Historical and Contemporary Racialized Experiences

To gain a full view of the manifestation of systemic racism on romantic relationships, one must first understand the historical and contemporary racialized experiences of Black Americans and Black American couples. Relative to whites, Blacks face significant disadvantages regarding income and wealth, educational attainment, employment and job status, health, and involvement in the criminal justice system. These disparities reflect and are caused by the legacy and terror of chattel slavery and racial oppression in the United States (Feagin, Reference Feagin2006). Moreover, Black Americans and their romantic relationships are continuously shaped by a long history of systemic racism in U.S. laws, policies (written and unwritten), and practices that advantage whites over Blacks (Hunter, Reference Hunter2017; Lenhardt, Reference Lenhardt2014). From enslavement without the right to legally marry, to forced breeding and sale of family members to other slave owners as property, to the Moynihan report (Reference Moynihan1965), which characterized Black families as matriarchal and dysfunctional, to U.S. government surveillance of Black romantic relationships and families to assess their suitability as citizens while establishing punishments for law violation (e.g., loss of federal aid, removal of children from the household, imprisonment), to anti-miscegenation laws and current marriage promotion policies, the historical and contemporary sociocultural context of systemic racism has always threatened the development and functioning of Black romantic relationships (Bryant et al., Reference Bryant, Wickrama, Bolland, Bryant, Cutrona and Stanik2010; Burton et al., Reference Burton, Bonilla-Silva, Ray, Buckelew and Freeman2010; Landor & Barr, Reference Landor and Barr2018; Lenhardt, Reference Lenhardt2014). Challenges in Black romantic relationships are, in fact, a function of the same systemic racism that has limited the opportunities of Black Americans in numerous areas of life including education, housing, and employment. Thus, focusing on macro level sociocultural context is important to contextualizing the romantic relationship experiences of Black Americans.

The Cost of Racism on Romantic Relationships: Initiation and Development

Theoretical evidence suggests that racism undermines the establishment of romantic relationships and worsens potential relationship development (Bryant et al., Reference Bryant, Wickrama, Bolland, Bryant, Cutrona and Stanik2010). Yet, little empirical research has examined how racism, at both the micro-level and macro level of influence, directly and indirectly, relates to relationship initiation and development experiences of Black Americans. Given the connections between views of marriage and family formation, scholars have linked racial discrimination at the micro-level to attitudes and views of marriage (Clarke, Reference Clarke2011; Collins, Reference Collins2004). For instance, using a sample of African American young adults, Simons et al. (Reference Simons, Simons, Lei and Landor2012) found experiences of racial discrimination were associated with negative views of marriage through the development of distrustful views of relationships. High levels of distrust can negatively influence Black Americans’ decisions to initiate a relationship (Estacio & Cherlin, 2010). However, the cost of racism on romantic relationships extends beyond this micro-level of influence.

Systemic racism also takes a toll on the initiation and development of Black romantic relationships because it structures the social settings that Black Americans have to find romantic relationships. That is, systemic racism, as manifested through racial inequities across multiple sectors including the criminal legal system, the economy, and education, creates challenges to establishing romantic relationships. In particular, higher mass incarceration rates among Black males, disproportionate unemployment rates of Black males, and disparate educational attainment between Black males and females, have resulted in the systematic removal of Black men from dating and marriage markets thus contributing to disparate gender ratios and a reduction in the number of available and dateable Black men (Dixon, Reference Dixon2009). Black Americans account for 12 percent of the United States adult population but represent 33 percent of the prison population (Alexander, Reference Alexander2010). Incarceration reduces Black men’s opportunity to form romantic relationships rendering them unavailable to potential partners and absent from their families (Lopoo & Western, Reference Lopoo and Western2005). A qualitative study of the impact the criminal-legal system had on the romantic relationship status of Black women found harmful effects on cultivating and maintaining romantic connections by creating uncertainty and extreme emotional distress (Monterrosa, Reference Monterrosa2021). In addition, Black male unemployment and lower educational attainment reduces the likelihood of upward mobility therefore significantly limiting Black men’s attractiveness as dating and marriage prospects. The consequences for this systematic exclusion from dating and marriage markets then extends across the life span during young adulthood through older adulthood (Mouzon et al., Reference Mouzon, Taylor and Chatters2020).

