A new study published by The Reporter Times examines how divorce rates are impacted by level of education. Although divorce rates in the United States have declined in recent years, between 40 percent and 50 percent of all marriages are dissolved by divorce.
The authors note that “during the first few decades of the 20th century, couples with higher education were more likely to separate, likely due to them having better resources. But that changed in the following decades, and divorce became more likely for the less educated. This is because individuals pursuing higher education would typically enter into a formal union later in life.”
Also, higher education translates into higher income. And people with higher incomes are more able to afford marriage counseling, childcare services, housekeeping services, and even vacations which can all serve to lessen pressures on a marriage.
A 2015 study by the Pew Research Center found that women with a college education had a 78 percent chance of having their marriage succeed and not end in divorce. For women with only a high school diploma, more than half had a marriage that ended in divorce.
The authors conclude that “marriage is an institution that requires work and compromise by both individuals, not just one. Numerous variables may result in or contribute to the end of a marriage. One key variable is education. Education should be attained irrespective of the effect it might have on the longevity of the marriage, but if it aids in the probability of the longevity of it, then the importance of acquiring formal knowledge through schooling only increases.”