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Interracial marriages in US slow down
Source: Agencies |
May 27, 2010, Thursday
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Print Edition
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MELTING pot or racial divide? The growth of interracial marriages is slowing among United States-born Hispanics and Asians. Still, blacks are substantially more likely than before to marry whites.
The number of interracial marriages in the US has risen 20 percent since 2000 to about 4.5 million, according to the latest census figures. While still growing, that number is a marked drop-off from the 65 percent increase between 1990 and 2000.
About 8 percent of US marriages are mixed race, up from 7 percent in 2000.
The latest trend belies notions of the US as a post-racial, assimilated society. Demographers cite a steady flow of recent immigration that has given Hispanics and Asians more ethnically similar partners to choose while creating some social distance from whites due to cultural differences and foreign language. White wariness toward a rapidly growing US minority population also may be contributing to racial divisions, experts said.
"Racial boundaries are not going to disappear anytime soon," said Daniel Lichter, a professor of sociology and public policy at Cornell University. He noted the increase in anti-immigrant sentiment in the US after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks as well as current tensions in Arizona over its new immigration law.
"With a white backlash toward immigrant groups, some immigrants are more likely to turn inward to each other for support," Lichter said.
Broken down by race, about 40 percent of US-born Asians now marry whites - a figure unchanged since 1980. Their likelihood of marrying foreign-born Asians, meanwhile, jumped three times for men and five times for women, to 20 percent.
Among US-born Hispanics, marriages with whites rose modestly from 30 percent to 38 percent over the past three decades. But when it came to marriages with foreign-born Hispanics, the share doubled: to 12.5 percent for men, and 17.1 percent for women.
In contrast, blacks are now three times more likely to marry whites than in 1980. About 14.4 percent of black men and 6.5 percent of black women are currently in such mixed marriages, due to higher educational attainment, a more racially integrated military and a rising middle class that provides more interaction with other races.
The numbers reflect in part an internal struggle that Asians and Hispanics say they feel navigating two cultural worlds - the US and their parents' homeland.
The number of interracial marriages in the US has risen 20 percent since 2000 to about 4.5 million, according to the latest census figures. While still growing, that number is a marked drop-off from the 65 percent increase between 1990 and 2000.
About 8 percent of US marriages are mixed race, up from 7 percent in 2000.
The latest trend belies notions of the US as a post-racial, assimilated society. Demographers cite a steady flow of recent immigration that has given Hispanics and Asians more ethnically similar partners to choose while creating some social distance from whites due to cultural differences and foreign language. White wariness toward a rapidly growing US minority population also may be contributing to racial divisions, experts said.
"Racial boundaries are not going to disappear anytime soon," said Daniel Lichter, a professor of sociology and public policy at Cornell University. He noted the increase in anti-immigrant sentiment in the US after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks as well as current tensions in Arizona over its new immigration law.
"With a white backlash toward immigrant groups, some immigrants are more likely to turn inward to each other for support," Lichter said.
Broken down by race, about 40 percent of US-born Asians now marry whites - a figure unchanged since 1980. Their likelihood of marrying foreign-born Asians, meanwhile, jumped three times for men and five times for women, to 20 percent.
Among US-born Hispanics, marriages with whites rose modestly from 30 percent to 38 percent over the past three decades. But when it came to marriages with foreign-born Hispanics, the share doubled: to 12.5 percent for men, and 17.1 percent for women.
In contrast, blacks are now three times more likely to marry whites than in 1980. About 14.4 percent of black men and 6.5 percent of black women are currently in such mixed marriages, due to higher educational attainment, a more racially integrated military and a rising middle class that provides more interaction with other races.
The numbers reflect in part an internal struggle that Asians and Hispanics say they feel navigating two cultural worlds - the US and their parents' homeland.
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