Systemic racism has also redefined the salience and meaning of marriage and intimate relationships. For example, studies show that marriage is less of a necessity for Black women, particularly women who are financially secure (Bank, Reference Banks2012; Barnes, Reference Barnes2015; Hill, Reference Hill2006). Also, Black men and women desire to marry someone with characteristics (e.g., educated, financially stable) that will provide upward mobility (King & Allen, Reference King and Allen2009). Moreover, although Black men and women value and desire to establish and be involved in stable high-quality relationships (Barr et al., Reference Barr, Simons and Simons2015), research has noted that in response to systemic racism in state-sanctioned marriage and the resulting penalties (Lenhardt, Reference Lenhardt2014), Black Americans have developed adaptive and alternative strategies for romantic relationships resulting in variations in relationship formation including singleness and singlehood (Banks, Reference Banks2012).

Racism as the Third Person in Romantic Relationships: Maintenance/Functioning and Dissolution

Racism also has erosive effects on romantic relationships once they have developed. At the micro-level, scholars have shown that perceived racial discrimination negatively impacts a host of relationship dynamics for Black couples including relationship quality (Bryant et al., Reference Bryant, Wickrama, Bolland, Bryant, Cutrona and Stanik2010; Doyle & Molix, Reference Doyle and Molix2014), satisfaction, and instability (Lavner et al., Reference Lavner, Barton, Bryant and Beach2018). Furthermore, there is burgeoning research showing that racial discrimination is associated with greater spousal strain (Doyle & Molix, Reference Doyle and Molix2014; Priest et al., Reference Priest, McNeil Smith, Woods and Roberson2020) and increased difficulty in the maintenance of Black intimate romantic relationships (Awosan & Hardy, Reference Awosan and Hardy2017; Awosan & Opara, Reference Awosan and Opara2016). In particular, theorists and researchers have posited that the stress from interpersonal experiences of racism through racial discrimination spill over into the relationship and consequently affect the relational health of the couple (Barton et al., Reference Barton, Beach, Bryant, Lavner and Brody2018; Henderson et al., Reference Henderson, Wong, Dues and Walsemann2023). As such, the quality, stability, and satisfaction of Black relationships are intricately tied to the sociocultural context that these relationships are embedded in.

Most of the research in this area has focused on the inequitable interpersonal treatment experienced by romantic partners, yet there is a vital need to also document and understand how systemic racism perpetuates and maintains existing relationship experiences and inequities. From a macro level standpoint, racism impacts the maintenance, functioning, and dissolution of Black relationships through past and contemporary racialized policies and practices. Economic factors such as financial strain and instability are negatively associated with relationship quality (Barton & Bryant, Reference Barton and Bryant2016; Lerman, Reference Lerman2002) and positively associated with risk for relationship dissolution (Cutrona et al., Reference Cutrona, Russell, Burzette, Wesner and Bryant2011). As such, Black relationship maintenance and stability must be viewed through a context that accounts for the racialized wealth gap derived from exclusionary racist practices such as redlining, higher unemployment rates, and segregated communities. This is particularly important given evidence that neighborhood factors, such as living in a lower-income community, can compromise relational well-being of African American couples, even when controlling for individual demographic variables (Cutrona et al., Reference Cutrona, Russell, Abraham, Gardner, Melby, Bryant and Conger2003). Furthermore, issues of power and negotiations of gender roles within Black couple relationships are influenced by the economic realities of Black men and women in a racialized society. For example, though Black couples are described as having more egalitarian gender role attitudes and division of household labor, there is evidence to suggest that Black husbands tend to adopt more traditional gender role attitudes compared to their wives (Stanik & Bryant, Reference Stanik and Bryant2012). Given that Black women on average are more educated than their Black male partners and Black men have significantly higher rates of unemployment, the ability for Black men to enact traditional gender roles is more difficult. Some scholars have posited that Black men may desire more traditional gender roles to “assert their dominance within the family as compensation for the oppression they face in the larger society” (Stanik & Bryant, Reference Stanik and Bryant2012, p. 258) and Black female partners may take a one-down approach to their male partners because they are aware of the societal oppression that Black men face (Cowdery et al., Reference Cowdery, Scarborough, Knudson‐Martin, Seshadri, Lewis and Mahoney2009). Such an approach that is driven by systemic and structural factors may compromise relationships by contributing to lower marital quality for couples (Stanik & Bryant, Reference Stanik and Bryant2012).

