Dating

ETHNICITY OF DATING PARTNERS

When presented with the statement "You have dated people of this race / ethnicity" and a list of options, our finding shows that about three-quarters of Asian American men report having dated someone who is East Asian (77%) or White (70%).

Nearly one third of men have dated someone who was Southeast Asian (32%) or South Asian (28%). And finally, a smaller percentage of men report having dated someone who was Black/African American (24%), Latino/Hispanic (18%), or Native American (3%)

DATING BEHAVIOR BY SUB-ETHNICITY

When breaking down dating behavior by East, Southeast, South Asian, and Mixed Race men, we find significant differences when looking across different sub-ethnicities. Men were more likely to have dated people in the same sub-ethnicity as themselves.

East Asian dating partners — East Asian men were most likely to report having dated someone of East Asian descent (87%), while on the low end, only 33% of South Asian men say the same.
Southeast Asian dating partners — 61% of Southeast Asian men report having dated someone of Southeast Asian descent, while only 11% of South Asian men say the same.
South Asian dating partners — South Asian men were most likely to report having dated someone of South Asian descent (68%), while on the low end, only 14% of East Asian men say the same.
Non-Asian Partners — Mixed Race men were most likely to report having dated someone White (88%), Black / African American (31%) or Latino Hispanic (43%), while East Asian men reported the lowest non-Asian dating rates: White (65%), Black / African American (15%), and Latino / Hispanic (26%)

PREFERRED RACE OF DATING PARTNERS

When asked which races / ethnicities they preferred to date:

Just under two-thirds of East Asian men preferred partners who were also East Asian (62%) and White partners were runner up at 43%.
Nearly half of Southeast Asian men preferred White partners (48%) and in Southeast Asian partners were a close second at 45%.
Well over a third of South Asian men stated a preference for South Asian partners (39%), followed by White partners at 32%.
Over a third of Mixed Race men preferred East Asian partners (36%), with White partners being a runner up at 26%.

When looking at people who indicated they had “No preference” when it came to the ethnicity of their dating partners, Mixed Race men were the most flexible with their partners, with nearly half (48%) responding as such, while East Asian men had stronger racial / ethnic preferences as less than a third indicated the same (29%). Southeast and South Asian men came in between the two, at 36% and 44% respectively.

LONG-TERM RELATIONSHIPS

About 43% of all men in our study were either married or in committed long-term relationships.

The vast majority of men under 25 years old were single (74%) with just over a fifth being in a relationship
Just over half of men between the ages of 25 and 34 were single (55%) and the rest split between in a relationship (26%) and married (19%)
Half of all men over 35 were married (50%), while almost a third were single (30%). Another 14% were in a long-term relationship, 4% were divorced, and 1% were separated.

Of men in relationships, the race / ethnicity of partners were very similar to their dating preferences.

For East Asian men, over half of their partners were East Asian (55%), while nearly a third were White (29%).
For Southeast Asian men, well over a third of their partners were White (39%), while another quarter were Southeast Asian (26%).
For South Asian men, close to half of their partners were South Asian (46%), while another third were White (33%).
For Mixed Race men, a third of their partners were White (33%), while another quarter were East Asian (24%).

DIRECT EXPRESSIONS OF DISINTEREST

One experience that is not uncommon to Asian men is hearing people state an active disinterest in dating men of their ethnicity / race. Nearly two-thirds of men have had someone say in their presence “I don’t date Asian men” in their presence (62%), including a fifth of men who have heard this statement six or more times (20%).

Looking at sub-ethnicities, we found that while East and Southeast Asian men had similar rates of around 63%-65% South Asian men were the most shielded from this experience, with less than half indicating such an experience (49%) and a higher percent indicating never having heard such. Worth noting is that despite Mixed Race men having the highest rates of dating non-Asian people, they were not immune from experiences of disinterest, with two-thirds reporting having heard “I don’t date Asian men” at least one time (67%).

ASIAN AMERICAN MEN AS ROMANTIC PARTNERS

The vast majority of men believe that Asian men can make attractive romantic partners, with 93% indicating “agree” or “strongly agree” to this statement in regard to their personal beliefs. And while they were optimistic that society believed the same, they were less confident, with only 76% venturing “agree” or “strongly agree” and while only 1% of men “disagreed” or “strongly disagreed” that they personally believed Asian men can make attractive partners, 10x as many ascribed that attitude towards society (10%).

RACE AS A FACTOR IN DATING

Three-quarters of Asian men agree or strongly agree that their race / ethnicity is an important factor in their dating lives (76%). When breaking this down by sub-ethnicity, we found that Mixed Race men seemed least concerned about race, barely half of men (53%???) affirming that race was a factor. Meanwhile Southeast Asian men were most likely to strongly agree that race was a factor compared to East or Southeast Asian men (40%???) but also had a higher percentage that responded negatively, at 15% compared to XXX and YYYY for East and South Asian men.

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