| Sumario: | Does the willingness to date interracially cut across different cohorts? Using data from a sample of Internet daters, the present study examines the race dating preferences of four distinct birth cohorts, the Silent Generation (individuals born in 1942 or before), the Baby Boomers (those born between 1943 and 1960), Generation X (those born between 1961 and 1981), and the Millennium Generation (those born after 1981). Although members from each group have had varying experiences with legalized segregation- especially during the formative years of their adulthood- no research to date has specifically compared these four birth cohorts in regards to their current dating preferences. The findings reveal that members of the oldest generation (Silent Generation) were consistently less willing to date anyone outside their racial group, except when whites were the response variable. Analysis also showed that whites and Asians are unwilling to date African Americans. At the same time, African Americans are resistant to dating whites, but Asians prefer dating whites. Overall results are discussed in relation to both the historical and present socio-cultural racial climate, and how the importance of cohort effects may shape racial dating preferences.
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