Ассортативность браков по уровню образования: изменения в связи с экспансией высшего образования в России

Демографическое обозрение. 2021. Т. 8. № 4. С. 81–105.

Zinchenko D.

The paper aims to investigate the consequences of the gender-biased expansion of higher education for the marriage patterns and educational assortative mating of men and women in Russia. The effect of education is introduced at two levels: as an individual trait and as a feature of the local marriage market. Using multinomial logit regressions, we assess how a person's own education attainment affects the likelihood of being married and the choice of a partner with a certain educational level. Changes in the educational composition of the local marriage market are an exogenous factor. Results show that men’s level of education increases their chances of being married, while for women, a university degree does not affect the likelihood of their being married. The educational structure of the local marriage markets only slightly correlates with union formation and has a more pronounced effect on educational assortative mating. Women’s advantage in education fosters the already expanding tendency towards hypogamy among women. Men, however, tend to react more rationally to the reinforced women’s educational advantage, shifting their preferences from homogamy to a union with more educated women with potentially more appealing economic characteristics. The share of university graduates in the total population is statistically related to educational sorting only of men. Among men, the probability of marrying a less educated woman decreases as the share of university-educated people grows. However, the rates of expansion of higher education do not have significant implications for the educational sorting of both women and men.

Keywords: высшее образование, брачный рынок, гендер, брачное поведение, gender, higher education, ассортативность браков, marriage behavior, educational assortative mating, marriage market