Skin Color, Status, and Mate Selection

Data from a sample of 350 Negro married couples in Washington, D. C., are analyzed to examine the changing relationship between status attributes, mate selection, and skin color, by comparison of duration-of-marriage cohorts. We find that the traditional status advantage of light-skinned women holds for all cohorts, with little indication of change. For men, on the other hand, darker-skinned men experienced better status and mate-selection opportunities in more recent cohorts than in earlier ones. The higher job-mobility orientation of dark-skinned men evidently explains their improved mobility. These findings suggest a change in the evaluation of differential skin color for men within the Negro community.

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