While a great deal of sociological and psychological research has been done on black-white interracial couples and the challenges they have faced in past eras, the communication between the partners remains largely under-explored and under-theorized. The purpose of this dissertation is two-fold. First, this dissertation seeks to understand what challenges interracial couples face today. Second, this dissertation also explores the communication surrounding these challenges, communication both within the couple and communication between the couple and their social networks. To explore these challenges and the resulting communication, 14 black-white interracial couples were interviewed in depth. Results showed that interracial couples often still face messages of disapproval from their families. Black families and white families sometimes disapproved for similar reasons; however, black families and white families had several concerns that were markedly different from each other and were tied to the history of race relations in the US. Further, results showed that partners in interracial relationship underwent identity transformations as they learned to navigate an intimate relationship with a “racial other.” Whites reported learning the most. Because of their privileged position in society, whites life situations had never had necessitated that they learn about the black co-culture. The black partners also reported seeing the white community differently by understanding the nuances of racism at a deeper level because of their “outsider within” position in white families. Finally, results suggested that couples grapple with balancing the dialectic between embracing race in the relationship and rejecting race in the relationship. Couples reject race, arguing that other differences are more important to their relationship. Couples embrace race when they talk about issues of identity such as their individual identities, their identity as a couple, and—when they had children-- their identity as a family. Further analysis demonstrate two different strategies couples use to manage the embracing race-rejecting race dialectic.

While a great deal of sociological and psychological research has been done on black-white interracial couples and the challenges they have faced in past eras, the communication between the partners remains largely under-explored and under-theorized. The purpose of this dissertation is two-fold. First, this dissertation seeks to understand what challenges interracial couples face today. Second, this dissertation also explores the communication surrounding these challenges, communication both within the couple and communication between the couple and their social networks. To explore these challenges and the resulting communication, 14 black-white interracial couples were interviewed in depth. Results showed that interracial couples often still face messages of disapproval from their families. Black families and white families sometimes disapproved for similar reasons; however, black families and white families had several concerns that were markedly different from each other and were tied to the history of race relations in the US. Further, results showed that partners in interracial relationship underwent identity transformations as they learned to navigate an intimate relationship with a “racial other.” Whites reported learning the most. Because of their privileged position in society, whites life situations had never had necessitated that they learn about the black co-culture. The black partners also reported seeing the white community differently by understanding the nuances of racism at a deeper level because of their “outsider within” position in white families. Finally, results suggested that couples grapple with balancing the dialectic between embracing race in the relationship and rejecting race in the relationship. Couples reject race, arguing that other differences are more important to their relationship. Couples embrace race when they talk about issues of identity such as their individual identities, their identity as a couple, and—when they had children-- their identity as a family. Further analysis demonstrate two different strategies couples use to manage the embracing race-rejecting race dialectic.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Candyce S. Russell / There has been a rapid growth of heterosexual Black and White interracial couples in the United States in recent decades and numbers continue to increase. In addition, the concept of racial identity within Southern heterosexual Black and White interracial couples has not been explored. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how racial identity affects the dynamics of Black and White interracial relationships within the context of their extended family and community and the effect of interracial relationships on racial identity development. The focus of the study was to explore how partners in heterosexual Black and White interracial couples living in the South constructed and/or defined their individual racial identity, how the couple addressed cultural difference within the relationship, and how the couple handled opposition toward their relationship. Three theoretical/philosophical frameworks were used in this study. Phenomenology and social constructionism were utilized to provide a framework for the methodology of the study; Black racial identity theory (Cross, 1971, 1991) and White racial identity theory (Helms, 1990) were utilized to provide a framework for thinking about racial identity development. The sample consisted of four couples, each with children. Each couple was interviewed conjointly in a neutral setting and then allowed the researcher to accompany them on an outing in a public setting. This experience allowed the researcher to observe how the couple was received in public and how the couple managed public response. Interviews provided rich descriptions of how the research participants experienced themselves as individuals and as a couple in their marriage with respect to racial identity. Through case study analysis, six main themes and 22 sub-themes were identified. The main themes included: marital dynamics, racial identity, influences, reactions, advice, and counseling. Cross-case analysis revealed a small number of subthemes shared across cases. Differences between cases were considerable and were presented via the identification of new subthemes and unique cases. Three new subthemes were identified: normal couple, gaining acceptance, and religious affiliation. Recommendations are offered for future research and, tentatively, for marriage and family therapists who may work with couples similar to those in this study. Most notably, couples in this study saw themselves as “normal couples” brought together by love, and did not necessarily think of themselves as “interracial.” They did, however, talk as a couple about how to racially identify their children and how to help them respond to questions about their racial heritage.

Doctor of Philosophy / School of Family Studies and Human Services / Jared R. Anderson / The current study proposes a theoretical model of Interracial Couple Relationship Success and empirically tests a portion of the model in which ethnic identity is linked to relationship satisfaction for Black-White interracial couples. Data were collected from 185 heterosexual Black-White marital couples in the United States. An actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) was used to test the direct and indirect effects of ethnic identity to relationship satisfaction via self-esteem and problem-solving skills. The results indicated ethnic identity of both Black and White partners was related to Black but not White partners’ self-esteem. Findings also revealed significant indirect pathways from Black partners’ self-esteem to their own relationship satisfaction via effective problem-solving skills. The indirect pathway from Black partners’ self-esteem to partner relationship satisfaction was also mediated by partner perceptions of problem-solving in the relationship. The results of this study informs the continued development of the of Interracial Couple Relationship Success model and offers data regarding the role of identity and individual well-being in the context of interracial relationships.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the chronic daily concerns that eight self-identified Black-White interracial couples described as stressful and to identify the coping strategies that they utilized to reduce feelings of distress. Another goal of this study was to discover the actions that these eight couples took to maintain marital satisfaction. This investigation consisted of a total of 24 interviews, 16 individual and 8 couple interviews, based on the research questions guided by stress and coping theory. Couples identified three chronic stressors: Worrying About Children, Wanting to be Accepted, and Building a Successful Marriage; Nine coping strategies were identified: Distancing, Putting Family First, Problem-Solving, Accepting of Problems, Having Faith in God, Denial, Communicating With Spouse, Positive Reframing/Reflecting, and Escaping. Five maintenance behaviors were identified as well: Having Couple/Family Time, Communicating, Being Considerate, Getting Away Together, and Planning/Remembering Special Occasions. / Master of Science

