Predicting Interethnic Childbirth by the Characteristics of Mothers: A Peek into the Melting Pot

Matheu Kaneshiro, RAND Corporation

While there is an abundant literature on interracial mating, much of our understanding is clouded in complex findings that are limited in theorization – particularly for minority-minority partnerships. This research explores models that predict racial reproduction patterns for women using fixed-effects logistic regression models that aim to re-visiting previously-identified relationships and offer future theoretical avenues to pursue. It is found that interracial mating is generally more common for younger cohorts and native-born persons and is generally becoming more common with time. In terms of testing previous theory, no evidence is found for “spousal trades,” although “marital market” effects are generally shown to hold. Education’s effects on racial mating patterns suggest that an amalgamation of the triracial hierarchy, white/non-white, and black/non-black theoretical perspectives are useful for explaining the race of one’s spouse, as education has positive effects for pairing with white or Asian fathers vis-à-vis pairing with Hispanic or black fathers.