The Melting Pot Begins to Simmer...

The Melting Pot Begins to SimmerÖ

Introduction

After living at Miami University for two years, certain things have revealed themselves about the nature of the students here. First, it is very obvious by the amount of racial violence, and the disrespect shown toward different cultures, that people here seem to be very uncomfortable when it comes to the acceptance of diversity. Second, the problem is large enough to be recognized nationally in magazines and papers when they talk about a college's reputation. Third, the school has found it to be enough of a problem to propose required classes that teach about diversity and the acceptance of non-white cultures. All of these things influenced our decision to understand the problem better, by focusing on the specific topic of interracial relationships. We think that we will find that students at Miami University are more conservative in their views of interracial dating than those surveyed in Toledo and Dayton. We also expect that participants in their older years will be less open to the prospect of interracial dating than those in their younger years.
We decided to study interracial relationships because we were interested in the responses we would get at Miami University, and we also thought that there might be a difference between those questioned at the University, and those questioned elsewhere (Toledo, OH and Dayton, OH). We designed our surveys to receive specific responses on areas of racial preference in mates, family background and up-bringing, whether they had ever been in an interracial relationship, and how they would react to a close friend or family member being in an interracial relationship. Our second survey focused on the Miami University campus, asking questions about how people felt about the lack of diversity on the campus.

After receiving and analyzing the results of our research, we plan to have a better understanding of the relations that go on within the campus, and people's feelings toward them. Second, we will know how the opinions of students at Miami University compare with the sentiments of people in larger cities, such as Toledo and Dayton. Third, we will be in a better position to assess the problems that go on here, such as racial violence, and propose some solutions to the problems. Also, some of our questions regarded the parents of these students, hopefully giving us conclusive results on whether the opinion of interracial relationships has changed over the years.

We expect our results to show that students at Miami University have different attitudes toward interracial dating than those surveyed in Toledo and Dayton. Also, we anticipate finding that there is a change with the attitudes of the participants and that of their parents. We feel that the results will also conclude that men are more likely to date interracially than women.

This research is a direct action to understand the race tensions at Miami University. Because we live and work here, it is imperative that we understand our surroundings and the factors that influence racial opinions here. Our question, however, answers only one of the many problems we have here at Miami. Some other topics we could have chosen are the opinions of students toward homosexual relationships, and the rising of the independent woman. We chose the topic of interracial relationships because of the notoriety our University has received for being unfriendly to minorities.

Relevance

Much of the research we looked at regarding interracial relationships focused on the trials and tribulations of an interracial couple; how they got over familial difficulties, discrimination, and overall negative public responses. Although this reading was interesting, it did not have the statistics we needed, and was therefore not helpful. We also accumulated many statistics regarding interracial relationships via the United States Census Bureau. The majority of studies relating to interracial relationships were done by magazines. These magazines found it interesting to publish articles on this topic because of the undeniable difference in attitudes toward interracial relationships, and the increasing amount of them.

Our research directly relates to the rising numbers of interracial couples today. Because of the increasing instance of interracial couples, it would behoove us to recognize the status of our own living environment. By researching the opinion toward interracial dating in our own community, we get an idea of possible problems we may come across, and the public opinion regarding these problems.

Hopefully, our research will contribute to general knowledge on Miami Campus regarding the attitudes of their peers. Perhaps this will bring about the realization of the problems on Miamiís Campus and influence those living in the community to change.

Materials and Methods

To test our hypothesis, we wanted to get a good idea if, and how race affected the way people choose who they get involved in romantic relationships with. We felt that surveys would be the best way to get an honest general opinion from the public for this controversial issue. On our first survey, we asked basic questions like age, race, and gender so we would have something to compare differences and similarities to. Then, the three main questions of the survey dealt with whether or not they had ever been involved in an interracial relationship. And if not, would they ever consider dating or marrying interracially if the situation was presented to them? These three questions gave us the bulk of the interesting data because they got right to the point about whether race was a factor in dating preference.

