A study revealed that a specific element in the school career directly influenced the chances of getting married. And the effect is felt up to fifties.
It is often believed that love and studies follow separate paths – but a vast study shows that a simple school choice can weigh on the life of a couple, decades later. Two researchers, John V. Winters and Kunwon Ahn, plunged into data of more than eight million Americans collected between 2006 and 2019. They then discovered that the links between education and marriage were indeed more complex than it seems. First of all, their research shows, for example, that the most educated people get married less in their twenties and thirties, and that this trend does not completely fade with age. They are also more inclined to marry a spouse graduated from higher education, when they get married, and their couple is then less exposed to separations, divorces or the loss of their spouse.
This double observation intrigues: on the one hand, fewer weddings; on the other, unions that last more. The authors advance several explanations. Education widens professional horizons, strengthens financial independence, changes expectations from a partner. To look more closely, the effect varies according to the stages of life. Among 25-34 year olds, the figures show a clear decline in the probability of being married. Between 45 and 54 years old, the gap is tightening, but the proportion of people who have never been married remains higher among those who followed a longer school career. This tendency to remain single, therefore, is therefore not a simple time lag. Simply, the more you extend your education, the less likely you are to get married, according to the data collected.
Very concretely, according to their calculations, each additional year reduces, on average, four percentage points the chances of marrying between 25 and 34 years. Cumulated on a long journey, the effect becomes massive and remains visible well after the forties.
Another notable point: education also influences maternity and paternity. In the twenties and thirties, birth rates are lower among graduates. The study also stresses that these developments do not necessarily reflect a lack of interest in the couple or family life. They can just as much translate different priorities, or the feeling of being able to live fully without going through marriage.
