PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING AND PERCEIVED MARITAL OPPORTUNITY AMONG SINGLE AFRICAN-AMERICAN, LATINA AND WHITE WOMEN

Research over the past decade has documented declining rates of marria ge among African Americans and has identified constrained mate availab ility as a key determinant of this change. Many see Black marital decl ine as rooted in the deteriorating economic circumstances of significa nt segments of the African American population (especially males), as well as high male mortality and institutionalization. Discussions of t he impact of diminished marital opportunity have focused on its societ al consequences, with a particular emphasis on community-level outcome s. However, to date, there has been virtually no discussion of the men tal health implications of limited marital opportunity. To the extent that marriage is still highly valued by most Americans, African Americ ans included. How does the recognition that one may not be able to ass ume a highly salient adult role affect subjective well-being? This art icle addresses the relationship between perceived marital opportunity and psychological well-being, as measured by depression, anxiety, lone liness, life satisfaction and relationship satisfaction, using data on single African American, Latina, and White women from the 1989 Southe rn California Social Survey. Our findings indicate that a perceived la ck of availability is strongly associated with greater depression, anx iety, loneliness, and less satisfaction with life. The effect across a ll four dependents was strong and pervasive for Latinas and White wome n, but either weak or nonexistent for African American women. The corr elation findings were supported by multiple regression analyses. Findi ngs were interpreted as indicating that when the perception of mate av ailability is viewed as individually rooted and driven (an internal at tribution), as was the case of both Latinas and White women, the conse quences of psychological well-being are negative. When mate availabili ty is viewed as a systemic feature of the environment over which one h as little control (an external attribution), as was the case for Black women, mental health will not be affected. It is also suggested that single Black women have a greater range of positive role models, which are less available to other groups of women.