We included other questions that we could draw conclusions from that were subtler. We inquired if they already had their mind made up about dating certain races and not others. This gave us the chance to see whether or not most people would say that they would only date within their own race. To see if the public opinion is changing over time we asked if the opinions of the people surveyed matched those of their parents. We also asked whether they thought that one race was more beautiful than others, to determine if the point of attractiveness was a variable.

Our second survey was similar, but more direct and specific. From our first set of data we observed that blacks were much more likely to date interracially than whites. We thought that the racially limited campus might have some interesting effects on the dating habits of its inhabitants. We still asked about race and gender, but we focused the data on just one age group and location- young adults on Miamiís campus. We asked if the racial limitations bothered people, and again threw in the question about it bothering their parents to see if there is a change over the years. Directly, we asked them to tell us if they had a preference for dating certain races over others and then to specify the preferred race. This will tell us if more people are likely to date whites than they normally would have because there are more of them to choose from.

Before we had decided to use surveys, we were thinking about having two people pose as an interracial couple and go into a public restaurant and record observations of how people reacted toward them. We also contemplated showing pictures of racially diverse people and having the participants state which ones had more natural beauty. However, we determined that both of these methods would not really give us a clear and true idea of how the people actually felt about race affecting dating preference. With the surveys, however, we could ask both direct questions and also ones that they could write their own thoughts down to prevent us from assuming for the participants.

In order for us to do the best that we could to ensure statistical soundness, we asked people from the areas around the Miami campus, city of Oxford, and the larger cities of Dayton and Toledo Ohio. This enabled us to get more diverse kinds of ages and people with different ideas. We also verbally assured each person that the survey was anonymous so that they might be more inclined to share their true feelings on the issue. We attempted to make the questions as clear and self-explanatory as possible, so to reduce the range of answers. We had some doubts about the answers to one of our questions, since we failed to make it as clear as possible. Also, we checked our surveys both times with a real scientist, Chris Meyers J, who approved of their validity. I believe that, for the most part, our data is statistically sound.

Our class helped us by giving us constructive feedback and showing alot of interest in our topic. After we explained our hypothesis and told them how we planned to examine people, they made suggestions to us such as, "Are you only going to use data from blacks and whites?", "What about other races?", and "How old are your sourcesÖthey seem very outdated."

Survey #1

1) Sex: Male Female

Age:

2) What is your ethnic background or race?

3) Have you ever been involved in an interracial relationship? Yes No

4) If not, would you ever date a person outside of your race? Yes No

5) Would you ever marry someone outside of your race? Yes No

3. Are there only certain races that you would consider dating, and others that you would not?
Yes No

4. If so, please specify:

5. What would your reaction be if a friend or family member dated someone of another race?
No reaction Shocked Disappointed Happy

9) Do you have the same opinions as your parents on this topic? Yes No

10) Is there one particular race that you find more beautiful than others? Yes No

Survey #2

What is your race?

M or F?

Do you feel that living on a predominantly white campus racially limits your dating choices?

If so, do these limitations bother you?

Do you have a race preference for dating?

If so, which race do you prefer?

Does it bother your parents that there is not a diverse dating pool to choose from?

In order to finish this project in a timely manner, we had to manage our time efficiently, delegating certain goals for each week that we were working on it.

Between January 14 through February 29, we decided on our topic, and designed the process by which it would be executed. We became informed about our topic through books, magazine articles, and Internet sites.

During the week of March 6-10, we submitted our proposal to the professor, one Chris Meyers. We also decided which questions would benefit us, and put them on a survey.

During the week of Spring Break, March 13-17, we handed out our surveys at various locations in Toledo, OH and Dayton, OH.

During the week of March 20-24, we presented our board project to the class section on Tuesdays and Thursdays, held from 2pm to 3:15pm. The class and professor offered up suggestions, questions, and recommendations for us to use in the remainder of our project.

During the week of March 27-31, we researched recent articles on the topic of interracial relationships, as suggested by the class the preceding week.

During the week of April 3-7, we compiled our survey data from Toledo and Dayton, and distributed surveys to students on the Miami Campus.

During the week of April 10-14 we began an outline of the final project.

During the week of April 17-21, we entered our data into Statview 4.5, and decided which graphs had significant data. We also decided that a second survey would have to be distributed, in order to specify our data.

