Trajectories of Interracial Heterosexual Couples: A Longitudinal Analysis of Relationship Quality and Separation

Minimal research has examined interracial couples’ relationship satisfaction and dissolution patterns over time. Using dyadic data across 8 years, we examined potential differences in relationship quality trajectories through latent growth curve modeling with 1,336 couples as well as differential risks for relationship dissolution through logistic regression between same-race and interracial relationships using a different subset of 2,370 couples. Results indicated that women in interracial relationships were significantly lower in initial relationship quality than women in same-race relationships. Further, interracial couples of Black-Hispanic partnerings were twice as likely to separate across 8 years than same-race couples. These results suggest that despite interracial relationships not substantively differing from same-race couples in trajectories of relationship quality, specific Black-Hispanic interracial couples are at a higher risk of eventual separation.