A study by Sharon Sassler, an associate professor of policy analysis and management at Cornell University, and Kara Joyner, an associate professor of sociology at Bowling Green State University, finds that race is a factor in the pace of intimate relationships between young men and young women. The research, published in the journal Social Forces, found that relationships between White men and Black women progress to sexual intimacy faster than relationships between men and women of the same race. The research also found that on average, interracial couples also progress to cohabitation more quickly than men and women intimate partners of the same race.
The data showed that young interracial couples on average have sex within one month from the beginning of their relationship whereas as young same-race partners wait for nearly two months before engaging in sexual intercourse.
The research was funded in part by a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.