During the week of April 24-28, we made and distributed our second survey, and then entered those statistics into Statview 4.5. We then proceeded to begin our final paper.

4. Results

After receiving the data for the first survey, we observed that whites were the least likely of all races studied to be involved in an interracial relationship. These surveys include participants from Miami University, Toledo, and Dayton. The majority of the African-American, Asian, Indian, and Hispanic participants were all more likely to be involved in an interracial relationship. We also noticed that more of the people that said that they would date interracially had differing views from their parents. Furthermore, more of the people that said that they would not date interracially had similar views to their parents. We noticed, as well, that as the age of the participants increased, their willingness to date interracially decreased.

The results of our second survey revealed that the minorities surveyed, especially African-Americans, felt that living on Miami Campus limited their dating selections. Surprisingly, however, none of these minorities were significantly bothered by the fact.

Discussion & Conclusions

In the 1998 United States Census Bureau Current Population Survey, it was concluded that the acceptance and willingness to date interracially was
strongest among those between 15 and 24 years of age. This concurs with our conclusion that those that are older in our society are increasingly less willing to accept or participate in interracial dating. The Census also reveals that the number of interracial couples has doubled since 1980, now reaching 3 million, and interracially married couples now occupy 5% of all married couples in the U.S.

In the November 24, 1997 issue of Jet Magazine, a study of 602 teens was taken. The results of the survey showed that 57% of teens say that they have dated another race. 90% of all Hispanic teens survey said that they had, 60% of all black teens said that they had, and 47% of all white teens said that they had. 13% of the teens said that they would never date another race. 30% said that they had never dated outside of their race, but would have no objection to doing so.

According to our survey, about 32% said that they had been in an interracial relationship. 11% of whites said that they had, 53% of blacks said that they had, and 73% of other races including Indian, Asian, and Hispanic, said that they had. Although the numbers differ slightly, there is a similar amount of difference between the races and whether they had dated interracially.

The June 3, 1996 issue of Jet Magazine offers some reasons why the instances interracial marriages/relationships are increasing. First, it is argued that by not limiting yourself to one race, you are creating more mating choices for yourself. This makes sense. Second, because of the increasing number of these kinds of couples, it is becoming more acceptable to mainstream America to date members of another race. Third, since the Civil Rights Movement, the opinion that whites hold for blacks has changed. They are no longer considered inferiors by the majority of Americans. Generally, "Itís a reflection of a more open and thoughtful society"(Jet, June 3, 1996 p.15).

Some conclusions that we can make from our study, are that the acceptance of interracial relationships are becoming increasingly more acceptable to the American majority. Even at Miami University, a college known for being conservative, the number of people opposed to interracial dating has decreased. Also, we expected to find that people in younger generations are more open to interracial dating. That anticipation has been proven correct.

It is reassuring to find that the opinions of students at Miami University are becoming more open to dating other races, and we think that the numbers will only get better in future years.

"The last of the human freedoms is to choose oneís attitudes."
-Victor Frankl

WORKS CITED
Anonymous Melting at Last?
Wilson Quarterly v24n1 Winter 2000 p.11
Anonymous Speaking Graphically
Population Today v27n2 February, 1999 p.6
Anonymous More than Half of Teens Who Date Have Dated Interracially: Study
Jet v93n1 November 24, 1997 p.32
Anonymous Interracial Marriages Rising, says Census Bureau
Jet v91n21 April 14, 1997 p.16
Anonymous Why Interracial Marriages are Increasing
Jet v90n3 June 3, 1996 p.12-15
Anonymous Trends in Black/White Marriages
Social Forces v72n1 September, 1993 p.119-146
Foeman, Anita Kathy
Nance, Teresa From Miscegenation to Multiculturalism: Perceptions and Stages of Interracial Relationship Development
Journal of Black Studies v29n4 March, 1999 p.540-557
Kirschten, Dick Americaís Demographic Divide
National Journal v31n3 January 16, 1999 p.104-106
Shea, Christopher Intermarriage Rates Found to be on the Rise
The Chronicle of Higher Education v43n34 May 2, 1997 p.A14

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