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Study: Link Between College Education And Divorce Rates

Posted on Feb 08, 2010

A new study reported in the Wall Street Journal has uncovered revealing information about the link between college educations and divorce rates. Betsey Stevenson and Adam Isen examined a number of surveys and data sets to determine the relationship between having a college degree and having a happy, lasting marriage.

Hidden Benefits of a Diploma

What they found was surprising: while women and men who have finished college are most likely to stay married and to report happier marriages, the groups most likely to divorce within ten years are those who only had some college education. Those with only high school educations fell somewhere in the middle.

The authors of the study can only guess why these correlations are present, but said that it is likely that college-educated women are more likely to see marriage as a source of personal fulfillment and less as a means of economic stability. They also said that it may be that those who do not finish their college educations may have traits that don’t allow them to ride out rough or unhappy times in their marriages.

While studies have always found that men who receive college diplomas are happier and more successful in marriage, the fact that women with a college education also enter into healthier and happier relationships is a new trend that was not so pronounced 50 years ago. However, unlike 50 years ago, a college-educated woman is less likely to get married than those with only high school diplomas.

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