TY  - JOUR
AU  - Isen,Adam
AU  - Stevenson,Betsey
TI  - Women's Education and Family Behavior: Trends in Marriage, Divorce and Fertility
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 15725
PY  - 2010
Y2  - February 2010
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15725
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15725.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Adam Isen
University of Pennsylvania
Steinberg-Dietrich Hall #1400
3620 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6372
E-Mail: isen@wharton.upenn.edu

Betsey Stevenson
The Wharton School
University of Pennsylvania
1454 Steinberg - Dietrich Hall
3620 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Tel: 215/898-3019
Fax: 215/898-7635
E-Mail: betseys@wharton.upenn.edu
M3  - presented at "Demography and Economics Converence", April 11-12, 2008
AB  - This paper examines how marital and fertility patterns have changed along racial and educational lines for men and women.  Historically, women with more education have been the least likely to marry and have children, but this marriage gap has eroded as the returns to marriage have changed.  Marriage and remarriage rates have risen for women with a college degree relative to women with fewer years of education.  However, the patterns of, and reasons for, marriage have changed.  College educated women marry later, have fewer children, are less likely to view marriage as “financial security”, are happier in their marriages and with their family life, and are not only the least likely to divorce, but have had the biggest decrease in divorce since the 1970s compared to women without a college degree.  In contrast, there have been fewer changes in marital patterns by education for men.
ER  -