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Senior Citizens Lack Tolerance of Young for
Mixed-Race Dating
Baby Boomer approval is right above the national average at
77 percent
 March
20, 2006 – Although 22 percent of all American adults say that they have
a close relative who is married to someone of a different race, and 76
percent of Americans see no problems with blacks and whites dating,
senior citizens are far behind the tolerance curve. Only half of those
who were adults during World War II agree interracial dating is okay.
That degree of familiarity with -- and proximity to
-- interracial marriage is the latest milestone in what has been a
sweeping change in behaviors and attitudes concerning interracial
relationships over the past several decades, according to a new Pew
Research Center survey.
Until 1967, when a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in
Loving v. Virginia struck down the last of the anti-miscegenation laws
in this country, interracial marriage had been illegal in 16 states and
was widely considered a social taboo.
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Since then interracial marriage in this country has
evolved from nearly non-existent to merely atypical.
In 1970, fewer than one percent of all married
couples were made up of spouses of a different race; by 2000 that figure
had grown to just over 5%, according to an analysis of U.S. Census
Bureau data by the Population Reference Bureau, a nonpartisan research
organization.*
At the same time, attitudes toward interracial
relationships have also grown more tolerant.
In 2003, more than three-quarters of all adults
(76%) said it is "all right for blacks and whites to date each other,"
up from 48% who felt this way in 1987, according to Pew Research Center
surveys.
Acceptance of interracial dating is greatest among
the young. In surveys conducted in 2002 and 2003, fully 91% of Gen Y
respondents born after 1976 said that interracial dating is acceptable.
In the oldest generation (those reaching adulthood
during WWII) only 50% expressed this view. Those born between 1928 and
1945, the pre-boomers, were more tolerant, with 60% agreeing mixed-race
dating is acceptable. Edging up to the boomers, however, those born 1946
through 1964, the acceptance level is at 77% - slightly above the
national average.
Also, blacks (91%) and Hispanics (90%) are more
accepting of interracial dating than are non-Hispanic whites (71%).
In the new Pew survey, conducted from Oct. 5
through Nov. 6, 2005 among a randomly-selected,
nationally-representative sample of 3,014 adults, there are also
differences by race in family experiences with interracial marriage.
Blacks (37%) are twice as likely as whites (17%) to
have an immediate family member in an interracial marriage, while
Hispanics (27%) fall in the middle of those two groups. (There were not
enough Asians in the national sample to permit any meaningful analysis
of this population sub-group).
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Amazing Change in Public Opinion |
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There is also a variance by age in reports
of interracial marriage in the family.
More than one third (34%) of all 18 to 29 year olds
say they have a family member or close relative who is married to
someone of a difference race, compared with 14% of those ages 65 and
older who say this.
The survey finds no correlation with income or with
education in the likelihood of having a family member in an interracial
marriage, but there is a slight regional pattern in the reporting of
mixed race marriages in the family. More westerners (28%) say they have
a close relative in an interracial marriage than do those who live in
the south (22%), the northeast (19%), or the midwest (19%).
This regional tilt toward the west is likely
explained, at least in part, by the relatively higher percentage of
Asian-Americans, American Indians and multi-race Americans who live in
western states compared with the rest of the country. Members of all
those groups are more likely to marry outside their race than are
whites, blacks or Hispanics, according to the Population Bureau analysis
of Census data.
According to Census data, the most common type of
interracial couple in 2000 was a white husband married to an Asian wife;
this pairing comprised 14 percent of all interracial couples. Black
husbands and white wives accounted for 8 percent of all interracial
couples. The Census data also show that in 2000 73% of all black-white
married couples the husband is black, while in 75% of all Asian-white
couples, the husband is white.
Notes: *Lee, Sharon M. and Barry
Edmonston. New Marriages, New Families: U.S. Racial and Hispanic
Intermarriage. 2005. Population Bulletin, 60(2) (Washingont, DC:
Population Reference Bureau).
About the Pew Social Trends Reports
The Pew social trends reports
explore the behaviors and attitudes of Americans in key realms of their
lives – family, community, health, finance, work and leisure. Reports
analyze changes over time in social behaviors and probe for differences
and similarities between key sub-groups in the population.
The surveys are conducted by the Pew
Research Center, a nonpartisan "fact tank" that provides information on
the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world.
 Download
the complete report for topline results
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