Dating, or forming a romantic relationship with another, is considered  “..a well-established social institution in American adolescent life.” (Steinberg, 1999 p. 323).  Indeed, an adolescent’s idea of who is acceptable to date comes from parents, peers as well as society in general.  However, for many minorities, dating involves balancing the American ideas of dating with their native cultural norms for dating.  Chinese-American adolescents are one group that face a difficult, and not often portrayed, choice when entering into an interracial relationship.

Occurrence of Interracial Dating Among Chinese-Americans
    As a result of the 1965 amendments to the Immigration and Naturalization Act, the immigration rate from many Asian countries, including China, has risen. (Qian, 1999).  Many researchers have questioned how interracial dating will rise or fall due to such changes in Chinese population in America.  One hypothesis, offered by Jessie Tzeng (Tzeng, 2000), is that with an increased amount of Chinese-Americans in the country interracial dating and marriage by Chinese-Americans would decline.  Chinese-Americans would choose someone of Chinese decent to date or marry.
    Another idea however, is that in many cities in America, “...intermarried couples mingle [and] mixed unions no longer evoke intense antagonism or hostility from outsiders and bystanders” (Sung, 2000 p. 349).  The idea is that in today’s society, with many races and cultures increasingly having contact and opportunities to interact with each other,  the chances of having intergroup friendships as well as other relationships (including romantic) is increasing (Tzeng, 2000).

Reasons for Dating
    “For any two racial groups, interracial marriage depends on social contact.” (Qian, 1999)  In addition to social contact, it seems, there are many determinants other than the race of a perspective partner for Chinese-Americans.  Included are:

• Age - Chinese-Americans who interdate and intermarry tend to be older than those who do not (Tzeng, 2000).
• Economic Status - Many Chinese-Americans choose their romantic partners based on similar economic status than race or culture (Tzeng, 2000), (Qian, 1999), (Kitana H.H.L., Fujino, D.C., Sato, J, 1998)
• Education Status - Chinese-Americans tend to interdate with others who are at a comparable education level (Sung, 1997), (Qian, 1999).
• “Length of time, exposure to American Society, and acculturation, all related to generation (Kitano et. al., 1997)  It is noted that 1st generation Chinese-American’s in America date members of other races less than 2nd, 3rd and later generations.  Those people of Chinese decent who have been socialized and exposed American society more are more likely to interdate. (Qian, 1999)
• Gender - Research shows that Chinese-American women are more likely to date interracially than are their male counterparts.

Attitudes Towards Interracial Dating
     According to Sung, the biggest problem faced by Chinese-Americans in interracial relationships, no matter the race of the partner, is objection by the family.  Such problems can result in tremendous conflict and even ending familial relationships. (Sung, 1990)  In American society, there seems to be two different attitudes toward interracial dating.  In larger cities, many Chinese-Americans reported only small, rude unpleasentries such as “...stares, rudeness, uncomplimentary remarks or disbelief.” (Sung, 1990). However, in small towns where there is not such an ethnic diversity, more severe consequences have been issued.  Familial and societal pressures can be so influential in fact, it is unclear, even when doing research on interracially married couples, how many marriages never took place because of intense pressure from parents and society (Tzeng, 2000).

Predictions for the Future
     Chinese immigration rates are the largest of any other nationality (Lee, S.M, Fernandez, M, 1998).  In fact, “Continued high levels of immigration and sustained population growth will lead  to an Asian population in the U.S that is projected to increase from 7 million in 1990 (3%) to 35 million in 2040 (10%)” (Edmonston and Passel, 1994 in Lee, S.M et al., 1998).  Such an increase of Chinese Americans in the country, as well as many 2nd and 3rd generations coming into the dating age will likely produce mixed results.  On one hand, there will be a larger group of potential partners of Chinese decent.  However, there will be many more Chinese-Americans who are assimilated to the United States culture.  They will be less likely to conform to their ancestors rules and ideals.

What This Means for the Chinese-American Adolescent
     Unlike same-race relationships, interracial relationships are not represented often in today’s society. In fact, research on an adolescent’s feeling about their ethnic identity, traditional culture, the family’s views and the impact on interracial dating is lacking.  There is some research, based on interreligous dating, that indicates that an adolescent will have to decide whether interracial dating and marraige involves primarily the joining of two souls through love or the joining of two cultures through traditions (Mayor, 1987).  The distinction between the two alternatives, and the implications of each, can be applied Chinese-American adolescents and the decision they must make when entering into an interracial relationship.
     Besides such generalizations, there is very little research on the decision making process a Chinese-American teenager goes through.  More research regarding parental and familial attitudes toward interracial dating of Chinese-American adolescents would be benificial.  Such continued research is needed to fully understand what a Chinese-American adolescent deals with when considering an interracial relationship.