es in attitudes and legal status, but also due to immigration. For example, Hispanics and Asians are the predominant groups of immigrants, therefore, interracial marriages between whites and Asians and whites and Hispanic increased. Decline in societal prejudices also played a role in the growth in black-white marriages in particular, because it increased socialization between the groups and improved race relations. However, interracial marriages are more common for some racial groups than they are for others. For instance, in the United States Japanese Americans and Native Americans marry most frequently outside their racial groups.
Another explanation for the growth in interracial marriages is the rising age at marriage. The more people postpone settling down, the more different kinds of people they meet. Individuals are exposed to a vast diversity of potential partners after college when they have more opportunities to travel or work abroad. In addition, marriages at a later age are less influenced by parental control and opinion about their children's choice of partner.</font>
The barriers that couples in interracial marriages encounter are usually connected with negative societal attitudes. Because of the rising number of interracial unions, some people are concerned that distinct racial groups may disappear in the future. This is the case with Asian Americans who fear that interracial marriages reduce the pool of eligible candidates who can engage in same-culture marriages. The more Asian-American women are marrying outside their racial group, the more Asian-American men remain unmarried because the number of single Asian-American women decreases. Similar concerns are also common among the African-American population. As a result of increased levels of education and income, out-marriages among African Americans increase at the expense of same-race unions.
Interracial marriages are also influenced by different racial traditions, ethics and values concerning the individual, family and social lifestyle, thus couples often possess differing communication styles. The most common external factor is the acceptance of the family and the society in which the couple lives. Dealing with racism coming from both the inside and outside of the family is one of the most frequent hardships that interracial couples encounter. Richard Watts and Richard Henriksen (1999) found out that Caucasian females married to black males are usually discriminated against on the basis of beliefs such as "Black men belong with black women because they will treat them better than white women" and "Biracial children will always be referred to as black and, therefore, should have a black mother." On the other hand, Caucasians are also biased against black men and there are common views amongst them that "Black men only marry white women for status symbols or upward mobility." There is also the societal stereotype that "Those who engage in interracial marriages must hate their parents" and "Those who engage in interracial relationships or marriages must have psychological difficulties."
Despite external racial prejudices, interracial couples confirm that they are often attracted to each other more because of similarities rather than differences. Like homogenous couples, interracial couples marry because they are attracted to their partner with whom they share common interests and socioeconomic similarities.