Department of Sociology, University of Western Ontario, Social Science Centre Room 5331, London, ON, N6A 5C2, Canada.
Department of Sociology, University of California, Irvine, 3151 Social Science Plaza, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA.
Demography. 2020 Oct;57(5):1727-1751. doi: 10.1007/s13524-020-00904-5.
Interracial couples cohabit at higher rates than same-race couples, which is attributed to lower barriers to interracial cohabitation relative to intermarriage. This begs the question of whether the significance of cohabitation differs between interracial and same-race couples. Using data from the 2006-2017 National Survey of Family Growth, we assessed the meaning of interracial cohabitation by comparing the pregnancy risk, pregnancy intentions, and union transitions following a pregnancy among women in interracial and same-race cohabitations. The pregnancy and union transition behaviors of women in White-Black cohabitations resembled those of Black women in same-race cohabitations, suggesting that White-Black cohabitation serves as a substitute to marriage and reflecting barriers to the formation of White-Black intermarriages. The behaviors of women in White-Hispanic cohabitations fell between those of their same-race counterparts or resembled those of White women in same-race cohabitations. These findings suggest that White-Hispanic cohabitations take on a meaning between trial marriage and substitute to marriage and support views that Hispanics with White partners are a more assimilated group than Hispanics in same-race unions. Results for pregnancy intentions deviated from these patterns. Women in White-Black cohabitations were less likely than Black women in same-race cohabitations to have an unintended pregnancy, suggesting that White-Black cohabitations are considered marriage-like unions involving children. Women in White-Hispanic cohabitations were more likely than White and Hispanic women in same-race cohabitations to have an unintended pregnancy, reflecting possible concerns about social discrimination. These findings indicate heterogeneity in the significance of interracial cohabitation and continuing obstacles to interracial unions.
跨种族夫妇的同居率高于同种族夫妇，这归因于跨种族同居相对于跨种族婚姻的障碍较低。这就引出了一个问题，即跨种族和同种族夫妇的同居意义是否不同。本研究使用 2006-2017 年全国家庭增长调查的数据，通过比较跨种族和同种族同居女性怀孕风险、怀孕意图和怀孕后婚姻状况，评估了跨种族同居的意义。白人和黑人同居女性的怀孕和婚姻转变行为与同种族黑人同居女性相似，这表明白人和黑人同居是对婚姻的替代，反映了白人和黑人之间形成婚姻的障碍。白人和西班牙裔同居女性的行为介于其同种族伴侣之间，或类似于同种族同居的白人女性。这些发现表明，白人和西班牙裔的同居关系具有介于试婚和婚姻替代之间的意义，并支持这样一种观点，即与同种族伴侣结婚的西班牙裔比同种族婚姻中的西班牙裔更具有同化性。怀孕意图的结果与这些模式不同。与同种族黑人同居女性相比，白人和黑人同居女性不太可能意外怀孕，这表明白人和黑人同居被认为是涉及孩子的类似婚姻的关系。与同种族的白人和西班牙裔女性相比，白人和西班牙裔同居女性更有可能意外怀孕，这可能反映了对社会歧视的担忧。这些发现表明跨种族同居的意义存在异质性，并且跨种族婚姻仍然存在障碍。
