Why are black men and Asian women in the US more likely to marry outside of their race than black women and Asian men?

I think there is a way of explaining this trend that is not racist per se, but has to do with the reality of what motivates people to marriage and the social construction of race in the US. We can start by thinking of marriage as a market where an exchange occurs.  Instead of money being exchanged for goods, the benefits of one person are being exchanged for the benefits of another.  (In the most vulgar, but easiest to understand example, a man trades his money for a woman's beauty). What we then need to know are the benefits that one brings to the table.  People bring money, humor, social connections, beauty, good sex, protections, good homemaking skills, and on and on. Furthermore, the value of a benefit changes based upon a person's experiences.  To put it another way, we value one thing over another based upon how we have socially constructed our world.  So, let's say that a woman scores high on the homemaking scale relative to other women.  Some guys will find this very appealing, while some guys will care nothing for it. Thus marriage is an exchange between two people.  Both partners bring valued benefits to the table.  ------------ These assumptions go a great deal towards explaining why black men and Asian women are more likely to date outside of their race.  Race is a "benefit" just like money or humor.  In a sociological sense, "black" is seen as the least beneficial race, while "white" is seen as the most beneficial.  So, a rich black man is often graded lower than a rich white man. Further, race affects the evaluation of other benefits (race is a powerful thing).  Being black strongly affects beauty,  and therefore it strongly affects woman.  Black women are seen as less attractive.  However, being black has a somewhat positive affect on perceptions of strength, confidence, and assertiveness.  Being Asian positively affects evaluations of intelligence and diligence.  However it negatively affects perceptions of strength and confidence.  This strongly affects Asian men.   As for white partners, their race often brings prestige, and rarely has a negative on other benefits. What  is important to remember here is that the value of race has been  socially constructed.  In an alternate universe, it could be black  beauty that is seen as most valuable.  ---------------- When black men marry outside of their race (usually to white women) they tend to bring more economic or social benefits, while one of the major benefits that a white woman brings is social prestige and beauty based on race.  Similarly, when an Asian woman marries outside of her race, she tends to bring more aesthetic benefits (she is usually the more attractive partner by some degree), while one of the major benefits that the white man brings is the prestige associated with his race.  -------------- The reason why it works this way and not the other, is because of how race affects other benefits.  Being black lowers the beauty of black women, and being Asian lowers perceptions of confidence and assertiveness in Asian men. Men of all races tend to value beauty highly in women over other things, and therefore black women are at a supreme disadvantage here (while white and Asian women are at an advantage).  Similarly, women tend to place a premium on confidence and assertiveness.  Asian men are at a supreme disadvantage here (while black men are at an advantage). This explains why it is black men (not women) and Asian women (not men) who are most likely to marry outside of their race. ----

The problem with trying to interpret these marriage statistics (and many other race-related numbers) by listing other statistics is that we end up using general trends as a proxy for our own experience -- we take these numbers with us when we meet people at work or at a party and look for signals that confirm what we read about their racial group instead of treating them like individuals. Deep down, we know if someone were to ask a person why they got married that they wouldn't be able to come up with a neat pie chart of variables -- but they might be able to tell an interesting story. I hope to offer something a little different, for those who aren't interested in seeing themselves and the people around them as statistics; so forgive me if I don't engage very much with the percentages cited in the question ;) Just to start off on the same page, I'd like you to read this quote from an NPR interview this past summer (http://www.npr.org/2011/06/29/137499303/author-tells-black-women-marry-out-not-down) with Carolyn Edgar, featured in the book, Is Marriage for White People? How the African-American Marriage Decline Affects Everyone, by Stanford Professor Rick Banks. I think people ultimately marry for love. I think there are very few people in the world who marry for purely economic reasons or purely social reasons. I think most people marry someone, whether it's someone of their same race or a different race or whatever, because they fall in love with the person. I fundamentally agree with Ms. Edgar -- it may be tempting to pin the stark interracial marriage statistics on Hollywood representations & biological predispositions (I've seen answers on Quora citing testosterone levels as the reason why Black women and Asian men are seen as undesirable -- really?) but people are more complicated than that. We're individuals who spend a great deal of time thinking about our identities (racial, romantic, political..) and how to fall in love when everyone seems to not understand us. And when we're not inside our own heads figuring this out, our social influences have always filled in the gaps. When I was in middle school, a popular girl once remarked, "I don't usually go for White dudes, but this one, he's kinda cute!" We all laughed along with her and agreed, "Yeah he is!" A door in my mind flew open. A friend's mother once said at the dinner table, "You can marry anyone you'd like, as long as he's not Black," and chuckled a little. My friend isn't sure what the consequences would be if she did bring home someone Black, and she isn't even sure whether her mother was joking, but she's not exactly eager to find out. The door in her mind is left slightly ajar -- meaning, she can casually date Black men but would not seriously consider marrying one. All of us can look back and remember key experiences that shaped our views on race and marriage; and for my answer to at least acknowledge the statistics mentioned in the question, I could say that the sum of doors closed in Black women's minds (to men of other races) + doors closed in the minds of men of other races towards Black women is greater than this sum pertaining to Black men, Asian women, White men, and White women (might be similar to Asian men, though!). In the end, should such an arbitrary equation we can't even wrap our heads around play a role in whether or not we approach or "give a chance" to someone of a different race? I think not...but then again, I didn't get a very high grade in Statistics :)

