A Middle Ground? Residential Mobility and Attainment of Mixed-Race Couples

• Published in: Demography Vol. 53; no. 1; pp. 165 - 188
• Main Author: Gabriel, Ryan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Population Association of America (Springer) 01.02.2016; Springer US; Duke University Press, NC & IL
• Subjects: Black white relations; Censuses; Cohabitation; Correlation analysis; Couples; Coupling coefficients; Demographics; Demography; Dynamic tests; Entropy; Ethnic Groups; Ethnic neighborhoods; Ethnicity; Female; Geography; Hispanic Americans; Hispanics; Housing discrimination; Humans; Income; Interracial relationships; Interviews as Topic; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Marriage; Medicine/Public Health; Metropolitan areas; Minority & ethnic groups; Mobility; Multiculturalism & pluralism; Multilevel models; Multiracial people; Neighborhoods; NEIGHBORHOODS AND RESIDENTIAL MOBILITY; Place preferences; Population; Population Dynamics; Population Economics; Race; Racial differences; Racial diversity; Residential areas; Residential location; Residential mobility; Residential patterns; Residential preferences; Residential segregation; Social conditions & trends; Social research; Social Sciences; Sociology; Spouses - psychology; Stratification; Studies; United States; White people; United States > US; Residential mobility; Mixed-race couples; Residential attainment
• DOI: 10.1007/s13524-015-0445-7
• ISSN: 0070-3370

Marriage and cohabitation between members of different racial and ethnic groups has increased in the United States over recent decades. Despite this demographic shift, we know relatively little about how the growing numbers of mixed-race couples are faring in systems of residential stratification. Previous research indicates that mixed-race couples tend to be located in diverse neighborhoods, but because this past research has used cross-sectional data and has not focused on actual residential mobility, it is not clear whether mixed-race couples choose diverse neighborhoods or are just more likely to develop in diverse neighborhoods. To provide a more complete picture of this topic, I conduct a prospective analysis of the residential location and mobility patterns of mixed-race couples, focusing on the extent to which these couples are more likely than monoracial couples to move into, and/or remain in, diverse neighborhoods. The use of longitudinal data between 1985 and 2009 from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) linked to neighborhood- and metropolitan-level data from multiple population censuses reveals that in comparison with monoracial couples, mixed-race couples tend to be located in neighborhoods with higher levels of racial and ethnic diversity and tend to enter more diverse residential destinations when they move. However, these outcomes vary substantially across types of mixed-race couples. Moreover, the outcomes associated with individual- and metropolitan-level conditions provide limited support for the common contention that the residential patterns of mixed-race couples reflect differences in residential preferences, and point to the role of broader patterns of racial stratification in shaping their residential outcomes.