New Marriages, New Families: U.S. Racial and Hispanic Intermarriage

Intermarriage Will Increase

Discussions and surveys about intermarriage in the United States used to focus on black/white marriages, yet most intermarriages are between whites and nonblack minorities. While it is difficult to predict trends in social attitudes, demographic trends suggest that the increase in the number of Asians and Hispanics will fuel more intermarriage.

There are several reasons why intermarriage will continue to increase. First, as the Asian, Hispanic, and multiracial populations expand, more Americans will be living, going to school, working, and playing with people who come from racial and ethnic backgrounds that differ from their own. Increased contact, especially noncompetitive interactions among social equals at school and work will facilitate friendship, dating, and marriage between people of diverse racial backgrounds. By their very presence and growing numbers, multiracial Americans also demonstrate to the rest of society that racial intermarriage is a demographic and social reality.

Second, the U.S.-born share of the Asian and Hispanic American population will increase, and intermarriage rates are higher among U.S.-born Asians and Hispanics. U.S.-born Asians and Hispanics will be a driving force behind increased racial and Hispanic intermarriage.

Third, substantial numbers of children are growing up in interracial families. Although not all of these persons may report themselves as multiracial in censuses or surveys, our analysis of 2000 Census data showed that at least one-half of multiracial persons marry someone from another single race. Only American Indians have higher intermarriage rates. As more children from multiracial families grow up, they are especially likely to intermarry, adding to racial intermarriage and to the multiple-race population.

Fourth, the wide socioeconomic gap separating the majority white population from minority groups is narrowing, diminishing one of the major obstacles to racial intermarriage. Laws and efforts to help redress the socioeconomic inequalities perpetuated by discrimination have allowed growing numbers of minority people to advance. The improvements are especially large in education, an important avenue for social mobility in the United States. In 1960, 43 percent of whites but only 20 percent of blacks had a high school education or more, and 8 percent of whites versus 3 percent of blacks had graduated from college. By 2000, the gap had nearly disappeared for high school graduation, and it had narrowed for college: 26 percent of whites and 17 percent of blacks had graduated from college in 2000. Asians already had higher levels of educational attainment than whites: 44 percent were college graduates in 2000. Hispanics have lower educational attainment-in 2000, 11 percent had a college-level education or above.54 The narrowing of the education gap between whites and minorities and increased interracial contact at our nation's colleges and universities will also contribute to rising intermarriage rates.