Racial Discrimination in the Marriage Market? An Exploration of Swedish Adoption Data

Annika Elwert

Social Science Quarterly, 2025, vol. 106, issue 3

Abstract: Objective Recent studies suggest that immigrants trade youth when partnering with members of the White majority population. This study contributes to this emerging literature by examining whether this trade should be understood as differential treatment based on immigrant status or as a broader dynamic of racial preferences in the marriage market. Methods This study compares age gaps in unions of international adoptees with those in cross‐national immigrant unions and White Swedish unions. By using unique Swedish register data containing a sample of international adoptees (N = 3872), this study isolates the role of racial phenotype from cultural and migration‐related factors. Results The findings show that both adoptee unions and cross‐national immigrant unions exhibit larger age gaps compared to White Swedish unions. This suggests that youth‐trading patterns are not solely linked to immigrant status but also to racial preferences in the partner market. Conclusion Since international adoptees share their racial phenotype with immigrants but not their cultural background or migration experience, the results indicate that racially different partners may not be viewed as equal by the White majority but are more readily accepted if they offer a compensatory trait, such as youth.

Date: 2025
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