Randy Ludlow's February 17, 2012 article in The Columbus Dispatch titled Mixed-race marriages grow - and so does acceptance features expert Zhenchao Qian, Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at The Ohio State University.  In part, the article reads, Zhenchao Qian, a sociology professor at Ohio State University who has studied the breakdown of racial boundaries in marriage, said attitudes toward the one-time legal and social taboo have changed.

The Pew study, Qian said, “does suggest people see race as less a barrier when choosing marriageable partners,” which he attributes to increases in educational attainment and more racial integration in workplaces and social settings.

“When you get to interact, to know each other, that really helps,” Qian said. “You don’t see people as that different, and (you) find more common ground.”

Some still frown on mixed marriages, he said, including some who believe that marriage is tough enough without the burden of dealing with racial differences.

Read the entire article online at http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/02/17/mixed-race-marriages-grow--and-so-does-acceptance.html