Asian Americans have been known to have some of the highest “intermarriage” rates in the United States. Now, new research conducted on Asian American newlyweds has found that a significant number of them came from those with some college education, AsAmNews reports.
The study, released by the Pew Research Center on Thursday, revealed that about 29% of recent Asian marriages in 2015 were interracial, compared to 27% among recently married Hispanics.
For those who were born in the U.S., the figure was significantly higher. According to the report, 46% of U.S.-born Asian newlyweds chose a partner from a different race or ethnicity, while for U.S.-born Hispanic newlyweds, the figure was at 39%.
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Today, 1 in 10 people in the country has a spouse of a different race or ethnicity, which makes up about 11 million people. The research found that 17% of newlywed couples in 2015 were of different races or ethnicities. Decades ago, the figure was only 3%.
Between genders, it was found that Asian women are more likely to engage in mixed marriages than Asian men. The figure was 36% for the recently married female Asians compared to 21% for Asian males. The rate has actually gone down from 1980 when 26% of Asian men and 39% of Asian women married interracially.
The phenomenon is also reportedly more common among those with some college, making up 39% of the total. For Asians with more education, the figure was 29%, while those with less education, 26%.
In the U.S., the most common interracial marriage is composed of Hispanic-White, which is at 42%, while an Asian-White couple comes at second place with 15%.
It was also reported that the public acceptance of interracial marriage has improved, with 39% of those surveyed expressed that such unions are good for society, 9% think it’s a bad thing while the rest said it doesn’t make a difference. Back in 2010, only 24% saw interracial marriages as a positive trend.
