Marriage Among African Americans: What Does the Research Reveal?

Abstract

The research reveals that African Americans are the least likely to marry, when they marry, they do so later and spend less time married than White Americans, and they are the least likely to stay married. Factors contributing to the marriage status of African Americans include structural, cultural, individual and interactive factors. Structural factors include the disparity in sex ratios between African American males and females and employment instability among African American males. Cultural factors include changing cultural trends such as marriage not being a perquisite for sex, the independence of women, the shift from familism to individualism, cohabitation as an increasing option, and the promotion of the values of materialism and patriarchy through popular culture. Individual factors stem from an internalization of cultural values that affects people's perceptions of marriage and their expectations of potential mates, their willingness to commit to a relationship that can lead to marriage, and, once they marry, their willingness to sustain the marriage through the challenges it will face. Added to this is the fact that, until recent federal funding in 2006, there was little or no education to help couples sustain relationships to marriage or sustain the marriage after they are married. In addition, all members of US society are expected to conform to the dominant group's idea of the monogamous, nuclear family. This forces those who opt for other life styles e.g., gay and lesbian, polygynous, etc., to stay in cohabitating relationships. All of these factors contributes to African Americans being less likely to marry and more likely to divorce.

The Impact of Adolescent Deviance on Marital Trajectories

“…Thus, trajectory analysis improves on traditionally separate analyses of age of marriage, length of marriage, and divorce by encapsulating all of these elements allowing a more complete depiction of the whole marital experience. Given the fact that African Americans are less likely to marry, stay married, and have shorter marriages than white Americans (Dixon 2009), a more dynamic approach may be necessary to capture the developmental unfolding and complexities of marital patterning among this population.…”

“…However, the marital experience of African Americans is potentially quite different than their white counterparts. African Americans are less likely to marry and more likely to divorce than whites, a difference that has been increasing steadily over the past 50 years (Waite 1995; Pinderhughes 2002; Dixon 2009). In general, marriage rates are lower among African Americans (Schoen 1995) and marriage tends to occur later in the life course for those African Americans that do marry.…”

Developmental and Ethnic Issues Experienced by Emerging Adult African American Women Related to Developing a Mature Love Relationship

“…Today, the development of enduring love relationships among African Americans continues to be challenged by structural violence, that is, the interconnections among the effects of population dynamics, punitive social policies, and unequal access to employment and resources shaped by institutional and ecological racism (Miller & Garran, 2007;Sabol & Couture, 2008;Weigert, 1999). Structural violence is reflected in the low marriage rate among African American women (Dixon, 2009;McKinnon, 2003;Pinderhughes, 2002;Tucker & Mitchell-Kernan, 1998). The difference between the numbers of married African American women (4,819,000 = 29.4%) compared to white women (45,547,000 = 54.3%) (US Census Bureau, 2010) is significant.…”

“…Moreover, the number of never married African American women (7,334,000 = 44.8%) is twice that of white women (18,767,000 = 22.4%) (US Census Bureau, 2010). The comparatively low percentages of married African American women is attributed, in part, to the persistent exclusion of African American men from the work force that has resulted in their inability to economically provide for women and children (Dixon, 2009;Tucker & Mitchell-Kernan, 1995), weakening relationship durability. Further, the number of African American men who are eligible to be married has sharply declined in recent decades, due largely to policy-driven (Lane et al, 2004;Tucker & Mitchell-Kernan, 1995) disproportionately high rates of incarceration (Sabol & Couture, 2008) and mortality (Elo & Drevenstedt, 2004).…”

20180423

“…With respect to education, Banks (2011) finds that the ratio of Black female to male college graduates is two to one, which means that more Black women appear to be reaching middle-class status than men. In essence, educational mismatch, or gendered disparities in college graduation rates, significantly impact partner selection and marriage rates (Bulcroft & Bulcroft, 1993;Collins, 2005;Dixon, 2009;Ford, 2012;Keels, 2014;Packer-Williams, 2009). …”