The Surprising Divorce Gap: Who Stays Married, Who Doesn't
Turns out my town is somewhat typical. The divorce rate among college-educated couples is declining, while divorces among those with high school educations or less is growing.
Buried in an otherwise unimpressive essay from the Economist (which was reprinted in Dallas paper):
There is a widening gulf between how the best- and least-educated Americans approach marriage and child-rearing. Among the [college-educated] elite,... the nuclear family is holding up quite well....Of those who first tied the knot between 1975 and 1979, 29 percent were divorced within 10 years. Among those who first married between 1990 and 1994, only 16.5 percent were.
At the bottom of the education scale, the picture is reversed. Among high school dropouts, the divorce rate rose from 38 percent for those who first married in 1975-79 to 46 percent for those who first married in 1990-94. Among those with a high school diploma but no college, it rose from 35 to 38 percent.
The implications are far-reaching: Divorce tends to impoverish women and children. So this "marriage gap" is tending to aggravate socioeconomic differences. But also, I wonder why we're seeing more marriage stability among the college-educated. I'd like to break these numbers down further: are married women with jobs outside the homes even less likely to divorce? In other words, does equality in marriages breed more happiness and stability?
Stumble It!
posted by pam at 9:45 AM
2 Comments:
Doesn't ones level of education directly effect Income?
Moreover has that effect become more pronounced over the years of the sited survey?
Not having a college education, now more than ever limits ones ability to gain wealth.
As money is often sited as the most contentious issue in a marriage, can the divorce rate better be attributed to poverty?
Very good point. And marriage also is supposed to bring greater wealth (since couples are pooling resources). So the net effect is that the poor have a greater chance at marital stability, which leads to an even greater chance of more poverty.
Depressing.
Which is why some conservatives are arguing that the federal government should be creating marriage incentives. Better solution is to create programs that will help lift people out of poverty.
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