Assimilating Blackness? Multiple-Race Identification and African American Mate Selection

Jenifer Bratter, University of Houston

Using 2000 1% Public Use Microdata File of the U.S. Census, I compare mate selection patterns of the single race non-Hispanic Black population to the multiple race population whose selected "Black" at least once. I employ multinomial logistic regression models to explore how likely a respondent selects Black (single race) spouses compared to non-Hispanic Whites and Multiracial Blacks. The results show Black persons who selected at least one other race are more likely than their single race counterparts to have White spouses and they are far more likely to have multiracial spouses. These analyses also show that neither of these tendencies are explained by other identity choices, structural assimilation of the multiracial population, or regional location near other interracial couples. These results indicate that a "Black" identity is still salient in the mate selection of multiracial Blacks. Multiracial persons appear to engage in more marital homogamy with other multiracial persons.