Race and gender differences in black and white newlyweds’ perceptions of sexual and marital relations

Abstract

A representative sample of 199 Black and 174 White urban newlywed couples completed questionnaire items about their marital and sexual relations. In principal components analyses of these reports, care and positive relations in the marriage were associated with perceptions of sexual enjoyment in the marriage for women more than men, although these perceptions were also associated for men. Reports of sexual upset were associated with reports of irritation and tension for all groups, but least so for White wives. Reports of enjoyable and upsetting sexual relations emerged on separate factors for Black spouses but not White spouses, suggesting that Black spouses pay greater attention to sexual enjoyment in its own right. However, further analysis showed that this pattern characterized lower income Black wives, but not higher income Black wives, for whom positive and negative sexual relations items clustered, as they did for White wives. Thus, for these couples, race, gender, and class were all salient in shaping their perceptions of marital and sexual relations.