Abstract

Geosocial apps on mobile phones use location data to introduce many young adults to other people to initiate various types of relationships. This study examined how established racial preferences affect Straight White Men's (SWM) selection decisions of potential partners in a pseudo-geosocial app when controlling for age, attractiveness, and other profile factors of potential matches. A sample comprising exclusively of SWM was selected because historically, this demographic has benefited most from gender and racial inequalities (Thompson, 2009), and they make up the largest portion of people in interracial relationships in the United States (Livingston & Brown, 2017). We found that SWM were significantly less likely to select profiles of women of color compared to profiles of White women when considering friendship, sexual encounters, dating relationships, or long-term committed relationships such as marriage. Established predictors of negative attitudes toward interracial relationships (e.g., religiosity, political beliefs) had no correlation with SWM's selection behavior in the app, but self-reported openness had a consistent correlation to higher odds of selecting women of all races.

Degree

PhD

College and Department

Family, Home, and Social Sciences; Psychology

Rights

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