Percentage Of Black Men Not Marrying Black Women Doubles

New York - 25 % of black men who married in 2010 nervously waited at the altar for someone other than a black bride to walk down the aisle, according to a recent survey by PewResearch Center's Social & Demographic Trends Project

More than half of the marriages--57.2%--were to white women; 21.9% were to Hispanic women; 7% were to Asian women; and 13.9% were to Native American women or women of other races, according to the report,"Marrying Out: One In Seven New U.S. Marriages is Interracial or Interethnic."

The high percentage of black men marrying women of other races compares with 8.9% of the black women marrying someone other than black men. 
More than half of these marriages--58.6%--were to white men; 24.2% were to Hispanic men; 5.5% were to Asian men and 11.6% were to Native American men and men of other races, according to the study, which PewResearch released Friday, June 4.

PewResearch analyzed United States' Census data, and Pew researchers surveyed by telephone 2,884 adults, including 812 African Americans, to reach their conclusions. The U.S. Census reported in 2010 there were 362,000 African-American newlyweds. Of that number, 79,640 black men married women who were not black. In comparison, approximately 32,580 black women married men who were not black. The remaining 249,780 black newlywed marriages were between black men and black women.

PewResearch reports the number of interracial marriages increased because individual states and courts have struck down laws, preventing interracial marriages. Following World War II, many states repealed laws prohibiting interracial marriage, and in 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court in Loving v Virginia ruled unconstitutional laws in 15 states that prevented interracial marriages from taking place, PewResearch notes. The study, however, did not discuss the negative feelings black men and black women often harbor towards each other that often leads them to seek romantic relationships with someone of another race.

Individuals, especially young people, accept interracial unions more readily than older adults. Among adults 18 to 32, 93% approve of interracial unions, but the percentage sharply drops with adults 64-years old and older. Sixty-eight percent in this age group approve of mixed marriages.

The survey found blacks are more accepting of intermarriage than white or Hispanic respondents. Seventy-two percent of blacks say they would be comfortable with a family member marryin someone who was white, Hispanic or Asian. On the other hand, 61% of whites and 63% of Hispanics say they would be fine with a family member marrying someone from another race.

Wider social acceptance has led to an increase in interracial marriages among blacks. In 1960, 1% of black newlyweds married outside their race compared with 15.5% in 2010, PewResearch says. As for black men, 7.9% of black men married outside their race in 1980 compared with 22% in 2010.

Despite the growth in interracial marriage among blacks, African Americans lag Asians and Hispanics in the percentage of intermarriage rates. In 2008, 30.8% of Asians married someone outside their race compared with 25.7% of Hispanics and nearly 16% of blacks. Nearly 9% of whites--8.9%--married someone outside their race. Pew's and the Census Bureau's statistics are in sharp contrast to Hollywood's view of interracial marriage that usually depicts black women with white men, not white women with black men.

The incidence of interracial marriage among blacks is increasing, although there has been an overall decline in marriage within the African-American community. In 2007, 44% of black men were married compared with 74% in 1970. In 2007, 33% of black women 33- to 44-years old were married compared with 62% in 1970, the study found. Marriage also declined among whites, but nowhere near the rate it has declined among blacks, the study found.

PewResearch is nonpartisan research think tank based in Washington, D.C.