Premarital Counseling on Interracial Couple

Premarital Counseling of Interracial Couples
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Introduction
It has been more than half a century since the US Supreme Court legalized interracial marriage through Loving v. Virginia. Since then, interracial marriages in the United States have increased significantly, from 3% of all marriage unions in 1967 to 22% in 2020. Some people have regarded interracial marriages to foster unity and address prejudice and hatred in society. This perception has increased the acceptance of interracial couples, especially among people between 18 to 30 years. However, negative views on interracial couples still exist, especially when interracial marriages do not last like same-race marriages. Negative perceptions have been amplified by studies that indicate that people involved in interracial marriages experience severe forms of distress, anxiety, and cultural dilemmas. This paper examines the link between challenges experienced by interracial couples and the role of human service counselors. The paper also evaluates the different views on interracial couples and how human service counselors' values and beliefs impact their work.
Background
Interracial partnerships in the United States became lawful in 1967 after the Supreme Court deemed anti-miscegenation state laws unconstitutional. Although research studies have focused on post-1967, Foeman and Nance's (1999) research found evidence of Africans and White Americans intermixing even before Africans were shipped to the United States to become slaves. In Washington, interracial marriages were allowed even before the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in 1967. According to Takaki (2012), the state of Washington had liberal social policies in place before 1967, which motivated interracial couples to travel to the state from other states that had anti-miscegenation laws. Currently, interracial marriage rates are growing steadily due to the increasing racial diversity of the American population.
Findings on whether interracial couples enjoy the psychological benefits associated with the formation of a union are inconclusive. According to Anderson (2014), the psychological benefits associated with marriage are characterized by a complex pattern involving interracial couples. Numerous research studies have documented that interracial marriages lead to severe distress in Native Americans, Hispanics, and white women married to non-white spouses (Kreider and Marie, 2000; Zhenchao, 2011). Similarly, a longitudinal study undertaken by Bratter and King (2008) established that interracial marriages are 1.4 years shorter in length while new interracial couples have a 50% possibility of divorcing. However, Herr (2009) researched 808 couples and found out that interracial marriages possess similar features to same-race marriages regarding personality, psychology, religion, and culture. The study also revealed that all participants had the same level of fulfillment regardless of their partner's ethnic and racial characteristics.
Views on interracial marriages/couples
Since the Supreme Court's judgment in Loving v. Virginia, interracial relationships have positively perceived by the public. Research conducted by the Pew Research Center (2017) revea...