INTERRACIAL DATING
Farrah D. Gafford, B.A.
Thesis Prepared for the Degree of
MASTER OF SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS
August 2001
APPROVED:
Rudy Ray Seward, Major Professor
Arminta Jacobson, Minor Professor
Lisa Garza, Committee Member
Dale E. Yeatts, Chair, Department of Sociology
David W. Hartman, Dean of the School of Community Service
C. Neal Tate, Dean of the Robert B. Toulouse School of Graduate
Studies
Gafford, Farrah D., Factors That Affect College Students’ Attitudes Toward
Interracial Dating. M.S. (Sociology), August 2001, 33 pp., 6 tables, 26 references.
This study was designed to examine the attitudes of undergraduate students toward interracial dating. …show more content…
Stryker’s identity theory may be useful to understanding the relationship between racial identity salience and interracial dating attitudes, but as mentioned here the association is rather modest. However, the concepts should be researched further. It is likely that participants with high racial identity scores placed racial identity high within their hierarchy of identities. Because racial identity and race would be important to these students, it may be equally as important in choosing people to date. More specifically, they may view dating someone of another race as a threat to their racial identity. Further investigation on racial identity salience would be needed in order to fully understand its influence on attitudes.
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Limitations
One limitation of the study was the sampling technique used in the research. While the intended population for the survey was all undergraduate college students, a convenience sample of students attending the University of North Texas was used instead. Although the sample of convenience assisted the researcher in fiscal and time restraints but certain