Marriage Timing and Educational Assortative Mating
Keywords
education, marriage, assortative mating
Abstract
Educational homogamy is common, but the association between marriage timing and educational assortative mating is not well understood. Following never-married men and women over time with NLSY79 panel data, we explore the relationship between marriage timing and educational assortative mating by educational attainment and gender. Our results show that educational homogamy occurs at younger ages for the less-educated and at later ages for the highly-educated. Thus, marriage market entry or age at school completion affects marriage timing. More years out of school, however, effects educational assortative mating-less-educated men and women become less likely to marry; highly-educated men are more likely to marry heterogamously; and highly-educated women are increasingly likely to remain unmarried.
Original Publication Citation
Shafer, K. & Qian, Z. (2010). “Marriage Timing and Educational Assortative Mating.” Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 41(5): 661-691.
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Shafer, Kevin and Qian, Zhenchao, "Marriage Timing and Educational Assortative Mating" (2010). Faculty Publications. 4388.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub/4388
Document Type
Peer-Reviewed Article
Publication Date
2010
Permanent URL
http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/7196
Publisher
Journal of Comparative Family Studies
Language
English
College
Family, Home, and Social Sciences
Department
Sociology
Copyright Use Information
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