What’s Race Got to Do With It? Narratives of Asian Americans in Asian/White Interracial Relationships

Abstract

Despite high rates of Asian Americans in interracial romantic partnerships with Whites and the sociohistorical context of interracial relationships and race in the United States, there is limited empirical work regarding Asian Americans’ experiences of navigating race and racial differences in Asian/White romantic relationships. Drawing from the master narrative framework, this mixed-methods study aimed to describe Asian Americans’ experiences in Asian/White interracial relationships, identify master and alternative narratives of addressing racial differences within participants’ responses, and examine how narratives relate to psychological adjustment and relationship quality. Participants (N = 189) were self-identified Asian American young adults in committed relationships with White romantic partners. Using thematic analysis, I found that participants received three forms of cultural socialization about Asian/White relationships: Promoting Ethnic-Racial Pride, White Supremacy and Racism, and Racial De-Emphasis. Cultural socialization also informed four racial tropes about Asian/White relationships: Fetishization of Multiracial Children, Ethnic-Racial Betrayal, Asian Female/White Male Couples, and Asian Male/White Female Couples. Using thematic analysis, I also identified societal narratives of Color-Blindness, Multiculturalism, and Racial Awareness that were internalized in participants’ discussions of race and racial differences in their relationships. Quantitative coding of narrative internalization found that Multiculturalism had the highest mean rating, followed by Color-Blindness and then Racial Awareness. Multiple linear regressions were conducted to determine the main effects of narrative internalization on relationship quality, psychological distress, social belonging, and ethnic-racial identity affect. None of the main effects were significant except for the Multiculturalism narrative on ethnic-racial identity affect (B = .10, SE = .05, p = .04); however, this effect was no longer significant when analyses were repeated with a subsample (n = 186) that excluded inattentive responders (n = 3). Overall, results demonstrate that participants receive multiple, conflicting messages about race and interraciality that complicate how they perceive and discuss race and racial differences in their relationships.