Although racial preferences in dating are often studied, colorism receives less attention. In addition, most research on colorism within the United States has focused on Blacks and Latinxs. Therefore, we examined the role of colorism in attraction among single Asian Americans (N = 262) through speed-dating. Participants reported their racial/ethnic preferences in dating and participated in speed-dating, which yielded their revealed preferences for skin tone and ethnicity. Findings indicated little evidence for colorism. Overall, skin tone did not predict speed-dating success (mate desirability ratings and second date offers). U.S.-born men and women showed slight revealed preferences for darker skin, whereas foreign-born men and women diverged in their preferences, with women preferring lighter skin in men and men preferring darker skin in women. Skin tone also played little role in stated racial/ethnic preferences in dating after accounting for the participant’s generational status, ethnicity, and gender. Findings indicate that these demographic factors might underlie previously documented effects of skin tone among Asian Americans.
BenjaminiYoavHochbergYosef. 1995. “Controlling the False Discovery Rate: A Practical and Powerful Approach to Multiple Testing.” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series B (Methodological)57(1):289–300.
2.
BlairIrene V.JuddCharles M.ChapleauKristine M.2004. “The Influence of Afrocentric Facial Features in Criminal Sentencing.” Psychological Science15(10):674–79.
3.
BuggsShantel Gabrieal. 2017. “Dating in the Time of #BlackLivesMatter: Exploring Mixed-race Women’s Discourses of Race and Racism.” Sociology of Race and Ethnicity3(4):538–51.
4.
BuggsShantel Gabrieal. 2019. “Color, Culture, or Cousin? Multiracial Americans and Framing Boundaries in Interracial Relationships.” Journal of Marriage and Family81(5):1221–36.
5.
ChappettaKelseyBarthJoan. 2022. “Interracial Dating: A Closer Look at Race and Gender Differences in Heterosexual Dating Preferences.” Sexuality & Culture26(3):1–14.
6.
ChenGrace A.LePhuocPaulGuzmánMichele R.RudeStephanie S.DoddBarbara G.2006. “Exploring Asian American Racial Identity.” Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology12(3):461–76.
7.
ChenHsin-YuJablonskiNinaChickGarryYarnalCareen. 2022. “Situating Colorism in Intercultural Contexts: The Multifaceted Process of Acculturation in Shaping Attitudes towards Skin Color.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations90:142–54.
8.
ChenHsin-YuJablonskiNina G.2019. “To See or Not to See: Issues Surrounding the Social Meanings of Skin Color.” Journal of College and Character20(1):65–72.
9.
ChenHsin-YuJablonskiNina G.2022. “Deeper than the Surface: Exploring Symbolic Cultural Cues behind Skin Color among Three Groups of Women of Chinese Heritage.” American Journal of Cultural Sociology10(1):136–63.
10.
ChenHsin-YuJablonskiNina G.ChickGarryYarnalCareen. 2019. “Caught between ‘Light Skin Is Beautiful and Tanned Skin Is Attractive’: How Bicultural Socialization Shapes Attitudes toward Skin Color Aesthetics.” Asian American Journal of Psychology10(4):326–40.
11.
ChenHsin-YuRobinsonJune K.JablonskiNina G.2020. “A Cross-cultural Exploration on the Psychological Aspects of Skin Color Aesthetics: Implications for Sun-related Behavior.” Translational Behavioral Medicine10(1):234–43.
12.
ChenHsin-YuYarnalCareenChickGarryJablonskiNina G.2018. “Egg White or Sun-kissed: A Cross-cultural Exploration of Skin Color and Women’s Leisure Behavior.” Sex Roles78:255–71.
13.
ChenJacqueline M.Francis-TanAndrew. 2022. “Setting the Tone: An Investigation of Skin Color Bias in Asia.” Race and Social Problems14(2):150–69.
14.
ChutuapeErica D.2016. “‘Chinese-Mexicans’ and ‘Blackest Asians’: Filipino American Youth Resisting the Racial Binary.” Race Ethnicity and Education19(1):200–31.
15.
ColeElizabeth R.2009. “Intersectionality and Research in Psychology.” American Psychologist64(3):170–80.
16.
DolbergPninaAmitKarin. 2023. “On a Fast-track to Adulthood: Social Integration and Identity Formation Experiences of Young-adults of 1.5 Generation Immigrants.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies49(1):252–71.
17.
EastwickPaul W.FinkelEli J.2008. “Sex Differences in Mate Preferences Revisited: Do People Know What They Initially Desire in a Romantic Partner?”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology94(2):245–64.
18.
FinkelEli J.EastwickPaul W.2008. “Speed-dating.” Current Directions in Psychological Science17(3):193–97.
19.
FismanRaymondIyengarSheena S.KamenicaEmirSimonsonItamar. 2008. “Racial Preferences in Dating.” The Review of Economic Studies75(1):117–32.
20.
HallRonald E.2012. The Melanin Millennium: Skin Color as 21st Century International Discourse. Berlin: Springer Science & Business Media.
21.
HarveyRichard D.TennialRachel E.Hudson BanksKira. 2017. “The Development and Validation of a Colorism Scale.” Journal of Black Psychology43(7):740–64.
22.
HughesMichaelHertelBradley R.1990. “The Significance of Color Remains: A Study of Life Chances, Mate Selection, and Ethnic Consciousness among Black Americans.” Social Forces68(4):1105–20.
23.
HunterMargaret. 2007. “The Persistent Problem of Colorism: Skin Tone, Status, and Inequality.” Sociology Compass1(1):237–54.
24.
JonesTrina. 2013. “The Significance of Skin Color in Asian and Asian-American Communities: Initial Reflections.” UC Irvine Law Review3:1105–23.
25.
LeeJess. 2019. “Many Dimensions of Asian AmericanPan-ethnicity.” Sociology Compass13(12):e12751.
26.
LeeSharon M.YamanakaKeiko. 1990. “Patterns of Asian American Intermarriage and Marital Assimilation.” Journal of Comparative Family Studies21(2):287–305.
27.
LewisKevin. 2013. “The Limits of Racial Prejudice.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences110(47):18814–19.
28.
LiEric P. H.MinHyun JeongBelkRussell W.2008. “Skin Lightening and Beauty in Four Asian Cultures.” Advances in Consumer Research35:444–49.
29.
LouEvelinaLalondeRichard N.WongJane Y. T.2015. “Acculturation, Gender, and Views on Interracial Relationships among Chinese Canadians.” Personal Relationships22(4):621–34.
30.
MenardScott. 2004. “Six Approaches to Calculating Standardized Logistic Regression Coefficients.” The American Statistician58(3):218–23.
31.
Monk EllisPJr.2021a. “Colorism and Physical Health: Evidence from a National Survey.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior62(1):37–52.
32.
Monk EllisPJr.2021b. “The Unceasing Significance of Colorism: Skin Tone Stratification in the United States.” Daedalus150(2):76–90.
33.
OcampoAnthony C.2013. “‘Am I Really Asian?’ Educational Experiences and Panethnic Identification among Second–generation Filipino Americans.” Journal of Asian American Studies16(3):295–324.
34.
OcampoAnthony C.2014. “Are Second-generation Filipinos ‘Becoming’ Asian American or Latino? Historical Colonialism, Culture and Panethnicity.” Ethnic and Racial Studies37(3):425–45.
35.
PainterMatthew A.HolmesMalcolm D.BatemanJenna. 2016. “Skin Tone, Race/Ethnicity, and Wealth Inequality among New Immigrants.” Social Forces94(3):1153–85.
36.
PardhanShahinaSmithLeeSapkotaRaju P.2021. “Vitamin D Deficiency as an Important Biomarker for the Increased Risk of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in People From Black and Asian Ethnic Minority Groups.” Frontiers in Public Health8:613462.
37.
PeltzerKarlPengpidSupaJamesCaryl. 2016. “The Globalization of Whitening: Prevalence of Skin Lighteners (or Bleachers) Use and Its Social Correlates among University Students in 26 Countries.” International Journal of Dermatology55(2):165–72.
38.
PhinneyJean S.1996. “When We Talk about American Ethnic Groups, What Do We Mean?”American Psychologist51(9):918–27.
39.
PykeKarenDangTran. 2003. “‘FOB’ and ‘Whitewashed’: Identity and Internalized Racism among Second Generation Asian Americans.” Qualitative Sociology26:147–72.
40.
QianZhenchao. 2002. “Race and Social Distance: Intermarriage with Non-Latino Whites.” Race and Society5(1):33–47.
41.
ReyesAngela. 2005. “Appropriation of African American Slang by Asian American Youth.” Journal of Sociolinguistics9(4):509–32.
42.
ReyesAngela. 2017. “Inventing Postcolonial Elites: Race, Language, Mix, Excess.” Journal of Linguistic Anthropology27(2):210–31.
43.
RondillaJoanne L.SpickardPaul. 2007. Is Lighter Better? Skin-tone Discrimination among Asian Americans. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
44.
RyabovIgor. 2016. “Colorism and Educational Outcomes of Asian Americans: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.” Social Psychology of Education19:303–24.
45.
ShenhavSharonCamposBelindaGoldbergWendy A.2017. “Dating Out Is Intercultural: Experience and Perceived Parent Disapproval by Ethnicity and Immigrant Generation.” Journal of Social and Personal Relationships34(3):397–422.
46.
SimsJennifer PatriceHaynesAlexLaniusCandice. 2024. “Exploring the Utility of Eye Tracking for Sociological Research on Race.” The British Journal of Sociology75(1):65–72.
47.
SimsJennifer PatricePirtleWhitney LasterJohnson-ArnoldIris. 2020. “Doing Hair, Doing Race: The Influence of Hairstyle on Racial Perception across the US.” Ethnic and Racial Studies43(12): 2099–2119.
48.
TsunokaiGlenn T.KposowaAugustine J.CarrollEllenKaramokoMiriam. 2019. “The Color Continuum: Skin Tone and Online Dating Preferences among Asian Americans.” Journal of Social and Personal Relationships36(11–12):4027–47.
49.
WuKaren. 2022. “‘I Just Think Asian Men Aren’t Sexy!’: Race, Class, Gender, Sexuality and the Devaluing of Asian Men.” Pp. 317–335 in Getting Real about Inequality: Intersections IRL (In Real Life), edited by McclureS.M.HarrisC.A.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
50.
WuKarenChenChuanshengGreenbergerEllen. 2018. “A Rosier Reality: Incongruency in Stated and Revealed Ingroup Preferences among Young Asian American Speed-daters.” Social Psychology Quarterly81(4):340–60.
51.
YamashitaLiann. 2022. “‘I Just Couldn’t Relate to That Asian American Narrative’: How Southeast Asian Americans Reconsider Panethnicity.” Sociology of Race and Ethnicity8(2):250–66.
52.
YangWeiChandraMaliniGordonNancy P.DarbinianJeanne A.DreesJulia C.Park-SigalJenniferLeeCatherineLoJoan C.2024. “Prevalence of Low Vitamin D Levels among Older US Asian and Pacific Islander Adults.” Osteoporosis International35(11):2017–24.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
