinos are at the forefront.
Hispanics have the highest rate of interracial relationships, according to a Cornell University study. Consider these numbers. About 45 percent of 18- to 19-year-olds and 33 percent of 24- to 25-year-old Latinos were in interracial relationships in the early 2000s, as compared to African Americans – 20 percent and 14 percent, respectively – and Whites – 16 percent and 12 percent.
Interracial unions have given us singers Mariah Carey and Christina Aguilera, super-model-turned-actress Cameron Diaz, bad boy actor Charlie Sheen, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and who can forget Wonder Woman Lynda Carter.
There are many complex reasons why Latinos are leading the pack in this area. However, social psychologist Christine C. Iijima Hall points out two dynamics that play an important role. She says people must remember that Latinos already are a mixed race, having indigenous and European roots. Next, Latinos have physiological features, such as skin color, that allow many to cross racial lines.
“Latinos have been able to blend in easier,” says Hall, who is Asian and Black and has been studying interracial relationships and identities for 30 years. While she is continuing her research, she is also the Director of Equal Employment Opportunity and Recruitment for the Maricopa Community Colleges.
Of course, the trend toward more interracial romance isn’t just confined to Hispanics. Interracial relationships and marriages are becoming more common in the United States all across the board.
Interracial marriages have jumped tenfold each year since the 1960s, though the older the individual, the less likely they are to have a relationship with someone of a different racial or ethnic group, according to the Cornell study, published in the American Sociological Review.
It seems like the days of navigating the great racial dating divide, especially for younger Americans, may be falling by the wayside. Sociologists point out that Generation Xers and Millennials have never had to face forced segregation. They have gone to school together, played together, worked together, and naturally are less concerned about dating people outside their ethnic group. Some point to President Barack Obama, the son of a White mother and Black father, as perhaps the highest-profile symbol of this interracial trend.
“Relationships are more likely to be interracial the more recently they were formed,” according to sociologist Kara Joyner, a co-author of the Cornell study. “So younger people are more likely to have interracial relationships” because they have lived in more integrated societies.
Reader Comments:
Like all surveys they are only as accurate as the sample and the way the questions are asked. Hispanics are polite, saying one thing in public to appear "socially correct" but practice another. The Japanese have a saying what is written and what is done is not always the same thing. I am a child of an interracial marriage and my experience on the ground is very different.
Interracial dating is acceptable for second, third or later generations where English is more or equally comfortable than Espangles, if they speak Espangles at all. But the children of Juan's and Juanita's come lately children will associate with you but no way can are you considered marriage material, because you don't speak Espangles.
The exception, if that non-Latino person speaks Spanish well and preferably lived for a while in a Spanish speaking county as part of a work study, exchange student, job corps, work, or as a missionary. In fact the families from the old country are more prejudice than many White America families.
If my father's family did not lose their wealth, my father would have been in an arranged marriage as would have I, if I has been born.
Mr. or Ms. Hall may have been surveying people for many years, but I do not believe the data includes Spanish speaking recent arrivals.
My personal observations contradict your article at least for the above mentioned groups.