Interracial couples cohabit at higher rates than same-race couples, which is attributed to lower barriers to interracial cohabitation relative to intermarriage. This begs the question of whether the significance of cohabitation differs between interracial and same-race couples. Using data from the 2006–2017 National Survey of Family Growth, we assessed the meaning of interracial cohabitation by comparing the pregnancy risk, pregnancy intentions, and union transitions following a pregnancy among women in interracial and same-race cohabitations. The pregnancy and union transition behaviors of women in White-Black cohabitations resembled those of Black women in same-race cohabitations, suggesting that White-Black cohabitation serves as a substitute to marriage and reflecting barriers to the formation of White-Black intermarriages. The behaviors of women in White-Hispanic cohabitations fell between those of their same-race counterparts or resembled those of White women in same-race cohabitations. These findings suggest that White-Hispanic cohabitations take on a meaning between trial marriage and substitute to marriage and support views that Hispanics with White partners are a more assimilated group than Hispanics in same-race unions. Results for pregnancy intentions deviated from these patterns. Women in White-Black cohabitations were less likely than Black women in same-race cohabitations to have an unintended pregnancy, suggesting that White-Black cohabitations are considered marriage-like unions involving children. Women in White-Hispanic cohabitations were more likely than White and Hispanic women in same-race cohabitations to have an unintended pregnancy, reflecting possible concerns about social discrimination. These findings indicate heterogeneity in the significance of interracial cohabitation and continuing obstacles to interracial unions.

中文翻译：

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异族同居的社会意义：基于生育行为的推论。

异族夫妇的同居率高于同族夫妇，这归因于异族同居相对于通婚的障碍较低。这就引出了一个问题，即同居的重要性在异族和同族夫妇之间是否有所不同。使用 2006-2017 年全国家庭成长调查的数据，我们通过比较不同种族和同种族同居女性的怀孕风险、怀孕意图和怀孕后的结合过渡来评估不同种族同居的含义。白黑同居女性的怀孕和结合过渡行为与同种族同居的黑人女性相似，表明白黑同居是婚姻的替代，反映了白黑通婚形成的障碍。白人-西班牙裔同居女性的行为介于同种族女性之间或与同种族同居中的白人女性相似。这些发现表明，白人-西班牙裔同居在试婚和婚姻替代之间具有意义，并支持这样的观点，即与白人伴侣的西班牙裔比同种族联盟中的西班牙裔更同化。怀孕意图的结果偏离了这些模式。白人和黑人同居的女性比同种族同居的黑人女性意外怀孕的可能性更小，这表明白人和黑人同居被认为是类似婚姻的结合，涉及孩子。西班牙裔白人同居的女性比同种族同居的白人和西班牙裔女性更有可能意外怀孕，反映了可能对社会歧视的担忧。这些发现表明，异族同居的重要性和异族结合的持续障碍具有异质性。