The effects of masculinity, motivation and responsibility on the dating behavior of African American men.

Several previous theories have attempted to explain the difficulties that confront African American males, in regards to establishing and maintaining intimate relationships, by focusing exclusively on demographic factors such as racism or socio-economic status This approach flattens out the experiences of African American men, and ignores the individual differences that exist in their relationship behavior. This study offers a different approach by investigating individual differences in motivation, masculinity, and responsibility, separately and in interaction, as predictors of relationship preferences and behavior. More specifically, this study will examine whether motivation, attitudes towards masculinity, and orientation towards responsibility play a significant roll in African American men's attitudes towards long term and short term relationships, as well as their preferences for particular characteristics in their long term and short term partners. 132 African American males (mean age of 19.3 years) from a historically Black university were administered the TAT and a questionnaire about their relationship preferences and behaviors. This study succeeded in its goal of demonstrating the utility of micro-level variables in the explanation of African American men's dating preferences. Achievement motivation was shown to be related to preferences for particular kinds of women for long term relationships, and to short term relationship attitudes. Affiliation motivation was shown to be related to preferences for particular kinds of long term partners, thoughts about marriage, and short term dating attitudes. Power motivation was shown to be related to attitudes towards long term relationships and preferences for particular kinds of short term partners. Masculinity was shown to be related to preferences for particular kinds of long term and short term partners, and also related to short term dating attitudes. Lastly, orientation to responsibility was shown to be related to preferences for particular kinds of long term partners, as well as having a moderating effect on the three motives and masculinity. These findings show that in order to fully understand the complexities of African American dating, individual differences variables must be included because use of the macro level variable exclusively does not tell the entire story.Ph.D.Black studiesIndividual and family studiesPersonality psychologyPsychologySocial SciencesSocial psychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/132475/2/9963898.pd