Which Highly Educated People Partner Together? Exploring Status Inequalities in Assortative Mating Among the Highly Educated in Sweden

By Margarita Chudnovskaya
English

This study examines the association between status and the probability of forming a homogamous childbearing or marital union among college graduates. It forms part of a broader inquiry into educational homogamy and hypogamy following the expansion of higher education and the shift from female under-representation to over-representation. Beyond the well-known shift from educational hypogamy to hypergamy, this study focuses on partnership characteristics among highly educated individuals. The sample includes highly educated partnered men and women born between 1972 and 1977 (N = 156,253), identified through Swedish administrative registers (via marriage and parenting records). Despite Sweden’s reputation as an egalitarian society, stark gender differences persist in higher education. The cohort of highly educated men is smaller compared to women and is more positively selected, often coming from upper service-class backgrounds and achieving higher degrees that lead to greater earnings. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to examine homogamy in detail, specifically measuring whether a childbearing or marital union was formed with a partner lacking post-secondary education or with a partner who had post-secondary education at a higher, same, or lower level than the index person. The results reveal that among women, significant socioeconomic differences influence the likelihood of forming a homogamous union. Although inequalities in homogamy were also observed for men, variables such as the type of degree or duration of the program were less predictive compared to women.

Keywords

  • assortative mating
  • higher education
  • educational expansion
  • educational homogamy
  • hypogamy
Go to the article on Cairn-int.info