Race, ethnicity, and social closeness

A social closeness score was calculated for MIDUS Study participants (all Americans) based on the following items: is sociable; likes to be with people; takes pleasure in and values close interpersonal ties; is warm and affectionate; and turns to others for comfort and help.

Here are the means for each sex-ethnic combination:

Most female groups score significantly higher than men of English descent. The overall gender gap (not shown) is almost three-tenths of a standard deviation (sd)--a small to moderate difference.

The Mexican American numbers might be anomalous, but the gap between Czech and Mexican women is almost one sd--a very large difference. If we drop Mex-Ams as the lowest, the Czech-Asian female gap is sixth-tenths of an sd--a big difference.

For men, the Mex-Am/Swedish difference is fairly large--more than one-half an sd. If we use Amerindian men as the highest scorers instead, the Amerindian/Swedish gap is close to half an sd.

I detect a bit of a revised Ice/Sun People pattern here with Asians and those of Western European descent as cool and blacks, Amerindians, and Southern and Eastern Europeans as warm. (I don't know about here, but Eastern Europeans don't seem very warm over there.)