Social-Contextual Influences on Adolescent Romantic Involvement: The Constraints of Being a Numerical Minority

This research explores white-black differences in adolescent heterosexual romantic involvement and how these differences are shaped by social context. We find that, parallel to patterns of marriage in adulthood, Non-Hispanic white girls are more likely to be in a romantic relationship than African American girls. This is particularly true when we focus on heterosexual romantic relationships formed with schoolmates. Among boys, African Americans are more likely to be romantically involved than Non-Hispanic whites. We investigate the contribution of two broad types of social-demographic factors to these race-ethnic differences, population composition and normative climate. We develop theory about why being a numerical minority should lead to lower levels of relationship formation, especially when interracial relationships are rare. Results support the population composition hypotheses but not the idea that race-ethnic differences arise because of differences in normative climate.