Thoughts on the Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation Survey

I came across an interesting survey the other day thanks to a friend of mine posting about it. It’s the Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation effort that asked questions of black and white respondents of each sex.

The questions all had 4 or 5 possible responses on Likert type scales. All of the percentages, unless otherwise noted, will be for the strongest response (strongly agree, very important, and so on). Going to pick out a few of these questions and vibe a bit.

1. How satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days? Would you say you are very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, not-too-satisfied, or not satisfied at all?

This was pretty even across everybody, with the group coming in last (black men) at 46 percent and the group coming in first (black women) at 51 percent. White men were at 48 percent and white women at 50 percent.

These are maybe a little higher than I expected to say ‘very satisifed’.

2A. I'm going to read you a list of some things that different people value in their lives. Please tell me how important each thing is to you personally. How about Being successful in a career?

The black respondents ran this question, with black men at 78 percent and black women at 68 percent. White men were at 51 percent and white women were at 45 percent.

I would have expected black women to rate higher than black men since there’s so much narrative about black women putting their careers above everything else. I surely wouldn’t have expected black men to be at a 78 percent clip. I’d have thought the women (of both races) would have answered at a higher rate than the men. It would’ve seemed to be a matter of minority status and/or perceived privilege.

2B. Having enough free time to do things you want to do?

This one was pretty close: black women led the category at 62 percent, while white women were last at 55 percent. Black men were at 61 percent while white women were at 57 percent.

This might be one of the most surprising things about the whole survey. Most black people I know can’t go half an hour without talking about work. On the other side, there’s a common perception (not saying it’s widespread) among black people that white people have it so easy - something well-illustrated by Eddie Griffin’s “I like to go ‘white people’ watching” piece from Dysfunktional Family. Not only does the survey suggest otherwise, but people I know of all races (and I’ll get to how I feel about the survey’s exclusion of other races later on) have similar lives.

But black people coming in at clips of over 60 percent? They didn’t ask anyone I know.

2C. Being married?

Alright, here we go…and I want all the women - especially the black women - to listen up:

Black men led the category at 55 percent. White men came in second at 54 percent. White women came in third at 47 percent and black women came in last at 40 percent.

I repeat, black men led the category at 55 percent. Kind-of ruins that tired narrative, doesn’t it? Over the last several years, men have put this stereotype on the ground in several surveys. I also find it funny that the differential between white respondents (7 percent) was less than half of that between black respondents (15 percent). So all that “I want to get married but I can’t find a good man” nonsense from black women is just that - on both sides.

2D. Living a religious life?

Black women led the category at 74 percent. Black men were second at 70 percent, with white women registering a 57 percent clip and white men at 43 percent.

As DL Hughley once said, “black folk love us some God”…and having attended a few black churches in my lifetime, they’re certainly liable to have a majority female membership. Even with that, I would have expected the differential to be smaller than it was.

2E. Having children?

White women led the category at 75 percent, with black women and black men tied at 62 percent. White men were last at 57 percent.

I don’t know what the numbers mean with the white respondents, although the differential therein is a little eye-opening. The fact that the rates for black respondents were the same, though? I guess in a “natural” way it makes sense, but it’s still interesting that they are the same.

2F. Being in a good romantic relationship?

Go back up to the marriage question for a second. This’ll still be here.

Okay, now…black men led the category at 63 percent. White men were second at 60 percent. White women were third at 52 percent and black women were last at 44 percent.

Now…we can get the “well, marriage is a big step” excuse up out of here. Once again, the differential between different sexes of the same race is more than twice as high among black respondents as among white respondents.

Stop the madness.

2G. Living a healthy lifestyle?

The black respondents led this category by a comfortable margin. Black men came in first at 92 percent and black women were second at 90 percent. White women were third at 78 percent and white men were last at 67 percent.

I almost want to call BS on black men leading the category, especially at 92 percent. I’m going to get out there and say most black men I know wouldn’t work out if muscles weren’t attractive to black women (not saying they’re not attractive to all women, but…y’all get it). Black women being at 90 percent also raises the eye. I’d have bought 70, but 90? On the other side: just going off work, just about every white woman I know at the office has expressed some type of sentiment that living a healthy lifestyle is very important. I mean, 78 isn’t a low number but it’s lower than I expected. Not sure about the clip for white men, but…I guess it’s about right.

2H. Being physically attractive?

Black women ranked first at 28 percent, with black men at 26 percent. White women were at 12 percent and white men were at 11 percent.

I thought the numbers would have been a lot higher for all four groups: at least in the 40s, even for the lowest groups.

(Ed. note: my train of thought is completely gone…Richelle Carey responded to me on Twitter. Okay, got to focus again.)

I am not at all surprised that the numbers are much higher for black respondents than white respondents. Why’s that? We’re shallow. Someone could be the greatest thing in every way except aesthetically and they wouldn’t get a chance with a lot of us. White people are much better at seeing the whole picture (I’m speaking on the basis of probability more than anything else: yes, that’s how bad black people can be in that area).

3. I see myself as someone who has high self-esteem. Do you agree strongly, agree somewhat, disagree somewhat, disagree strongly or neither agree or disagree?

Black men led the category at 72 percent. Black women were second at 67 percent, while white men were at 59 percent and white women were at 43 percent.

I thought black women would have lapped the field in this one. I’m also surprised that black men were the ones who led the category, even outside black women. About the 43 percent clip for white women, though: I don’t get why it would be that low, and I think it’s a shame if that number is truly indicative.

4. Which of the following do you identify with more - being a man/woman or being black/white?

White women led the category, with 90 percent identifying more with their sex than their race. White men were second at an 89 percent clip. Black men were at 67 percent, and black women were at 60 percent.

The white people identifying more with sex makes a lot of sense to me…and it’s for the reason that the numbers for the black people are probably the most surprising of the whole survey. As much as we identify with race, it’s simply amazing that a majority of both black women and men who responded said they identified more with their sex than being black. That just…yeah, I don’t get that at all.

5. Have you ever dated someone of a different race, or not?

Black men led the category in affirmative responses with 68 percent. White men were second at 51 percent. Black women were third at 50 percent, and white women were last at 40 percent.

Look at those numbers again.

Black men are first, but white women are last? Well, there’s an explanation here. I’m going to guess that the black men questioned dated women who were neither white nor black. This is why you include people from other groups, and I don’t want to hear anything about not being able to find a representative sample of Hispanic/Latino people - not when they’ve been the largest minority in the US for at least the last five years. Asian Americans, okay…but still.

6. Would you be willing to marry someone of another race, or not?

White men led the category, with 82 percent responding in the affirmative. Black men were second at 80 percent. Black women were third at 67 percent and white women were last at 62 percent.

Yeah, this one here…first, the fact that white men led the category. If their clip was half of what it was, I wouldn’t have thought twice about it. But four out of five white men being willing to marry someone of another race? That gets some applause. That surprise of course means that black men don’t lead the category, so that’s another piece of rhetoric we can do away with (at least in terms of that “instead of” nonsense). I’m also surprised that black women beat white women. I’d have pegged the percentage of white women to be higher and that for black women to be lower.

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This is not an exhaustive list of questions - for those, please visit the survey site (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/nation/black-women-in-america/?hpid=z5).

And that's my time.