Madelyn Torrence

Madelyn Torrence, 388 words

Soc 111

Mon. Wed. 1-1:50

Family Quiz

In the article "Trends in Marital Happiness by Gender and Race, 1973-2006"  authors Corra, Carter, J. Carter, and Knox look at the different happiness levels within marriages in correspondence with the person's gender and race. In previous research it had been found that marital happiness was on the decline for all races and genders. Previous studies found that there wasn't a difference in genders, with either male or females being more unhappy. It was found that Black wives tended to be less happy than white wives. However, there was a relationship between race and marital happiness. African Americans experienced less marital happiness.

In Corra, Carter, J. Carter, and Knox's research they used the GSS Questionnaire, as a quantitative method. Their dependent variable was marital happiness. Their independent variable was sex, race, divorce, work, children under eighteen in the house, age, education, and religiosity. They broke this down into four groups; Black Wives, Black Husbands, White Wives, and White Husbands. In a general pattern they found that White Wives and Husbands tended to be happier. White husbands tended to be the happiest, then white wives, then black husbands, and then black wives tended to be the least happy. They found that overall Black Wives' happiness was rising, while white husbands tended to always be the happiest but that this happiness was declining. White husbands always being the happiest was attributed to their power, status, and importance but family and societal changes explained the decline in happiness levels.

In the article  "Social Boundaries and Marital Assimilation: Interpreting Trends in Racial and Ethnic Intermarriage" authors Qian and Lichter relate racial or ethnic interracial marriage to distinguishing the racial or ethnic relations within society. Since the 1970's interracial marriages in the United States have increased a lot. Interracial marriage is a sign that an immigrant or immigrant group has assimilated to the majority culture, in this case white culture in the united states.The new assimilation theory is used as a framework to assess the relationship between intermarriage and assimilation The Integrated Public Use Microdata was used as a quantitative method to assess the information.  They found that a growing society of different races has created a growth in interracial marriages with whites. Hispanics and American Indians are most likely to marry whites and African Americans are least likely to marry whites.