Dissolution of relationships must also be viewed through a systemic racism lens. Beyond demographic statistics that report higher dissolution rates among Black couples compared to other racial/ethnic groups, there is little to no examination of breakups and divorce in a racialized sociocultural context. In Amato’s (Reference Amato2010) decade-in-review, predictors of divorce included poverty, low levels of education, premarital birth, premarital cohabitation, and parental divorce. Black Americans are disproportionately at risk of experiencing each of these risk factors, yet the structural factors that contribute to this reality are rarely unpacked. It also presents a deficit perspective as if divorce is a personal failing for Black communities when actually “many Black couples experience the unspoken unfairness embedded in intergenerational patterns of statistically fewer marriages and more divorces that are driven by structural racism” (Kelly et al., Reference Kelly, Jérémie‐Brink, Chambers and Smith‐Bynum2020, p. 1384). Furthermore, opportunities to remedy relationship decline through couple therapy is not afforded to Black couples in the same way as it is for white couples. Black couples may be reluctant to engage in couples therapy due to cultural stigma, a history of medical mistrust, and fear of having a culturally insensitive therapist (Nightingale et al., Reference Nightingale, Jones and Smith2019).

Racism as Pulling Us Together

Romantic relationships of Black Americans have a legacy of demonstrating strength and resilience despite adversity (Dixon, Reference Dixon2009; Hunter, Reference Hunter2017; McAdoo, Reference McAdoo2007). In Hunter’s (Reference Hunter2017) Bound in Wedlock, there is considerable evidence demonstrating the lengths that coupled African American men and women went to reconnect with each other and their resistance of systemic oppression throughout the transition from slavery to “freedom” in the nineteenth century. Even today, Black Americans have coped with, used their strengths, and resisted the deleterious effects of racism on their romantic relationships by enacting what Masten (Reference Masten2001) calls “ordinary magic.” Several scholars have acknowledged the obstacles in the formation, maintenance, and stability of Black marriages while simultaneously shifting the focus on identifying the strengths inherent in these relationships (e.g., Dew et al., Reference Dew, Anderson, Skogrand and Chaney2017; Marks et al., Reference Marks, Hopkins, Chaney, Monroe, Nesteruk and Sasser2008; Skipper et al., Reference Skipper, Marks, Moore and Dollahite2021; Vaterlaus et al., Reference Vaterlaus, Skogrand, Chaney and Gahagan2017). Sparked by the controversial, inaccurate, and deficit-laden federal report by Moynihan (Reference Moynihan1965), the proclaimed “tangle of pathologies” that described African American families prompted a number of scholars to refute these claims and highlight the inherent strengths of Black families in a racialized social system (e.g., Billingsley, Reference Billingsley1968; Hill, Reference Hill1972).

To deal with the effects of individual and systemic racism, Black couples utilize a host of coping strategies, social support systems, and adaptability of family roles (McAdoo, Reference McAdoo2007). Support from immediate family, extended family, fictive kin, and the community have continuously been instrumental in contributing to the resilience of Black couple and family relationships (Marks et al., Reference Marks, Hopkins, Chaney, Monroe, Nesteruk and Sasser2008). In particular, Black couples draw on their shared cultural understanding and efforts to pull together to protect the family from the effects of societal inequality (Awosan & Hardy, Reference Awosan and Hardy2017; Cowdery et al., Reference Cowdery, Scarborough, Knudson‐Martin, Seshadri, Lewis and Mahoney2009). There are also positive and strong Black marriages that report effective communication, flexible gender roles, and an intentional approach to financial management as resources that sustain their marriages (Marks et al., Reference Marks, Hopkins, Chaney, Monroe, Nesteruk and Sasser2008; Skipper et al., Reference Skipper, Marks, Moore and Dollahite2021). Furthermore, the institution of church and a strong sense of spirituality has historically been used to promote positive Black coupling experiences through religious coping strategies (e.g., praying) and the provision of social welfare services (e.g., housing, financial assistance; Pool, Reference Poole, Cheatham and Stewart2017) and is a prominent resource today for Black relationships (Jenkins et al., Reference Jenkins, Fredman, Le, Mogle and McHale2022; Moore et al., Reference Moore, Chaney and Skipper2021; Phillips et al., Reference Phillips, Wilmoth and Marks2012). Black Greek-letter fraternities and sororities (collectively referred to as the Divine Nine), as well as Black civic organizations such as Jack and Jill and The Links also provide support and uplift the Black community from racial inequities. These organizations have served as a refuge for Black Americans living in predominately white communities or the only or one of a few Black Americans at their workplace. Collectively, these resources and more are inherent and mobilized in Black marital (Phillips et al., Reference Phillips, Wilmoth and Marks2012) and cohabiting (Chaney, Reference Chaney2014) relationships.

