Identifying Mechanisms for Racial/Ethnic Relations in Kalmijn’s Model of Assortative Mating

• In Event: 130 - Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 10. Transracial Families

Abstract

We construct a theoretical model of interracial intimacy by enriching Kalmijn’s three-factor model of intermarriage with qualitatively identified mechanisms that are specific to racial/ethnic relations. Specifically, we examine the salience of families in the dating histories of (1) Asian Americans raised by co-ethnic parents in comparison with (2) Korean adoptees raised by white American parents. This comparison isolates the role of the co-ethnic family, a critical third party in Kalmijn’s model, from the effects of Asian racial status shared by non-adoptees and transracial adoptees. In this article, we first discuss how majority/minority relations shape the three factors influencing relationship outcomes, and we identify the expected differences between ethnic family types. Second, we discuss our unique sample and describe our analytic strategy of subdividing the sample by their dating histories. Then we examine the salience of family in our respondents’ dating history narratives, notably their parents’ racial preferences, influence on their children’s networks, and our respondents’ use of family as a criterion for evaluating dating partners. We conclude by discussing how our theoretical specifications provide a deeper understanding of interracial intimacy than the three-factor model and also outline implications for research on interracial intimacy, racial stratification, racial/ethnic boundaries, and racialized social systems.

Authors

• Jiannbin Lee Shiao, University of Oregon

• Mia Tuan, University of Oregon