Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

FOR Fil-Am Melanie Palos having a relationship with someone outside of her race was seen as a taboo. "Growing up, my mom had always preferred me to have a relationship with a Filipino guy," said the 24-year-old Palos, who dated African Americans, Caucasians and/ or Latinos.

Her mother eventually grew out of that phase.

And soon many other Filipino parents, who prefer to have a Filipino son or daughter-in-law will have to as well.

Filipinos have the largest number of interracial marriages among the Asian immigrant groups in the United States, according to CN Le, a professor of Sociology at University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Le runs the www.Asian-nation.org, a website that discusses Asian American history, demographics and issues.

Using data from the 2007 census, Le found that many second generation and US raised Filipinos (generation 1.5) married outside of their race.

The numbers in the studies revealed that of the 78,000 Fil-Am men married in the US, 36 percent married a Caucasian woman. About 35 percent of Fil-Am men married a Filipino woman. Latinos were next in line for Fil-Am men. More than 11 percent are married to a Latina woman, 8.4 percent are married to a biracial female, and 7 percent were married to another Asian woman. African American women were bottom of the list at 1.3 percent.

Meanwhile, of the 93,000 FilAm women married in the US, the study found that 46 percent were married to a Caucasian man. Only 28 percent were married to another Fil-Am man. Latino’s were also next on the list. More than 8 percent of Fil-Am women married a Latino man, about 7 percent were married to another man of Asian descent, 5 percent were married to a biracial man, and four percent of FilAm women married an African American.

The numbers may sound implausible but Le defended his research.

"At first glance, these statistics may seem rather unbelievable since they tend to show very high levels of intermarriages, especially among Koreans and Filipinos," wrote Le. "Related research shows that intermarriages are much more common outside of the major urban areas where most young Asian Americans lives. In other words, interracial couples are more likely to be found outside of the major metropolitan areas."

Le said that the statistics makes sense because most US raised Asian Americans, in this case Fil-Ams, are likelier to have more exposure to and interaction with members of all racial/ethnic groups before marriage than Asian immigrants.