The role of family relationships in the psychological wellbeing of interracially dating adolescents

We use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) to examine the role of family relationships in explaining why interracially dating youth have poorer psychological wellbeing than youth with same-race partners. Results indicate that interracial daters experience more symptoms of depression and anxiety and poorer family relationships than do same-race daters. The additive effects of their lower levels of family support and poorer quality parent-child relationships, however, do little to explain interracial daters' more negative wellbeing outcomes. The negative effects of interracial dating hold similarly for boys and girls and among White and Black youth. Interracial dating less negatively effects the depressive symptomatology of Hispanics, though, and actually appears to “protect” Asian youth from depressive symptoms. Our findings highlight the psychological wellbeing risks faced by many interracially dating youth and the protective benefits of close and supportive family relationships for romantically-involved adolescents in general.