Chapter 11: Navigating Romance: The Enduring Challenges of College-Educated Black Women

What are the barriers to marital relationship formation among college-educated never-married Black heterosexual women and how do they differ by age? Using interviews with college-educated heterosexual Black women between the ages of 25 and 35 and ages 40 and 54, we find that structural and cultural barriers limited respondents’ opportunities to enter romantic relationships that could lead to marriage. However, these barriers were more acute for middle-aged Black women. Furthermore, we find that the strategies respondents use to alleviate barriers also differ by age and, like the barriers, may also contribute to a retreat from marriage. For instance, middle-aged Black women were more likely to use strategies that deprioritized the romantic partner search and marriage and embraced singlehood as a legitimate and fulfilling relationship status than young adult respondents. These strategies decreased the opportunities to enter intimate relationships but also made singlehood more enjoyable. These findings suggest that while structural and cultural barriers inform the retreat from marriage among college-educated Black women understanding the consequences of their retreat from marriage requires a more nuanced perspective.