Romanticism and Interpersonal Resource Exchange among African American-Anglo and Other Interracial Couples

Abstract

The present study examines the extent to which romanticism (i.e., an orientation toward the welfare of one’s romantic relationship dyad) is reflected in patterns of interpersonal resource exchange (i.e., the reciprocity of affection and respect as interpersonal commodities or resources) in a sample of 91 interracial couples. Results indicated that consistent with predictions, (a) men and women in interracial relationships as a whole exchanged affection as well as respect at significant levels; (b) a romantic model of interpersonal resource exchange provided a significantly better fit to data for an African American-Anglo and other interracial couples significantly better than did a core model of interpersonal resource exchange; and (c) means and correlations among romanticism and individuals’ giving of interpersonal resources did not differ significantly across Black male-White female and White male-Black female couples. Implications for the study of personal relationship processes among interracial and intraracial couples are discussed.