“But Will It Last?”: Marital Instability Among Interracial and Same‐Race Couples*

Published date01 April 2008
Date01 April 2008
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2008.00491.x
’’But Will It Last?’’: Marital Instability Among
Interracial and Same-Race Couples*
Jenifer L. Bratter Rosalind B. King**
Abstract: The literature on interracial families has examined social stigmas attached to interracial relationships but
has not thoroughly documented whether crossing racial boundaries increases the risk of divorce. Using the 2002
National Survey of Family Growth (Cycle VI), we compare the likelihood of divorce for interracial couples to that
of same-race couples. Comparisons across marriage cohorts reveal that, overall, interracial couples have higher rates
of divorce, particularly for those marrying during the late-1980s. We also find race and gender variation. Compared
to White/White couples, White female/Black male, and White female/Asian male marriages were more prone to
divorce; meanwhile, those involving non-White females and White males and Hispanics and non-Hispanic persons
had similar or lower risks of divorce.
Key Words: divorce, family, interracial marriages, marital dissolution, race.
Recent increases in the rate of interracial marriage
point to increased social acceptance of these relation-
ships (Joyner & Kao, 2005; Lee & Edmonston,
2005). As of 2000, nearly 6% of all married couples
were interracial compared to fewer than 1% in
1970. However, a growing literature describing the
challenges faced by interracial couples (e.g., Chito
Childs, 2005; Dalmage, 2000; Killian, 2003; Lewis
& Yancey, 1995; Root, 2001) suggests that crossing
racial lines still violates enduring norms of who
should and should not marry whom (Killian).
Demographic evidence further supports this hypoth-
esis. For example, Bramlett and Mosher (2002)
found that 41% of interracial couples divorced by
the 10th year of marriage compared to only 31%
of same-race couples. Their findings imply that,
although entering an interracial marriage tends to
carry less social stigma, these relationships are less
likely to remain intact.
We investigated the relative marital stability of
interracial and same-race marriages. Although
interracial union formation has garnered a large
degree of scholarly interest (Joyner & Kao, 2005;
Lee & Bean, 2004; Qian, 1997), only a few studies
have explored whether these relationships are more
vulnerable to divorce (Felmlee, Sprecher, & Bassin,
1990; Heaton, 2002; Kreider, 2000; Monahan,
1970; Price-Bonham & Balswick, 1980). Prior
research may have oversimplified this comparison
by not attending to the specific racial-ethnic char-
acteristics of couples. The rise in interracial mar-
riages by Asians and Hispanics has diversified the
picture of the ‘‘typical interracial couple’’ that had
previously been dominated by the experiences of
Black/White couples (Lee & Edmonston, 2005).
We address this gap by investigating the risk of
marital disruption of interracial couples distin-
guished along the lines of race and gender (e.g.,
Black male/White female vs. Black female/White
male) using Cycle VI of the National Survey of
Family Growth (NSFG). The aim of the current
investigation was to empirically test whether an
increased risk of interracial divorce can be found
across all types of interracial couples.
*We would like to acknowledge the editors and the anonymous reviewers for all of their helpful comments on this manuscript.
**Jenifer L. Bratter is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the Rice University, P.O. Box 1892-MS 28, 6100 Main Street, Houston, TX 77005
(jlb1@rice.edu). Rosalind B. King is a Health Scientist Administrator in the Demographic and Behavioral Sciences Branch at the Center for Population Research,
NationalInstitute of Child Health and Human Development, 6100 ExecutiveBoulevard, Room 8B07, MSC 7510,Bethesda, MD 20892-7510 (kingros@mail.nih.gov).
Family Relations, 57 (April 2008), 160–171. Blackwell Publishing.
Copyright 2008 by the National Council on Family Relations.

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