Living race together: the role of partner's race in racial/ethnic differences in smoking.

OBJECTIVE: Crossing racial lines provides a unique context for understanding racial patterns in smoking. This research explores whether adults whose unions cross racial lines behave more similarly to their own group or their partner's Design: Using a sample of respondents from the National Health Interview Survey (2001-2011), we compare the likelihood of current smoking and quitting smoking among adults in mixed-race unions to adults in same-race unions.

RESULTS: Adults with different-race partners generally mirror their partner's group; people of color with White partners have a higher likelihood of being current smokers, similar to Whites, while Whites partnered with Asians and Latina/os are, like other Asians and Latino/as, less likely to smoke. There are fewer differences in the likelihood of quitting smoking.