McNair Research Journal - University of St. Thomas

Humanities & Social Sciences
Procedure
A total of three sets of interracial friends and one set of intraracial
friends have participated in the study. Each respondent is interviewed
individually for 25 to 30 minutes during which the respondent is asked to
sign a consent form before completing a self-report questionnaire and
responding to a series of questions on interracial dating and marriage.
The names of individuals have all been changed to protect the anonymity
of the respondents in the study.
Preliminary Results
Background Information
Based on the preliminary descriptive statistics in terms of year in school
and gender, there are two female and two male freshmen respondents, two
female junior respondents, one female senior respondent, and one female
alumni who graduated in 2007 (see table 1).
In terms of race and ethnicity, there are three respondents adopted
from Korea, one Tibetan respondent, one Sri Lankan respondent, one
African-American respondent, one White/European respondent and one
respondent who is a multiracial adoptee (see table 2).
In terms of family income status, one respondent who reported a low
family income status, one respondent who reported a lower-middle class
family income status, two respondents who reported a middle class family
income status, three respondents who reported a upper-middle class
family income status, and one respondent who reported an upper class
family income status (see table 3).
Amy S. Westmoreland
Interracial Romantic Relationships
Preliminary Analysis of Transcripts
Although I am at the early stage of collecting and analyzing data, I have
included the responses of two interview questions.
Researcher: “In your opinion, what are the challenges and benefits of
interracial dating?”
Sarah (Freshman, Korean Adoptee): “Um, probably. Okay the challenges
are my parents, um the African-American one was kind of…um my
parents are White so the African-American one was…they weren’t really
for it really so that I was contemplating about that. But um, I don’t
know…benefits (quietly whispers interracial dating) I guess (pause) I
would rather date someone of a White ethnicity than Asian I guess is
my opinion.”
Researcher: “Would you like to expand on that at all?”
Sarah: “Um, I don’t (laughs) this is kind of funny I’m just not attracted to
Asian guys (laughs). Here’s the thing…I know it’s kind of funny but I
think it really has to do with growing up in America my parents are both
White because I am adopted so I feel like Asian culture has never really
been part of my culture. Like they’ve tried, like I’ve been to Korean camp
and stuff but um…so I think that for me I feel like I’m white and so
dating a white guy is the norm for me rather than dating an Asian or um
other ethnicity.”
The primary reason I chose to share Sarah’s response to the challenges and
benefits of interracial dating was to highlight that although Sarah is
racially Asian and ethnically Korean, the environment in which she grew
up as a transracial adoptee of White parents shaped her views of interracial
dating to the extent that she felt racially White. Suggesting that ethnic
identity plays a role in the development of transracial adoptee’s opinions
of interracial dating.
Researcher: “In general, what are your views towards interracial
marriage?”
Mary (Freshman, Korean Adoptee): “The same with the first question,
like it happens and (pause) I don’t know I don’t put a lot of thought into
the whole (pause) I don’t think it’s a big deal (pause) like I don’t notice it I
guess as much.”
Researcher: “And what has shaped your views?”
Mary: “(uncomfortable laughter) Probably being in the growing up in a
white home.”
Researcher: “Being adopted?”
Mary: “Yeah, yeah. Like I’m sure if I grew up in an all like Korean family
it would be a little bit different but.”
Once again, Mary’s response to her views towards interracial marriage
emphasizes the importance of the social environment in which the
adoptee grew up. It appears that it matters less that Mary is ethnically
Korean and it matters more whether Mary personally identifies as
ethnically Korean while living in a transracially adopted home. Although
this finding makes sense, since it seems logical that growing up in an
interracial family would produce favorable views towards interracial
dating and marriage, further analyses need to be conducted.
Significance of research
According to my initial review of the literature, there are few studies
which measure interracial and intraracial college friendships among Asian-
Americans as it relates to their attitudes towards interracial romantic
relationships. Therefore, as a result of the literature review, I believe
my study will offer new insights into Asian-American interracial and
intraracialfriendships.
Furthermore, because of the lack of current research, it is appropriate that
the present study is qualitative. Qualitative studies are often conducted
to establish new conceptual frameworks on topics that have not been
sufficiently researched in the past and to serve as a gateway for follow-up
quantitative research.
62 University of St. Thomas McNair Research Journal