Conceptualization and Theory

Scholars must work to conceptualize and explicitly operationalize systemic racism in relationship science literature. As a first step, there must be an interrogation of whether existing relationship theories and frameworks are able to capture the presence and effects of systemic racism. In particular, scholars should begin by theorizing about the role of oppression and privilege at the macro level and how these factors contour romantic relationship development and functioning. Otherwise, important processes may remain invisible and unexplored, and erroneous assumptions and conclusions may be constructed. Such a process may include revisioning existing acontextual theories or integrating macro level critical frameworks, such as Critical Race Theory (Delgado & Stefancic, Reference Delgado and Stefancic2023) or Systemic Racism Theory (Feagin, Reference Feagin2006) with micro-level relationship frameworks.

In addition to improving our theorizing about romantic relationships, scholars need to ask research questions related to the historical underpinnings of contemporary realities. Work by health researchers using macro level factors such as the legacy of slavery and historical redlining provide some directions for relationship science research. For instance, a higher concentration of slavery in 1860 at the county level was associated with slower declines in heart disease mortality among Blacks in recent decades (Kramer et al., Reference Kramer, Black, Matthews and James2017). Moreover, research by Faber (Reference Faber2020) found that historical redlining practices underline contemporary residential segregation patterns and health inequities. What might this look like when examining how the legacy of slavery or historical redlining shape union formation and marriage rates across all racialized groups? Scholars should also consider the connections between historical and contemporary forms of systemic racism on romantic relationships given that the historical forms direct contemporary ones.

Consider Measurement at Global, National, State, and Local Levels

There continues to be a need for research that examines the role of measurement when understanding how systemic racism impacts romantic relationships. As this research expands, the development of measures of systemic racism will have to align with theory. To date, no study has empirically examined systemic racism as a determinant of relationship development and functioning. Again, relationship science should consider turning to innovative work in the field of health science. A robust body of literature in this field has demonstrated how structural racism operates to influence health in myriad ways (Bailey et al., Reference Bailey, Krieger, Agénor, Graves, Linos and Bassett2017; Krieger et al., Reference Krieger, Van Wye, Huynh, Waterman, Maduro, Li, Gwynn, Barbot and Bassett2020; Lynch et al., Reference Lynch, Malcoe, Laurent, Richardson, Mitchell and Meier2021) and several scholars have made important contributions to the measurement of systemic racism at local, state, national, and global levels.

A similar process can and should occur in relationship science as racial inequalities manifest in institutionalized policies and practices (e.g., de jure racism of the Jim Crow era; de facto racism in mandatory sentencing) that impact romantic relationships in various ways across geographic contexts. For example, researchers can explore how indicators of structural racism (e.g., local and state-level racial disparities in education, employment, incarceration, concentration of poverty) directly and indirectly through individual discrimination influence relationship initiation, development, and maintenance. Racial disparities at the community- and state-level across domains of educational attainment, employment, judicial treatment, and political participation may be proxies for systematic exclusion of Black people from resources and mobility, which indirectly affects the formation and maintenance of romantic relationships (Lukachko et al., Reference Lukachko, Hatzenbuehler and Keyes2014). Census data that can capture the historical concentration of enslaved people in a specific area and current patterns of poverty can also be used as indicators of the legacy of slavery that indirectly affects family and relationship formation within particular geographics locales (Baker & O’Connell, Reference Baker and O’Connell2022). Examining the impact of local policies and practices, which are often not race-neutral in implementation, on romantic relationships can also uncover factors that contribute to relationship maintenance and satisfaction, including but not limited to health care access, neighborhood environment, and economic stability. Finally, scholars can examine racial inequities and structural racism on a global scale – for example, explore how colonization and caste systems, which are also rooted in white supremacy, act as international forms of structural racism and racial inequities that undermine the romantic relationships of current populations across the world.

