The Changing Role of Education in the Marriage Market: Assortative Marriage in Canada and the United States since the 1970s
by Feng Hou and John Myles
Business and Labour Market Analysis Division
Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series, No. 299
Context
Educational homogamy—the tendency of men and women with the same level of education to be married to one another—has important implications for social stratification, family income inequality, and intergenerational mobility. While absolute levels of educational homogamy have unambiguously been rising, whether or not relative rates of educational homogamy, net of changes in the educational composition of husbands and wives, have also been rising has been a contested issue in the literature. Changes in relative rates are indicative of whether the function of education in mate selection is strengthening or weakening.
Objective(s)
The paper aims to answer the three following questions: What is the overall trend in the relative rate of educational marital homogamy in Canada and the United States over the three decades from the beginning of the 1970s to the turn of the century? Are the highly educated more likely now than in the past to marry within their own education level or to marry down, and are the less educated more likely than in the past to marry within their own educational class or to marry up? Do women and men experience different trends in educational homogamy given that the rapid increase in women’s educational attainment relative to men's implies declining opportunities for women to marry better-educated men but rising opportunities for men to marry more-educated women?
Findings
The results show that educational homogamy has unambiguously risen in both countries since the 1970s, with no sign of the U-turn in levels of intermarriage reported in some earlier comparative studies. Rising levels of marital homogamy were the result of declining intermarriage at both ends of the educational distribution. However, while trends for men and women were quite similar in Canada, they differed significantly in the United States. The overall rise in marital homogamy in the United States was partially offset by an increased tendency of women with some college education to marry 'down' the educational hierarchy. In Canada, the only sign of abatement in the trend toward greater educational homogamy was a slight increase in intermarriage between university-graduates and those with some post-secondary education during the 1990s.
Data source(s)
The data for prevailing marriages among young adults aged under 35 were derived from the 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000 5% U.S. Census Public use sample files. For Canada, the data are derived from the 1971 Census 33% sample microdata file, and 20% sample microdata files for the decennial census years from 1981 to 2001.
View
the full publication.
You need to use the free Adobe Reader to view PDF documents. To view (open) these files, simply click on the link. To download (save) them, right-click on the link. Note that if you are using Internet Explorer or AOL, PDF documents sometimes do not open properly. See Troubleshooting PDFs. PDF documents may not be accessible by some devices. For more information, visit the Adobe website or contact us for assistance.
