Trends and Heterogeneity in Interracial Marriage in the United States, 1960 to 2023
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24218652 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Aaron Gullickson (0000-0001-7237-8131, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Publication date | 2026-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Socius Sociological Research for a Dynamic World (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2378-0231 • E-ISSN: 2378-0231 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/23780231261480756 |
| OpenAlex | W7214598779 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 38 |
Although scholars recognize that interracial marriage in the United States has grown exponentially since the 1960s, our understanding of this trend for specific racial pairings is piecemeal and thin, because of issues with data comparability and lack of information on marriage timing between 1980 and 2007. In this study, the author uses log-linear models of census and American Community Survey data to analyze trends in interracial marriage from 1960 to 2023 across major single-race groups, as well as important subgroups and large multiracial groups. Weights are applied to match the joint age distribution of currently married partners to the age distribution of newlyweds in the same time period. Although the overall trend is one of exponential increase, important heterogeneity is visible when examining particular racial pairings or subgroups. Most notably, the likelihood of interracial marriage for East/Southeast Asian and American Indian/Alaska Native spouses plateaued by the end of the twentieth century and has not continued to grow. On the other hand, the likelihood of interracial marriage for Black spouses, although far lower than for any other group at the start of the period, has increased more rapidly than any other group. Overall, these results indicate an ongoing transformation of group boundaries.
Interracial marriage · marriage timing · marriage trends · racial boundaries · United States · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
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| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |