Effects of interracial relationships on children in America

Interracial Relationships

This work intends to examine interracial relationships and to discover the advantages and disadvantages associated with these relationships. One of the areas of greatest concern in contemporary times arising from interracial relationships is that surrounding the effects to children of these unions. In today's world, it is not surprising or shocking to people when interracial relationships are evident in their community however, the prejudices that have historically and traditionally existed have served to perpetrate harm upon children of these relationships. Interracial relationships include those between Asians, Hispanics, Blacks and Whites as well as any other group of people.

HISTORICAL and TRADITIONAL INFORMATION

Historically and traditionally interracial relationships in the United States were not lawful. For instance, the work of Peter Wallerstein entitled, "Race, Marriage and the Law of Freedom: Alabama and Virginia 1960's -1960's" states that the Alabama Constitution of 1865 "directed the legislature to make interracial marriages between White and people of African ancestry 'null and void and make the parties to any such marriage subject to criminal prosecutions." (Wallerstein, 1994) Additionally, penalties were assigned of imprisonment for those who were involved in an interracial relationships of between two and seven years and as well any probate judge "who knowingly issued a marriage license to an interracial couple." (Wallerstein, 1994) Overtime, the banning of interracial marriages ended how it was mandated by law that the white individual that was involved in an interracial marriage was banished forever. These laws remained on the books in the states of Alabama and Virginia until the 1960's however, over time the fines and penalties associated with interracial marriages decreased and yet the effects on the children of these relationships continued and were severe in nature. The lost poem of Langston Hughes relates the nature of these relationships during this period. Following is this poem written by Hughes:

My old man's a white old man

And my old mother's black.

If ever I cursed by white old man take my curses back.

If ever I cursed my black old mother

And wished she were in hell,

I'm sorry for that evil wish

And now I wish her well.

My old man died in a fine big house.

My ma died in a shack.

A wonder where I'm going to die,

Being neither white nor black? (Langston Hughes)

III. DISADVANTAGES

The work entitled: "Under and Beyond Constraints: Resource Allocation to Young Children from Biracial Families" states that data from the Early childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten 1998-1999 examined "the extent to which biracial families differ from monoracial families in their transmission of resources to young children." (Cheng, 2007) This work demonstrates the usefulness of distinguishing between white-biracial and nonwhite-biracial families, and also between even more refined measures of biracial families." (Cheng, 2007) Findings of this study state that "in most cases, biracial families provide comparable or greater economic and cultural resources to their children than do their monoracial counterparts, but offer fewer advantages in interactional/social resources." (Cheng, 2007)

The work of Bratter and Eschbach (2005) entitled: "What About the Couple? Interracial Marriage and Psychological Distress" reports the exploration of "the association between racial composition of couples and the psychological distress of their members, as measured in a screening scale for non-specific psychological distress." (Bratter and Eschbach, 2005) the report state that used was a "pooled 1997-2001 National Health Interview Survey sample of the married and cohabiting population of the United States." (Bratter and Eschbach, 2005) Reported is the comparison of the "odds of distress for interracial vs. same race married/cohabiting adults. There are several key findings. Interracial marriage is associated with increases in severe distress for Native American men, white women, and for Hispanic men and women married to non-white spouses, compared to endogamous members of the same groups. Higher rates of distress are observed for intermarried persons with African-American or Native American husbands or wives, and for women with Hispanic husbands. Lower socioeconomic status explains approximately half of the increased distress experienced by white women, while higher socioeconomic status partially suppresses increases in distress for Hispanic men and women." (Bratter and Eschbach, 2008)

The work entitled: "Difficulties in Interracial Marriages" states that many of the problems that face the interracial couple is derived from the negative attitudes of society concerning interracial relationships. This work relates that it is the Black-Caucasian unions "have the lowest frequency of occurrence because of longstanding negative beliefs about these marriages." (2008) it is stated that "given that the dominant culture tends to disdain black-Caucasian unions, it is difficult to imagine how these couples are able to maintain their relationships." (Ibid, 2008) Myths surrounding interracial relationships and marriages include those as follows:

interracial marriages do not work; therefore, you will lose your spouse to someone else;

those who engage in interracial relationships must hate their parents; and Those who engage in interracial relationships or marriages must have psychological difficulties. (Ibid, 2008)

The work of Jayson (2006) published by USA Today entitled: "New Generation Doesn't Blink at Interracial Relationships" reports a relationship between a black and half-Hispanic couple and states that "People are finding people with common interests and common perspectives and are putting race aside." (Jayson, 2006) This work states that these individuals are "among an estimate 46.3 million Americans ages 14 to 24 - the older segment of the most diverse generation in American society." (Jayson, 2006) This article further relates that relationships such as this one are based on "common interests not color." (Jayson, 2006) Jayson relates that a Gallup Poll in June 2006 "found that 95% of 18 to 29-year-olds approve of blacks and whites dating. About 60% of that age group said they have dated someone of a different race." (2006)

IV. INTERRACIAL DATING STATISTICS

The work entitled: "Black, White Cuban and Asian: Interracial Marriage, Dating and Love" reports the findings of a survey on interracial relationships and states the following statistics:

Have dated someone of another race

Whites 47%

Blacks 28%

Hispanics 90%

Have not but would consider it

Whites 36%

Blacks 28%

Hispanics 9%

Would not consider it

Whites 17%

Blacks 12%

Hispanics 1%

Percent of blacks who have dated a:

White: 44%

Hispanic: 38%

Asian: 10%

Percent of Hispanics who have dated a:

White: 82%

Black: 40%

Asian: 25%

Percent of white who have dated a:

Black 17%

Hispanic 33%

Asian 15% (Source: (http://www.angelfire.com/super2/beme0/)

Jayson (2006) reports: "In addition to immigrant families, the number of children from other countries adopted by U.S. parents has tripled from 1990 to 2005. International adoptions made up almost 18% of the approximately 127,000 adoptions last year, according to federal data based on immigrant visas issued to orphans coming to the U.S.A. The fact that white parents are adopting babies from China, Guatemala or South Korea who don't look like them reinforces the idea that race matters less. So does the fact that interracial marriages, though still not common, have increased from less than 1% of U.S. marriages in 1970 to almost 6% of marriages in the 2000 Census."

SUMMARY

Interracial relationships come with many disadvantages and drawbacks and most of these are related to societal issues relating to prejudices against these types of relationships. Today's contemporary society, as evidenced in this research is much more open to interracial relationships than were previous generations. It appears that the biggest disadvantage to interracial relationships are the children which are born from these marriages and partnerships in that these children often do not feel either 'black' or 'white' or 'white' or 'Hispanic' and so forth. Today's young people report a high percentage of individuals who have dated interracially and who are open to this type of dating. The issue as pointed out in the work of Jayson (2006) with these individuals is not the common 'color' but the common 'interests ' of individuals that results in interracial relationships. These relationships, as shown by this study are extremely difficult to maintain due to societal pressures and issues.

CONCLUSION

The conclusions of this study include the conclusion that anyone entering into an interracial relationship should be properly informed of the issues that will certainly arise due to involvement in interracial relationships. The largest issue for consideration is the impact that children have due to being biracial. It is critically necessary that parent's of biracial children inform themselves of the issues which these children face in society and school interactions and that these parents prepare their children to effectively cope with these issues in a successful manner so as to facilitate the child's development as they grow in today's society from the biracial perspective.