Another possibility is that both middle-class black men and middle-class black women have more trouble finding spouses because their social worlds consist mostly of people who are not likely to connect them to potential mates. Marriages between black people and people of other races continue to be rare.44 More broadly, our social networks tend to be homophilous; that is, they include only people of our own race.45 Even friendships that cross racial boundaries tend to be less close and involve fewer shared activities.46 Although the social networks that form around work may provide some access to potential mates, this is likely to be less true for blacks who work in mostly white environments.47 For example, research shows that black adolescent girls who go to schools where the student body is mostly white are less likely than white girls to be involved in romantic relationships.48