Ironically, both Black men and Asian tend to marry a White spouse when they do decide to marry outside of their race. I can only speculate on why Asian women might do this, but I know it's not uncommon for me to hear Black men express desire to "wife up" a non-black woman and I've also seen them be quite aggressive in their pursuit of doing so. Some black men feel that non-black women offer a better value as long-term partners (grass is greener syndrome), others may have grown-up and spent most of their lives in non-black communities and are dating/marrying women whom they've had the most daily interactions with (products of their environment). Also another reason may be the due to the subtle, but constant promotion of black & non-black relationships in pop culture. I think I've lost count on how many commercials, tv shows, gossip columns, movies, etc that showed or at least hint at a black man hooking up with someone outside of his race. It's even been said that a non-black person dating a black man is considered cool, trendy, and a sign that "you've arrived". All of these points are definitely contributing factors to why these statistics show the way that they do. Going back to why Asian women may be more likely to marry interacially, I have heard that there is a lot of pressure to honor their families by "marrying up", with the only options presented to them in many cases as either being a White man or a financially well of person of their own ethnicity. Admittedly, however, I am far from experienced with social issues in the Asian community, so I will politely concede to those who can provide a more expert opinion on the subject.

As asian, I could offer some explanations: 1) There is an asian fetish which is predominantly on asian female. 2) Asian women on the average are more physically attractive than a regular asian male.  Most asian couples you will see have the woman looking much better than the man...this transcends social status.  One reason for this is because asian female takes care of themselves more than asian male because the gender roles places value on beauty of women and financial earning of men.  3) As mentioned above, asian culture expects women to be very pretty while men to earn.  This means that on average, the financial ambition of a woman is to marry a "rich" guy.  While the men is to marry the pretty submissive wife.  Many asian women especially those from impoverished conditions marry foreigners only because of money.  Although there is a growing number of asian male who are also looking for sugar mommy (local or foreign), this is still not a lot because of macho culture esp because foreign women doesn't want to be controlled unlike asian women who are more "domesticated". 4) Asian male prefer to have control over women and this is why they prefer asian women who are more submissive than foreign women. 5) Sex.  Asian are still a bit conservative and some still prefer virgin wife or at least not as well experienced as the foreign alternative.  Of course, there would be asian female who would be more sexually active than foreign females and vice versa, but there will be higher instance of virgin brides or those who were deflowered by their future husbands.  There are still a lot of asian men with this double standard mentality.  Personally, I prefer non-Asian however, i'm not a typical asian and my preference is not due to above (except item 2 and 5) but rather because I have more "european personality" e.g. very independent who doesn't like to adhere to gender roles.

I don't usually respond to such articles but 4 years after it's publication, this non-evidence based article is still damaging to the black community and extremely insulting particularly to black women.  It is certainly within your constitutional right for you to write an opinion piece, but to attach a professorship to your article as if there is some scientific validity to it is deceptive and unprofessional. Now that you have stated your subjective and unsubstantiated opinion, let us now look at some facts. I refer you to "Marriage in Black America" [http://BlackDemographics.com] In 2014 86% of married black men have black wives 94% of married black women have black husbands Clearly many would disagree with your definition of beauty (White & Asian). Black is not the least beneficial race nor are black women least attractive. In 2014 Married Black Men: 7% Black men - White spouse  4% Black men -  Hispanic spouse 3% Black men - spouse of other race (which include Asian women) Married Black Women 4% Black women - White spouse 1% Black women - Hispanic spouse 1% Black women - spouse of other race Black communities like other communities have the right to define beauty, it is not defined by others. The overwhelming majority of  married Black people did not choose your definition of beauty. They did not choose White or Asian spouses. Based on the above facts, the Black community has clearly spoken. Black is beautiful. In contrast to your article White America & Asians have also acknowledged Black beauty, as evidenced by the widespread use of procedures such as tanning, lip enhancements, gluteal enhancements and both surgical & non-surgical cosmetic alterations which reflect features that are inherent to black people. You really should retract this article, or at the very least, label it as a dissenting, unsubstantiated & non mainstream opinion piece if these are your personal feelings.

Because in the US this is less likely to carry any social stigma than it would in Asia. The US is a melting pot for all sorts of genetic mixture. This has been going on since the first European cohabited with the first Native.    Whereas in Asia, they are more likely to be prejudiced against racial mixing than you might want to believe. There is no race on Earth that is not guilty of racial prejudice and many Asians can be as prejudiced (if not more so) as any staunch Southern US redneck.

A great, extended answer to this question, insofar as the USA: Mixed Blood, by Paul Spickard. Published in the 1980s, it is a comparative survey and analysis of cultural images of blacks and Asians/Asian Americans.

There's a difference between African women (and men) and "African American". Beautiful African women are some of the most stunningly gorgeous women I have ever seen from an race, those who carry themselves in a dignified manner. I don't find super-white women's features particularly attractive.

Because black American men seek the approval of white people whom he relies on for an education and for a job. Plus white women wonder why a black American or Jamaican would want a black woman when he can be with her. Also  black Americans and Caribbeans are products of slavery and the slave stud farm and have partial white ancestry so are going to be attracted to their own white people.  As for East Asian women my guess is some just don't respect themselves. After all they aren't half white like black Americans.  Maybe that explains why many East Asian women will date black Americans and Jamaicans but not Africans. Attracted as they are to anything with a bit of white in it !