Marital happiness and inter-racial marriage: A study in a multi-ethnic community in Hawaii

Inter-racial marriages are often reported as less stable and less happy tha n intra-racial marriages, but the effect of race and culture is difficult t o separate. This paper examines self-reported marital happiness among a sam ple of married couples in a multi-racial, multi-cultural but homo-religious community. Findings suggest that even after controlling religion and many other demographic variables, inter-racially married individuals report lowe r happiness than those in intraracial unions, especially women. When couple s are used as unit of analysis and husband and wife's responses are control led for each other, wives' happiness is significantly affected by interraci al marriage. Husbands' happiness is not related to their type of marriage.