Interracial Closet 2
Minorities dating someone White are more likely to come out of the interracial closet than minorities dating another minority
Table of Contents
☆ ∘ Interracial Closet & Romantic Satisfaction ☆
∘ Length of Relationship & Coming Out
∘ Parental Pressure to Date Monoracially
∘ Resilience vs. Reliance: How Much Do You Rely On Your Parents?
∘ Interminority Interracial Couples & Minority-White Couples
∘ Relationship Satisfaction (Hendrick, 1988).
∘ SPSP 2019: #InterracialPride
☆· Sidenotes ☆
∘ Friendship Interactions
∘ Interparty Marriage
∘ Dyadic Self-Concept
Interracial Closet & Romantic Satisfaction
Interracial couples who had disclosed their relationship to each other’s parents reported more satisfaction than those still partially or completely in the interracial closet, F(3, 161) = 5.12, p = .002.
Length of Relationship & Coming Out
Interracial couples who had dated for a year & a half were more likely to have disclosed their relationship to each other’s parents whereas those who had dated less than a year were likely to still be partially or completely in the interracial closet, F(3, 162) = 8.99, p < .001.
Parental Pressure to Date Monoracially
Lovers who felt pressured by their parents to date someone of the same race were far less likely to come out to their parents as being in an interracial relationship, F(3, 164) = 10.31, p < .001.
Resilience vs. Reliance: How Much Do You Rely On Your Parents?
Lovers who indicated greater reliance on their parents were significantly more likely to stay in the interracial closet than lovers who didn’t rely on their parents, F(3, 163) = 2.69, p = .048.
Interminority Interracial Couples & Minority-White Couples
Among minorities interracially dating minorities, lovers who indicated greater reliance on their parents were significantly more likely to stay in the interracial closet than lovers who didn’t rely on their parents, F(3, 38) = 3.97, p = .015.
Interestingly, out minorities dating someone White rely on their parents to a significantly greater degree than out minorities interracially dating other minorities, F(1, 45) = 10.13, p = .003. It may be easier for minorities to come out to their parents as interracially dating someone White than to come out to their parents as interracially dating a minority from a different racial background. If so, it would be consistent with research on the racial hierarchy of mate preferences (Curington et al., 2015; Lundquist & Lin, 2015; McGrath et al., 2016; Rudder, 2014).
Relationship Satisfaction (Hendrick, 1988).
The Relationship Assessment Scale measures individuals’ personal appraisal of the quality of their relationship. The 7 items on this measure were rated on a 6-point Likert-type scale (1 = strongly disagree, 6= strongly agree). The scale displayed strong reliability among subjects in interracial relationships (α=.84).
(Note: Reliability was not assessed for subjects who were in monoracial relationships.)
SPSP 2019: #InterracialPride
Please see our project file for this research, presented at SPSP 2019, for more info 💁🏻♀️
Racial Hierarchy of Mate Preferences
Non-White men and women are variably disadvantaged in the mating marketplace as they are inescapably disfavored given that it’s a salient and socially desired characteristic beyond their control — their ethnoracial background (Curington et al., 2015; Lundquist & Lin, 2015).
Sidenotes
Friendship Interactions
Independent of the perceived closeness between two individuals, it was found that men were also less comfortable with more intimate styles of same-sex greetings than were women (Felmlee et al., 2012).
Petsko et al., (2021, PrePrint): People question the heterosexuality of men more than the heterosexuality of women when they engage in sexual behavior with someone of the same-sex.
Male sexuality: the fear of being considered homosexual has played into reasons why women are typically more comfortable with same-sex touching than are men (Floyd, 2000).
Men are less likely to display physical intimacy with other males than they are with their female friends (Derlega, Lewis, Harrison, & Winstead, 1989).
Perhaps this can be attributed to greetings between males being seen as interactions or enactments of masculine performances (Migliaccio, 2009).
Interparty Marriage
People are increasingly rejecting relationships with spouses and friends who are politically opposed, stating that the “widening divide… is not driven by increasing warmth toward own party, but rather due to rising animosity toward opponents, a phenomenon known as negative partisanship“ (Wilson et al., 2020).
Dyadic Self-Concept
Intimacy shares an interdependent and mutually constitutive relationship with identity; the sense of self we get or do not get in close relationships matters to how both partners see their selves (Sanger 2010).
Crouch and Dickes (2016) suggest that the primary reason for close to 50% of divorces is infidelity.
Munsch (2015): Men who make less than their partners are more likely to cheat than men who make more than their partners.
Following dissolution, the least-educated women are the quickest to repartner (McNamee & Raley, 2011).
Tarah Midy (2018):
“Rather than considering interracial couples a homogeneous group, future studies should account for the different types of these couples as it may have implications on results.”
.