Unaffirmed and color‐blind: Racial worldview and stigma experienced in interracial relationships

Abstract

AbstractMarginalization as an interracial couple has been associated with poorer relationship functioning and poorer mental health outcomes. However, what contributes to whether interracial relationship (IR) partners perceive their relationship as stigmatized is not fully understood. Using a racially diverse sample of over 200 participants in IRs, this study addresses group and individual differences in the experience of IR stigma. Results suggest that, despite literature on related constructs such as stigma consciousness (the extent to which one is aware that they face marginalization or discrimination), there were no race‐based group differences in reports of experienced stigma. Instead, a more nuanced account of a person's understanding of the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and institutional impact of race, a novel concept called racial worldview, offers an important step forward in understanding the perception of stigma. Racial worldview has implications for the continued study of interracial romantic relationships as an alternative for race‐based group comparisons and a meaningful alternative to comparative studies with intraracial or same‐race relationships.