POP award 2019 submissions

This study applies the status exchange theory to white-Latino intermarriage and explores how the strength of status exchange differs by Latino nativity. The status exchange hypothesis theorizes that couples of unequal social standing engage in an exchange of characteristics, thus suggesting that there are certain obstacles individuals of lower status may face to interact with individuals of higher status. This theory highlights a possible mechanism that drives intermarriage and indicates the height of barriers that different groups encounter when intermarrying. Analyzing differences by nativity provides a greater understanding of the trajectory of Latinos’ integration in the U.S. This study uses years 2008-2015 of the American Community Survey and log-linear models for contingency tables. The best fitting models show evidence of status exchange among marriages between foreign-born Hispanics and native-born whites. Among native-born Hispanics, Hispanic wives seem to engage in status exchange with native-born whites. These results suggest that both foreign-born and native-born Hispanics face similar barriers as blacks when interacting with whites. More broadly, there is evidence for a white-nonwhite racial divide within the U.S.

Support for Beauty-Status Exchange Remains Illusory

In my article, “Beauty and Status: The Illusion of Exchange in Partner Selection?” (McClintock 2014), I used descriptive statistics, three forms of regression, and six measures of socioeconomic status to examine the “trophy wife” stereotype that women “exchange” their beauty for men’s status. According to the stereotype, such women would partner with comparatively less-attractive men who are comparatively high in socioeconomic status. I found little support for beauty-status exchange, and this limited support lacked robustness. Gullickson critiques my analysis on two grounds, arguing against the difference-based regression models, and proposing a new specification of interaction effects in the log-linear models. However, the difference models conceptualize exchange as defined in the relevant literature, and Gullickson’s modified difference models only replicate my conventional regression models, providing no new evidence for or against beauty-status exchange. Likewise, Gullickson’s proposed log-linear specifications are not only non-hierarchical, they also fail to improve model fit or to support exchange when using alternative measures of status. Indeed, Gullickson focuses on the only measure of status that yields any support for beauty-status exchange. Altogether, Gullickson’s case for beauty-status exchange overlooks the preponderance of contrary evidence and prioritizes statistical significance, attainable only under narrow model specifications, over robustness and model fit.

Declining Racial Stratification in Marriage Choices? Trends in Black/White Status Exchange in the United States, 1980 to 2010

The status exchange hypothesis suggests that partners in black/white marriages in the United States trade racial for educational status, indicating strong hierarchical barriers between racial groups. The authors examine trends in status exchange in black/white marriages and cohabitations between 1980 and 2010, a period during which these unions increased from 0.3 percent to 1.5 percent of all young couples. The authors find that status exchange between black men and white women did not decline among either marriages or cohabitations, even as interracial unions became more prevalent. The authors also distinguish two factors driving exchange: (1) the growing probability of marrying a white person as educational attainment increases for both blacks and whites (educational boundaries) and (2) a direct trade of race-by-education between partners (dyadic exchange). Although the theoretical interpretation of exchange has focused on the latter factor, the authors show that status exchange largely emerges from the former.