CAN LOVE CONQUER ALL?: PLATONIC AND ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS ACROSS ETHNORACIAL LINES IN THE U.S.

Abstract

The goal of this dissertation is to explore processes that shape interethnic and interracial relationships to gain greater insight into the strength, position, and nature of ethnoracial boundaries. In the 1st empirical chapter (chapter 2), I apply the status exchange hypothesis, which theorizes that ethnoracial minorities should have higher socioeconomic status than their white spouses to balance out their ethnoracial status discrepancies, to white-Latino intermarriages. This theory highlights a possible mechanism that drives intermarriage and indicates the height of barriers that groups face when intermarrying. I examine whether there are differences in the importance of status exchange in marriages between whites and foreign-born Latinos vs. whites and native-born Latinos. Unions between ethnoracial minorities and whites are considered to be a measure of integration into the mainstream for minorities given that whites are a socially dominant group. Using data from the 2008 through 2015 American Community Survey, my results suggest that there is evidence of status exchange for both foreign-born and native-born Latinos. For chapters 3 and 4, I analyze data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen to examine how skin color, a determinant for a host of unequal outcomes among ethnoracial minorities, relates to intergroup dating and friendships for ethnoracial minorities. For the 3rd chapter, I argue that darker skin can increase the likelihood of members from higher status ethnoracial groups to date individuals of lower status ethnoracial groups while lighter skin color can increase the likelihood of lower status ethnoracial group members to date higher status ethnoracial group members. The results from the 4th chapter show similar patterns seen in chapter 3. Specifically, among lower status ethnoracial group members, lighter skin color is associated with having more close friends from higher status groups.