It’s not Black & White: Relationship Quality Within Interracial Couples

Within the United States, there has been a significant rise in multiracial families and biracial children. Approximately 17% of marriages occur between spouses of different races and/or ethnicities while 1 out of every 7 children born identify as multiracial. In light of the growing number of racially and ethnically diverse families, it is of concern that interracial couples are at heightened risk for divorce or separation compared to monoracial couples. Little research has explored why these disparities exist. Poorer relational outcomes in multiracial families may be the result of heightened conflict caused by a greater difference in partners’ values and beliefs. Using a nationally representative sample of interracial and monoracial couples, the present study examines difference in partners’ gender ideology and beliefs about multiculturalism as possible mechanisms that explain the differential outcomes in relationship quality for interracial couples. Specifically, this study examines how the racial and ethnic composition of a couples (i.e., same versus different racial/ethnic backgrounds) is directly related to relational outcomes, and also examines how gender ideology and multicultural values serve as mechanisms linking couple composition to relationship outcomes. Results indicated that gender ideology and differences in multicultural values moderate the relationship between couple type and relational outcome. Women in interracial couples who shared similar multicultural values with their partner were more likely to report greater satisfaction. Further, more traditional gender ideologies were related to men’s lower satisfaction and love in interracial couples compared to monoracial couples. Study results highlight the important role of gender ideology and multicultural values in understanding discrepant findings for relationship quality among interracial couples