Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 212-224).

The purpose of the study was to investigate process and stability issues in intermarried families utilizing data from a group of American Indian intermarried families and a group of endogamous European American families. Stability issues such as marital satisfaction and overall problem solving were investigated by comparing scores between the two groups. Process issues such as the participation and the coalition practices related to intermarriage were investigated by comparing scores between the two groups and analyzing in more depth the gender and ethnic data of the parents in the American Indian intermarried group. Supplementary qualitative analysis was also supplied by focus groups of American Indian college students discussing the subject of American Indian intermarried families. Significant distinctions were identified by both analyses which indicate a complex relationship between intermarriage status, American Indian culture, family problem solving, and marital satisfaction. / Graduation date: 1996

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Sociology, August 2000. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Santa Cruz, 2002. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 78-85).

The purpose of this study was to explore ways in which gender, ethnicity and the interaction of gender and ethnicity impact reports of conflict for interethnic couples. This study focuses on differences in reports of conflict by examining topics of conflict including: division of household labor, children, financial management, leisure, sex, love and affection, religion, drinking, other women or men, and in-laws. Data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS- B) were used to examine the roles that gender, ethnicity and their interaction play in marital conflict within interethnic couples. The results indicated significant gender differences with men reporting more conflict about chores, money, affection, leisure, and other women and men. Significant ethnic differences were reported about sex, money, chores and affection. Findings indicate unique interactions between gender and ethnicity suggesting greater conflict about chores in Minority wife/White husband pairings and greater conflict about sex in White wife/Minority husband pairings.

This dissertation argues that interethnic romance narratives reflect and express central religious, political, racial, and gendered identities and agendas of Jewish American literature and culture in the early twentieth century. Chapter One shows that fin-de-siècle Reform Jewish women authors employed interethnic romance narratives to express a belief in America as exceptional as a place of religious and gender egalitarianism. Chapter Two turns to journalist and fiction writer Abraham Cahan, who wrote interethnic romance narratives to weigh the balance between idealism and pragmatism, socialist universalist values and the principles of Jewish nationalism in determining the character of Jewishness in America. Chapter Three demonstrates that Jewish American women’s popular fictions of interethnic romance in the 1920s employed interethnic romance plots to show women’s independence and mobility in light of early feminism and to express the limitations of feminist discourse when it ran counter to their ethnic identities. Chapter Four describes how narratives of interethnic romance written by Yiddish writers I. I. Shvarts, Joseph Opatoshu, Isaac Raboy, and David Ignatov employ tropes of interethnic romance together with geographical border crossings into non-immigrant or non-Jewish spaces, co-locating physical dislocation and disorientation and intimate interpersonal desire and unease. Together, these studies demonstrate the significance of interethnic romance in the American Jewish collective imaginary in this period and reveal the flexibility and longevity of this central theme in American Jewish discourse.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2003 / Pacific Islands Studies

The topic of interpersonal relationships and the factors that enhance the longevity and strength of these have been well documented. Whilst there has been a steady increase in the occurrence of interracial relationships, it has not been matched by an increase in studies on the phenomenon and indeed very little empirical attention has been given to these relationships. Leslie and Letiecq (2004) highlight that the existing research on the phenomenon focuses primarily on the reasons individuals select partners outside of their own racial group. As interracial marriages are reportedly more vulnerable to divorce than marriages among same-race individuals, it seems important to examine the dynamics and quality of interracial relationships (Leslie & Letiecq, 2004). The goal of the study was therefore to explore the cross-cultural differences that inform the experiences, challenges, and strengths for partners in committed interracial relationships. In this qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual study, the author has explored and described the specific cross-cultural differences that the couple has encountered in their relationship and the impact that these differences have had on the quality of their relationship. Furthermore the study aimed to explore and describe the strengths the couple has drawn from these cross-cultural differences to enhance the quality of their relationship. A combination of purposive and snowball sampling techniques has been utilised to identify interracial couples who have been in a committed monogamous relationship of at least one year. The sample consisted of eleven individuals. Semi-structured individual interviews were utilised as the data collection tool, and Tesch‟s model of data analysis (in Creswell, 1998) has been employed. This model of data analysis consists of eight steps that have been used to analyse the data. Five themes emerged from the study: (1) cultural difference factors, (2) negative factors that influence the couple‟s coping with cultural differences, (3) positive factors that influence the couple‟s coping with cultural differences, (4) factors relating to cultural differences that strengthen the relationship and (5) recommendations to other interracial couples. The findings of the study make a meaningful contribution to couple counselling interventions for interracial couples, and also add to the body of knowledge on this sparsely researched topic.

The purpose of this thesis was to examine the attitudes of Vietnamese Americans towards Vietnamese interracial marriages. It also sought to extend previous research in this field and incorporate insights regarding the literature of Vietnamese, Vietnamese- American, and American culture to the literature that addresses the question of interracial marriage. The research question of this paper was, "What are the attitudes of Vietnamese Americans toward interracial marriage between Vietnamese Americans and other races?" The methodology used was a self-administered anonymous questionnaire given to a limited group of Vietnamese participants in California to gather their views on this subject. The results suggest that the Vietnamese surveyed are more accepting of interracial marriages than the literature would suggest.

Partnership is a universal part of human existence. Human partner selection has been long studied within evolutionary and sociocultural frameworks. One study by Townsend and Levy (1990) found that physical attractiveness and socioeconomic status influence male and female partner selection in distinct ways. The present study replicated and extended the work of Townsend and Levy, investigating how physical attractiveness, socioeconomic status, and race and ethnicity influence relationship willingness at various levels of involvement. A repeated measures ANOVA was conducted, and planned post hoc pairwise comparisons and parameter estimates were analyzed. We analyzed responses from 503 single American adults of four racial/ethnic groups under 16 test conditions. We found no significant difference in relationship willingness between male and female participants, so the findings of Townsend and Levy were not replicated. Further, there was no significant difference in relationship willingness for one's own racial or ethnic group versus another racial or ethnic group. Implications for research and human partner selection are discussed.