(PS10-A5) Is Love Colorblind? Exploring the Effects of Race on Straight White Men’s Geosocial App Preferences

Many young adults use geosocial apps like Tinder to initiate relationships. This study examines how race affects Straight White Men’s (SWM; N=518) selection of potential partners. This demographic has benefitted from most gender and racial inequalities and makes up the largest portion of people in interracial relationships, so it was an ideal sample for us to examine (Livingston & Brown, 2017; Thompson, 2009).

Forty images of women were obtained from the 10k American Faces Database coded to be a) female, b) between 18-35 years old, c) a person of color (i.e., Asian, Hispanic, and Black), and d) rated between 3.25 to 5.0 (out of 5) in attractiveness (Brainbridge et al., 2012). A mixed effects logistic regression which considered race effects, motivation effects, and the interaction of race by motivation effects was used to analyze selection behavior controlling for age, attractiveness, and other factors of potential matches. A Wald test was used as an omnibus test. A mixed effects logistic regression examining race, predictor variables (e.g., annual income, education, political affiliation) and reported openness to interracial relationships analyzed selection behavior.

The Wald test showed the general effects of both race and motivation were significant (χ2 (3) = 445.75, p > .0001; χ2 (4) = 906.76, p > .0001) as well as the interaction between the two (χ2 (12) = 46.07, p > .0001). We found that SWM were significantly less likely to select profiles for women of color (i.e., 45% less likely for Asian women, 52% less likely for Hispanic women, and 64% less likely for Black women) compared to profiles of White women when considering friendships, sexual encounters, dating relationships, or long-term committed relationships such as marriage. Self-reported openness to relationships with women of color was related to higher odds of selecting women of all races (e.g. 12% more likely to select Asian women, 14% more likely to select Black women, and 11% more likely to select Hispanic women). Surprisingly, established predictors of negative attitudes toward interracial relationships (e.g., religiosity, residency in the American South) had no correlation with SWM’s selection behavior. This effect could be explained by the above-average and equalized attractiveness of the images of women used in the study and existing literature that suggests established predictors of mate selection become unreliable when faced with highly attractive people.