Attitudes Regarding Laws Limiting Black-White Marriage: A Longitudinal Analysis of Perceptions and Related Behaviors

Abstract

This research effort explores attitudes toward interracial marriage and related behavior patterns in the United States. These patterns are examined longitudinally from the perspective of the general public over a 25-year period. Specifically, responses to whether one favors or opposes laws prohibiting marriages between Blacks and Whites are combined with a measure of social distance (whether one had a member of the opposite race over for dinner in the past year) to produce a hierarchy of responses that include both attitudes and corresponding behaviors, and in essence reflect varying degrees of racial prejudice. These attitudes and behaviors are analyzed using ordinal logistic regression from 1973 through 1996. Through the application of race relations and differential assimilation theories, the impact of racial group membership, age, and socio-economic status on interracial marriage attitudes and behaviors in contemporary American society is assessed. Our findings suggest that while there have been some dramatic shifts in racially patterned attitudes and behaviors across all groups, barriers to assimilation persist, and non-Blacks engage in a greater degree of social closure.