ABSTRACT

Examination of the conditions under which the men first became involved in their relationship revealed similarly varied circumstances. Yet some of the other men’s explanations tended to go a step further, and their comments reflected specific ideas about the significance of their partner’s actual racial and ethnic status. That is, whether their partners were White, of Asian descent, Hispanic, or foreign-born was associated with the way the men explained the challenges they encountered. It is safe to say that their mates’ skin color and country of origin determined whether they saw the problems they encountered as being a result of the relationship itself, or whether they saw the problems as resulting from their partners’ different race or ethnicity. In contrast, the other men who were involved with women who were of Asian descent or from Spanish-speaking countries more often than not attributed the challenges they encountered to the specific racial and ethnic status of their partners.