ise relative to that of White Americans. There were also more African Americans enrolled in higher education which resulted in greater numbers of social contacts among Black and White Americans at the prime age for meeting potential mates.
Heaton and Albrecht noted that the trend toward increasing numbers of interracial marriages had continued even throughout the Reagan-Bush era when the weakened economy "caused the rate of Black economic progress to slow dramatically and seems also to have affected the number of Blacks seeking advanced education" (205). This, they held, suggested the "importance of non-economic factors in the selection process" (Heaton and Albrecht 205). Decreases in White prejudice against Blacks must, of course, be counted as one of these factors. Prejudice against African Americans as studied in the "General Social Survey has declined steadily in recent years" (Heaton and Albrecht 205)
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