Cross-Generational Perceptions of Interracial, Interpolitical, and Interreligious Relationships
Poster Number
072
College
College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Psychology
Abstract
We examined adults’ perceptions of interracial, interreligious, and interpolitical relationships across ages. We hypothesized that younger adults would be more accepting of interracial and interreligious relationships, while older adults would be more accepting of interpolitical relationships. Participants were 197 adults (77% women; 77% Caucasian) with an age range of 18 to 75 and a mean of 36.98 (SD = 15.02). Participants responded to a scale that assessed attitudes toward interracial romantic relationships. Participants then responded to the same scale; however, “interracial” was replaced with “interreligious.” Interreligious was defined as two people of different religious belief systems. We then took the same questions and used the term “interpolitical,” defining it as two people with different political belief systems. Participants also ranked how important race, politics, and religion are when choosing a romantic partner. In addition, we asked participants to rate how important they thought those same factors would be to other age groups. We divided participants into three age categories: 18-40 (young adult), 41-60 (middle adult); 60-75 (older adult). Results revealed that adults of all ages find religion to be the most important factor and race to be a less important factor when selecting a romantic partner. Adults misperceived other age categories by assuming that politics would be most important to young adults, and race would be most important to older adults. Interestingly, when we asked participants to guess what other people in their own age group would value, middle adults were the only group that had accurate self-perceptions.
Honors Thesis Committee
Merry Sleigh, Ph.D.; Darren Ritzer, Ph.D.; and Donna Nelson, Ph.D
Start Date
12-4-2019 2:15 PM
End Date
April 2019
Cross-Generational Perceptions of Interracial, Interpolitical, and Interreligious Relationships
Richardson Ballroom – DiGiorgio Campus Center
We examined adults’ perceptions of interracial, interreligious, and interpolitical relationships across ages. We hypothesized that younger adults would be more accepting of interracial and interreligious relationships, while older adults would be more accepting of interpolitical relationships. Participants were 197 adults (77% women; 77% Caucasian) with an age range of 18 to 75 and a mean of 36.98 (SD = 15.02). Participants responded to a scale that assessed attitudes toward interracial romantic relationships. Participants then responded to the same scale; however, “interracial” was replaced with “interreligious.” Interreligious was defined as two people of different religious belief systems. We then took the same questions and used the term “interpolitical,” defining it as two people with different political belief systems. Participants also ranked how important race, politics, and religion are when choosing a romantic partner. In addition, we asked participants to rate how important they thought those same factors would be to other age groups. We divided participants into three age categories: 18-40 (young adult), 41-60 (middle adult); 60-75 (older adult). Results revealed that adults of all ages find religion to be the most important factor and race to be a less important factor when selecting a romantic partner. Adults misperceived other age categories by assuming that politics would be most important to young adults, and race would be most important to older adults. Interestingly, when we asked participants to guess what other people in their own age group would value, middle adults were the only group that had accurate self-perceptions.