Explore Privilege and Power in Relationship Science

For centuries, systemic racism has resulted in unearned privilege and power that has protected white individuals and couples from the deleterious romantic relationship experiences and outcomes that affect Black individuals and couples. Consequently, Black Americans have unequal access to romance, dating, and marriage (Chambers & Kravitz, Reference Chambers and Kravitz2011; Dixon, Reference Dixon2009). Given that systemic racism permeates all sectors of society, one way for relationship science to shift this narrative is to examine the historical and contemporary advantages of romantic relationship privilege and power. This confronts systemic racism and the privilege embedded in it. Research has overlooked the effects of racial inequities on all racial and ethnic groups, including white populations. In fact, exploration of the effects of systemic racism on the romantic relationships of white populations remain less clear. White individuals and couples do not develop in a vacuum outside of the same system of racialized oppression and systemic racism. We suspect that experiencing greater privilege and relative power creates both historical and contemporary resources and opportunities that impact relationship initiation, development, maintenance, and dissolution. One might ask “how might being in the dominant racial position in the U.S. influence the romantic relationship development and functioning of white partners in relationships?” and “do whites reap romantic relationship advantages from higher levels of systemic racism?” This exploration may underscore the myriad advantages white individuals and couples experience across the lifespan. Highlighting how macro level systemic racism impacts whites may help to better understand and address the unequal distribution of romantic relationship development and functioning across all racial and ethnic populations.

New Focus on Old Issues: Within-Group Heterogeneity

Future research investigating how systemic racism affects romantic relationships must also attend to within-group heterogeneity that shapes and reinforces romantic relationships initiation, development, maintenance, and dissolution. The magnitude of within-group heterogeneity in Black romantic relationships underscores the importance of considering issues of intragroup diversity in relationship science. Past scholarship has overwhelmingly compared Black and white Americans and focused on heterosexual relationships, obscuring important variations within the Black American population that include, but are not limited to, ethnicity (e.g., Caribbean Black), skin tone (e.g., being lighter skin), and sexual orientation. Although Black Americans share sociohistorical experiences, their social location(s) illustrates variations in the degree of systemic racism. Therefore, researchers should not assume equivalent relationship processes and outcomes across all Black Americans. For instance, using a national sample of unmarried African Americans and Black Caribbeans, work by Lincoln and colleagues (Reference Lincoln, Taylor and Jackson2008) found that correlates of relationship satisfaction and longevity differed among African American and Black Caribbeans. Moreover, another example of within-group heterogeneity in Black romantic relationships is skin tone. Within-group differences in romantic relationship development and functioning is related to skin tone and colorism – defined as the unequal treatment and discrimination of individuals on the basis of the lightness or darkness of their skin tone. Studies show that lighter skin African Americans are more likely to marry and have higher status spouses compared to their darker skin counterparts (Burton et al., Reference Burton, Bonilla-Silva, Ray, Buckelew and Freeman2010; Hamilton et al., Reference Hamilton, Goldsmith and Darity Jr2009; Landor & Bar, Reference Landor and Barr2018; Landor & McNeil Smith, Reference Landor and McNeil Smith2019). Furthermore, the intersectionality of race and sexual orientation should also be considered. A systematic review of research focused on Black American same-sex couples found that Black sexual minority women were underrepresented in the literature compared to Black sexual minority men and there is a dearth of research on same-sex couples where both partners are Black (Lassiter et al., Reference Lassiter, Dacus and Johnson2022). A focus on how systemic racism intersects with within-group heterogeneity to impact romantic relationships will aid in understanding variations within racialized groups rather than comparing these groups to white Americans.

To summarize, understanding the ways in which systemic racism impacts romantic relationships is an important and timely area of inquiry. We hope to inspire a movement of relationship science toward a better understanding of the critical role played by macro level, sociocultural context like systemic racism in all facets of romantic relationships. Although there is no “one size fits all” approach to addressing systemic racism in relationship science, these common themes and actions can be implemented to move this field forward. Incorporating the study of systemic racism will provide us with a more holistic picture of romantic relationship experiences that can have equitable and beneficial research, theory, practice, and policy implications for all families.