Gender Asymmetry in Educational and Income Assortative Marriage

Abstract

The reversal of the gender gap in education has reshaped the U.S. marriage market. Drawing on data from the 1980 U.S. Census and the 2008–2012 American Community Surveys, the author used log‐linear models to examine gender asymmetry in educational and income assortative mating among newlyweds. Between 1980 and 2008–2012, educational assortative mating reversed from a tendency for women to marry up to a tendency for women to marry down in education, whereas the tendency for women to marry men with higher incomes than themselves persisted. Moreover, in both time periods, the tendency for women to marry up in income was generally greater among couples in which the wife's education level equaled or surpassed that of the husband than among couples in which the wife was less educated than the husband. The author discusses the implications of the rising female advantage in education for gender change in heterosexual marriages.

Mismatches in the Marriage Market

“…For highly educated women, the marriage market implications of new gender imbalances in educational achievement seem increasingly clear (Buchmann & DiPrete, ). They will either increasingly remain unmarried or, alternatively, conventional patterns of marital educational hypergamy (i.e., women marrying up in education) may give way to educational hypogamy as women adapt to deficits in the pool of highly educated men (Qian, ). Previous studies, although now dated, suggest that most unmarried women choose to remain single rather than to “marry down” or nonassortatively (Lewis & Oppenheimer, ; Lichter et al, ).…”

“…Previous studies, although now dated, suggest that most unmarried women choose to remain single rather than to “marry down” or nonassortatively (Lewis & Oppenheimer, ; Lichter et al, ). In today's highly competitive marriage market, however, this is an issue worth revisiting (Qian, ; Schwartz & Han, ).…”

“…High rates of incarceration and substantial out‐marriage to White women, especially among Black men, have also left many minority women without marital partners (Crowder & Tolnay, ). The fact that women's educational levels now exceed men's (Buchmann & DiPrete, ; Van Bavel, Schwartz, & Esteve, ) further implies that young women—by necessity—are less financially dependent on husbands than in the past and that educational hypogamy has become more commonplace (Breen & Salazar, ; Qian, ). Young women seemingly face shortages of demographically similar men to marry.…”

“…Most previous work suggests that women are more likely to remain unmarried than to “settle” by marrying partners who are mismatched on age, education, or race (Lewis & Oppenheimer, ; Lichter, Anderson, & Hayward, ). A recent study by Qian (), however, indicated that patterns of assortative mating have shifted, switching from a tendency in 1980 for women to “marry up” in socioeconomic status to a pattern today of “marrying down.” This reversal suggests, at a minimum, that growth in the pool of marriageable men has not kept pace with the rapid rise in women's socioeconomic status. Our study reinforces the commonplace view that women today face new marriage trade‐offs at a time when finding a suitable marital match has become more difficult.…”

Assortative Mating by Education andHukouin Shanghai

“…Merton (1941) and Davis (1941) argue that in American society, racial endogamy remains dominant but interracial marriages do occur. The idea of status exchange theory is that spouses in intermarriages may balance unequal characteristics through exchange (Qian 2016; Schwartz 2013). According to this theory, intermarriages between blacks and whites usually involve lower class white spouses and upper class black spouses because such intermarriages create a reciprocal compensatory situation in which the black spouses exchange their higher economic position for the white spouses’ higher racial status (Davis 1941; Merton 1941).…”