The Proximate Determinants of Educational Homogamy

This paper adapts the population balancing equation to develop a framework for studying theproximate determinants of educational homogamy. Using data from the National LongitudinalSurvey of Youth on a cohort of women born between 1957 and 1965, we decompose the odds ofhomogamy in prevailing marriages into four proximate determinants: (1) first marriages, (2) firstand later marital dissolutions, (3) remarriages, and (4) educational attainment after marriage. Theodds of homogamy among new first marriages are lower than among prevailing marriages, butnot because of selective marital dissolution, remarriage, and educational attainment aftermarriage, as has been speculated. Prevailing marriages are more likely to be educationallyhomogamous than new first marriages because of the accumulation of homogamous firstmarriages in the stock of marriages. First marriages overwhelmingly account for the odds ofhomogamy in prevailing marriages in this cohort. Marital dissolutions, remarriages, andeducational upgrades after marriage have relatively small and offsetting effects. Our resultssuggest that, despite the high prevalence of divorce, remarriage, and continued schooling aftermarriage in the United States, the key to understanding trends in educational homogamy liesprimarily in variation in assortative mating into first marriage.