What are the attitudes of college students towards interracial dating?
After filling out an anonymous confidential questionnaire geared to assess attitudes towards interracial dating services, 24.2% of the study group (620 university students who have never been married) reported having dated interracially, and 49.6% appeared to be open to being in an interracial relationship. Those who were significantly more likely to be open to interracial dating were Blacks, cohabitants and those who were previously in interracial relationships.
Much as the likes of musician Quincy Jones and professional basketball player Charles Barkley are in interracial marriages, about 5% of all marriages in the United States are interracial. This is a relatively low percentage and it has remained so for decades. However, greater minority enrollment into universities, tolerance for diversity and individualism has actually helped change and improve the attitudes of college going students towards interracial dating.
According to this study on attitudes and behaviors of college students regarding interracial relationships, Blacks were reported to be twice as likely to be open to involvement in interracial dating as Whites. Explanations include the greater number of whites available to blacks than vise versa, and the greater exposure of blacks to the white culture as opposed to the other way round.
About 60% of the students who had had cohabitation experience reported an openness to become involved in an interracial relationship. 47% who have never cohabited expressed a similar willingness. This begins to show that cohabiting and interracial dating are similar in a way – they are considered ‘non normative’ behaviors. Its no wonder students that choose to engage in ‘non mainstream’ behavior in one area express a similar tendency in other areas.
92% of those who have earlier dated interracially were open to doing so again and only 32% of those who had not dated interracially were open to it. This study shows that exposure to interracial dating breeds acceptance.
According to this study, openness to interracial dating is characteristic of both women and men and students of all academic ranks. With about half of the students being open to interracial dating, it begins to show that interracial dating is part of the college experience and racial barriers are, indeed, coming down as students experiment with interracial relationships and discover that we are all human after all.
freedom to date interracially. There is more chance for people of different races to meet, especially in the corporate world, which explains the increase in interracial marriages. They are in a world that is more racially mixed in terms of association and socializing.
