Interethnic Relationships: The Role of Social Network Diversity

We examine the degree to which ethnic diversity in social networks relates to the frequency of interethnic romantic relationships for 318 college students. In a multinomial logit, we find that the odds of having an interethnic relationship once or twice, versus never, increase significantly if the respondent has a relatively ethnically diverse friendship network, is male, and supports interethnic dating. The odds of having an interethnic relationship often, versus once or twice, are significantly higher for persons of color and when the friends of the respondent's parents are relatively diverse ethnically. Findings from open-ended data also provide support for a social network perspective, and point to the processes by which networks, gender, and ethnicity shape interethnic courtship. Key Words: courtship, ethnicity, interethnic dating, interracial relationships, race, social network. It was not until 1967 that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled as unconstitutional the last of the state antimiscegenation laws, which banned marriage across various types of racial or ethnic groups. Twenty-three years later, a fundamentalist private college, Bob Jones University, had a policy banning interracial dating until national legislative pressure led to its repeal in 2000. Having an intimate relationship across ethnic or racial boundaries remains a substantial social norm violation for many today because it challenges the general societal norm of endogamy (to marry or date within one's specific group as required by custom or law). Interethnic relationships are significant because they may act as a catalyst for societal change. According to Elijah Anderson, interethnic dating in secondary schools aids in the process of deracialization (Peterson, 1997), yet we know relatively little about the social processes that underlie this important interpersonal phenomenon. What are the factors that lead individual actors to break larger norms of endogamy and engage in an interethnic relationship? We argue that one key, and often neglected, factor associated with intimate relationships between ethnic groups is the social network. We maintain that those whose social network contacts are relatively varied ethnically are more apt to engage in an interethnic romantic relationship. Those with ethnically diverse networks have expanded opportunities to find a partner from a different ethnic or racial background, and they are also likely to gain more support from their social networks for dating across ethnic boundaries. Several other factors are likely to influence individuals' propensity to date outside their own ethnicities, including gender, ethnicity, educational level, socioeconomic status, and personal attitudes. Past research, for example, found that men and persons of color had relatively high rates of dating interethnically, as compared to women and Whites (Tucker & Mitchell-Kernan, 1995). The main purpose of this research is to determine whether social network diversity influences the likelihood of forming an interethnic relationship, even after controlling for these other demographic and attitudinal factors in a multivariate analysis. Despite its societal and theoretical importance, relatively little is known about the determinants associated with forming intimate relationships across ethnic or racial boundaries. Even less is known about the circumstances that could lead an individual to date interethnically more than once. Here we examine whether the factors that influence having an interethnic romantic relationship for a month or longer differ for those engaged in this activity once or twice versus those who repeat this behavior often. We attempt to validate our quantitative findings by analyzing respondents' responses to open-ended questions regarding interethnic dating. We examine the tendency of respondents to report that social network members influence their propensity to go out with someone of a differing ethnicity. …