Table 3.
Hazard Ratios of the Association Between Spouses’ Relative Education and Marital Dissolution by Marriage Cohort
| Marriage Cohort and Spouses’ Relative Education | Pooled Estimates (Model 2) | Education Associations (Model 3) |
|---|---|---|
| 1950–54 Marriage Cohort | ||
| Hypergamous (W<H, omitted) | -- | -- |
| Hypogamous (W>H) | 1.51 **a (3.39) | 1.18 (0.61) |
| Homogamous (W=H) | 1.09 (0.99) | 0.94 (0.37) |
| 2000–04 Marriage Cohort | ||
| Hypergamous (W<H, omitted) | -- | -- |
| Hypogamous (W>H) | 0.82 (1.48) | 0.58 (1.69) |
| Homogamous (W=H) | 0.78 * (2.22) | 0.63 * (2.53) |
| Ratio of 1950–54 to 2000–04 | ||
| Marriage Cohorts | ||
| Hypergamous (W<H, omitted) | -- | -- |
| Hypogamous (W>H) | 1.85 ** (4.96) | 2.04 * (1.98) |
| Homogamous (W=H) | 1.40 ** (3.05) | 1.50 * (2.00) |
| Likelihood Ratio | 3615.38 | 3684.30 |
| Model df | 23 | 35 |
| N | 39,589 | 39,589 |
Notes: W=wife’s education category; H=husband’s education category. Hazard ratios are given with |z| statistics in parentheses. Two-tailed z-tests where *p < .05; **p < .01.
Model 2 contains linear and quadratic terms for marriage cohort, husband’s age at marriage, and wife’s age at marriage; dummy variables for wife’s race (1=African American, 0=other), marriage number (1=remarriage, 0=first marriage), data source (1=NSFG 1973–1995, 2=PSID, 3=NSFG 2002 and 2006–10), husband’s and wife’s education category (<12, 13–15, ≥16), and spouses’ relative education (1=hypogamous, 2=homogamous, 3=hypergamous); and a linear term for the absolute difference between spouses’ education categories. Model 3 additionally contains interaction terms between linear and quadratic terms for marriage cohort and dummy variables for husband’s and wife’s education category.
Hazard ratios for hypogamous versus homogamous couples are statistically significant (two tailed z-test, p < .05).
Sources: Pooled data from the 1973, 1976, 1982, 1988, 1995, 2002, and 2006–10 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) and the 1968–2009 Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID).