Statistics

Black State has an interesting article on interracial dating which is based on statistics from the 2008 U.S census results. In 2008, in the United States:

Black men married

• 4,190,000 Black women.
• 310,000 White women.
• 39,700 Asian women.

For a total of 4,539,700 marriages. This is 7.1% of all marriages.

White men married

• 55,399,200 White women.
• 713,000 Asian women.
• 137,000 Black women.

For a total of 56,249,200 marriages. This is 88.2% of all marriages.

Asian men married

• 2,790,000 Asian women.
• 193,000 White women.
• 8400 Black women.

For a total of 2,991,400 marriages. This is 4.7% of all marriages.

In total there was 63.8 million marriages in America last year.

According to Wikipedia of the 300 million or so Americans in 2006:

• 73.6 percent or 220.8 million are White.
• 13.5 percent or 40.5 million are Black.
• 6.4 percent or 19.2 million are "some other race". This was a non standard category in the U.S. Census.
• 4.4 percent or 13.1 million are Asian.
• 2 percent or 6.1 million are Multiracial
• 0.8 percent or 2.4 million are Natives.

The marriage statistics are 2 years newer than the other data but are close enough for us to do some rather simple comparisons. From the marriage statistics you can see Black, White and Asian all married within their own race the majority of time. As far as different ethnic groups are concerned, it looks like White men appear to prefer Asian women over Black women. White men married Asian woman 5 times more often than Black women even though there are 3 times as many Black Americans. This also appears to be true for Asian men since only just over 4 percent of their marriages to other ethnic groups was to Black Americans.

For more information on some of these trends, visit BlackState.com and for a dating site that specializes in Interracial dating, read our review of Interracial Match.

We found information on a poll which looked at how money and the recession plays into relationships of younger adults. 1000 men and women from the ages of 18 to 34 participated in the poll. Here are some of the question that were asked to women:

If you were on the fence about dating someone, would you more likely go out with them if he made a lot of money?

• 59 percent of women said yes. Part of the reason this percentage is so high is, scientists suggest that women may be hard-wired to find a man who can provide for their offspring.

Do you use what a man is wearing as an indicator of their success and resources?

• 74 percent of woman said yes.

Would you tell your friends and family if your boyfriend was unemployed or under-employed?

• 62 percent said no.

If your boy friend was unemployed or under-employed would you down play your own accomplishments?

• 73 percent said yes.

For the men, here are some of the question that were asked:

Do you earn less than your girlfriend?

• 28 percent said yes. A third of these men said they still paid for most things.

Would you tell your friends and family if your girlfriend was unemployed or under-employed?

• 42 percent said they would not tell anybody.

For the full story, read CBS News.

Looks like this post is a week late. From September 20 until the 26 in 2009 it was National Singles Week. In the 1980s, the Buckeye Singles Council of Ohio started this observance which falls on the third full week of September. It was started to

... acknowledge that many unmarried Americans do not identify with the word “single” because they are parents, have partners or are widowed.

Here are some recent interesting facts and statistics on singles in America:

• There are now 95.9 million unmarried people in the U.S. who are 18 years or older. This makes up 43 percent of all adults. (from 2008)
• 53 percent of these singles are women
• 61 percent of these singles never have been married before. 24 percent have been divorced and a further 15 percent were widowed.
• Seniors (65+) account for 15.8 million of adult singles which 16 percent having never been married.
• 11.6 million of adult singles are parents living with their children, 9.8 million are women.

For the full fact sheet on the Unmarried and Single Americans Week, visit the U.S. Census Bureau.

A press release from Chemistry highlights the fact their chief scientific advisor Dr. Helen Fisher, has determined through research that success in the bedroom may lead to a more rewarding career. In a study she did using data from 40,000 Chemistry members where 56 percent were woman and the average age was 27, Dr. Fisher found:

... increased sexual activity may lead to an improvement in problem-solving, confidence and teamwork.

These skills may see improvements due to the fact of the chemicals which are released in the human body during sexual activities. As example, sex increases testosterone which has been linked to self confidence. The rush some people feel during sex is due to Dopamine, which has been linked to improved creativity. After sex both women and men receive a boost of Oxytocin and Vasopressin. These chemicals generate trust and attachment. These personality traits are all tied to how well you succeed in life, therefore a person who excels in all of these personality traits most likely will have a successful career as well.

To find out more about the dating site Dr. Helen Fisher represents, check out our Chemistry review.

I am glad to see eHarmony responding in their official blog to an article titled "Marriage-Maker Claims Are Tied in Knots " from the Wall Street Journal. The WSJ article examines some of the marriage statistics released by dating sites like eHarmony as well as the methodology used to calculate such statistics. We talked a bit about this topic as well, a couple of weeks ago when the original WSJ article was published (see Story).

The WSJ article didn't look to kindly on the stats released by dating sites, and for the most part I agree with the author. The public does need to know how these statistics are generated. Of all the dating sites mentioned in the WSJ article, "eHarmony stands out as among the more careful ones". This is not exactly a glowing report for eHarmony so, they decided to post a response on their blog.

In the eHarmony blog post they go into further details on how they calculated that their dating site was responsible for 2% of marriages in the United States, from the 12-month period ending March 2007. Most of the information we already knew about from a previously released PDF file titled "eHarmony | Harris Interactive 2007 Marriage Metrics Number of eHarmony Marriages" (see Story), but the post does flush out a few more details. What this blog post does show is, eHarmony is trying to be as open and transparent with their research findings as possible. I think the name "Open Communication" may indeed be a good choice for the official eHarmony blog.

Here is the full eHarmony response to the Wall Street Journal about how they calculate their marriage statistics. For further information about this dating site, read our review of eHarmony.

There is an interesting article in the New York Times about evolutions role in finding a partner. Most people believe when it comes to dating, women usually are pickier than men.

The usual explanation is evolutionary: because women have a bigger investment in reproduction — they are the ones who have to endure pregnancy, childbirth and breast-feeding — they need to hedge their bets against selecting a dud to be the father.

With the rise of Speed Dating, Psychologists now have easier access to information in a semi controlled environment to test this theory of women being more selective about their mate. Eli Finkel and Paul Eastwick of Northwestern University have recently published a experiment they did which challenges the current thinking. They found that it didn't matter what sex the person was. A person who initiates contact, in regards to going out on a date, tends to be less selective about who he or she asks when compared to the person who is being asked.