This study explores the private and public experiences of Black/White interracial lesbian and gay couples. Drawing from the theoretical frameworks of critical race theory and intersectional feminism, this research focuses on how the intersections of gender, race, and sexuality influence relationship experiences and family processes in both private and public spaces for interracial same-sex couples. This study is based on 19 in-depth interviews with individuals in Black/White lesbian and gay relationships. Participants’ stories highlight intersectionality in terms of the ways interracial lesbian and gay couples navigate these interpersonal and public spaces. Participant experiences suggest that the dichotomy of private/public is often blurred, and these two spaces frequently overlap and intersect. Often what participants experience in public is then discussed and interpreted within private spaces. It is in the private space that participants work through complex issues in order to present themselves as a couple in public. Participants frequently used their public and interpersonal experiences with their partners to be reflexive of their own understandings of the social world, relationship processes, and love. Given the lack of research on same-sex, interracial families, this study makes an important contribution to sociological research on families, LGTBQ studies, and race studies.

This study explores the lived experiences of six Canadian Chinese-White heterosexual couples throughout their relationship lifespans. Interethnic coupling of this ethnic/racial configuration is on a steady rise, and mental health professionals can expect to find themselves working with this population in increasing numbers. In light of Canada’s unique history, ethnic distribution, and official policy of multiculturalism, it adds a much needed perspective to the vast majority of studies that focus on Black-White couples in an American context. Grounded in a constructivist-interpretive paradigm, this study uses narrative inquiry to arrive at six distinctive narratives, each with their central themes and a relationship life map to situate lived experiences in time, place, and forms of interaction. An across-narratives analysis was subsequently performed to identify overarching themes and subthemes across the six narratives. The findings suggest that couples shared similar experiences around their families; feelings of compatibility; and cultural differences around religion, food, and language. Further, they shared their insights on relationship maintenance processes with respect to the maintenance of family cohesion and management of differences. Overall findings in this study were consolidated to generate a co-constructive, contextualized, and strength-based model to understanding the lived experiences of Canadian Chinese-White heterosexual couples. This conceptual model is a response to the traditionally problem-focused literature on interethnic couple relationships, situates lived experiences in the multilayered contexts in which they are embedded, and highlights couples’ innate abilities to co-construct a relational narrative that embodies their shared realities and insights and sense of “we-ness.” Clinical applications of the conceptual model are discussed, along with limitations associated with this study and recommendations for future research.

Research suggests that interracial couples are more distressed and have lower stability compared to their endogamous counterparts. Interracial relationships involving Whites and Asians, however, seem to be an exception. To explore this exception, the pathways to relationship stability among endogamous and exogamous Asian-White couples were compared. Using Analysis of Covariance, partner empathy, social approval, relationship satisfaction, and relationship stability for endogamous and exogamous Asian-White couples were compared, while holding length of relationship constant. Actor and partner effects of partner empathy and social approval on relationship satisfaction and relationship stability, as well as that of relationship satisfaction on relationship stability, were compared between the racial pair groups using structural equation modeling. Endogamous Asian couples consistently scored lowest in relational and social factors, as well as in relationship outcomes. Relational factors more strongly predict relationship satisfaction and stability among White men regardless of partner's race than among Asian men. Empathy predicts relationship satisfaction and stability among exogamous women no differently than among endogamous women. Social contexts, however, influence relationship outcomes differently between endogamous and exogamous couples. Lastly, both actor and partner effects of relationship satisfaction on relationship stability did not differ across groups.

This study examined the direct actor/partner effects of self-esteem, coming to terms, and relationship quality and the indirect effects of self-esteem on relationship quality when mediated by coming to terms. The sample included 160 interracial couples of which 69.4% were made up of an African-American male and a Caucasian female, while 30.6 were made up of an African-American female and a Caucasian male. These couples completed the RELATionship Evaluation (RELATE), a survey questionnaire. This study used three variables from the RELATE: self-esteem, coming to terms, and relationship quality. Results from Structural Equation Modeling indicated that self-esteem had a negative effect on relationship quality in men and women. Female partner's negative self-esteem increased her male partner's likelihood of coming to terms, but male partner's negative self-esteem decreased his own likelihood of coming to terms. Coming to terms did not predict relationship quality in this study. The relatively satisfied couples of this sample suggest that interracial couples may not have poorer relationship quality than intraracial couples, as some previous research purports.

Previous studies of interracial couples' residential outcomes in the United States have limited their focus to a truncated selection of interracial couple-types. To provide a more complete understanding of the residential patterns of interracial couples and how they fit into the contemporary color line, I assess an expanded set of interracial and monoracial couple-types' outcomes in percentage White, entropy, and neighborhood income. I do this by employing multiple OLS regression analysis using data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act from 2005 to 2015. My results suggest that different types of interracial couples follow residential patterns that are distinctive from those of monoracial White couples and in many instances, from those of their monoracial couple-type counterparts.