Preference for dating out-group members: Not the same for all out-groups and cultural backgrounds

Within social psychology, past research on out-group dating preferences and relevant predictors has paid attention primarily to one type of out-group background, namely preferences for dating individuals from racial, cultural, or ethnic outgroups. It is from this specific context that many researchers have drawn conclusions regarding our understanding about the social psychological factors that influence out-group dating preferences in general. In the current research, we asked whether these social psychological factors (social approval, social identity, previous dating experience) play an equally important role across different out-group categories. This is an important question to consider as these are different categories that represent different aspects of an individual’s character. For example, the approval one receives from society may be an important factor when considering dating an individual from a different racial background because race is a visible physical characteristic, whereas, it may not be as important if an individual were to date an out-group religious or socio-economic status member as these characteristics are not always easily visible. Thus, this study goes beyond existing research to examine the role of commonly studied social psychological factors in the context of intergroup dating preferences across three different types of out-groups: race/culture/ethnicity, religion, socio-economic status.

Furthermore, most research on intergroup dating preferences originates from North America. Accumulated cross-cultural evidence has shown that psychological findings do not always replicate in other countries or cultural contexts (for a review see Henrich, Heine, & Norenzayan, 2010). To increase the diversity in this area of research and test the generalizability of findings observed in one cultural context to other cultural contexts, we investigated out-group dating preferences in samples drawn from three different countries (UK, US, India). We chose these countries because this three-way comparison makes it possible to examine dating preferences in countries that vary in values (e.g., individualism/collectivism; power distance) which may impact attitudes and behaviors in relation to selecting a potential romantic partner (e.g., Hiew, Halford, Van De Vijver, & Liu, 2015; Pepping, Taylor, Koh, & Halford, 2017). Additionally, these countries provide ample opportunities for intergroup contact as they host many different racial and ethnic, religious (e.g., Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim), and socio-economic status (e.g., different castes and social classes) groups that live side by side (notably so in metropolitan areas such as London, New York, Mumbai).

Moreover, these countries have unique histories that influence intergroup relations. For example, the US has a history of slavery (which was not abolished until 1865), anti-miscegenation laws (that lasted until 1967, making it illegal to marry outside of your own race) (Browning, 1951), and Jim Crow segregation laws (that were enforced until 1965). This particular racial hierarchical system in the US might shape individuals’ willingness to date out-group racial members, but may not impact their willingness to date religious out-group members. The UK also has a history of slavery, and a long history of religious divide, particularly between Protestants and Catholics and social class divide that is still relevant today (e.g., Cunningham & Savage, 2015). The US and the UK also have different patterns of immigration (e.g., Mexican immigrants in the US) (Waters, 2014). These different circumstances make it plausible, for example, that individuals may be more willing to date out-group members from different racial/ethnic groups, but not from a different social class depending on the country they live in. India has a well-known distinct divide between social classes (caste system) (e.g., Olcott, 1944; Woodburne, 1922) and hosts numerous groups of different religious/linguistic/cultural backgrounds. Finally, India has a tradition of arranged marriages. However, this tradition is slowly changing and Indian young adults are now increasingly having romantic relationships before marriage (Alexander, Garda, Kanade, Jejeebhoy, & Ganatra, 2006; Gala & Kapadia, 2014; Ganth & Kadhiavan, 2017) and with individuals from different backgrounds (e.g., Heitmeyer, 2016). It is therefore plausible that historical factors that have shaped intergroup relations differently in these three countries might also play differential roles in shaping intergroup dating attitudes. To examine out-group dating preferences in different cultural backgrounds, we collected data from these three different settings on preference for dating individuals from different racial/cultural/ethnic, religious, and socio-economic status backgrounds.

Different social psychological factors have been examined in relation to out-group dating preferences including social approval, self-esteem, social identity, status, physical attractiveness, dating experience, religion, intergroup attitudes, and intergroup anxiety (e.g., Brown et al., 2003; Harper & Yeung, 2015; Levin, Taylor, & Caudle, 2007; Liu et al., 1995; Perry, 2013; Shibazaki & Brennan, 1998). In this study, we investigate self- (social identity) and other-related (social approval) social psychological factors, as well as those that concern past personal and other-related experience with intergroup dating experience (previous intergroup direct dating experience and the indirect experience of having known others in an intergroup romantic relationship). These factors have been shown to play an important role in shaping outgroup dating attitudes, however this literature is almost exclusively limited to dating across cultural, racial or ethnic boundaries. Thus, it is yet to be investigated if these factors play a similar or different role in the context of dating across other group boundaries. We turn to each of these factors below.