Pathways to marital and non-marital first birth: the role of his and her education

Abstract

A key demographic trend of the past decades has been the increasing share of first births occurring outside marriage. In analysing the factors associated with this trend, scholars have tended to focus on the characteristics of only one of the parents, typically the mother. This study examines the pathways to parenthood from a couple’s perspective, focusing on the role of educational pairings; i.e. the combination of his and her education. Using a multistate approach, we examine the connection between educational pairings and the occurrence of the first birth inside or outside marriage for 12 European countries. We find that the presence of at least one highly educated partner lowers the likelihood of a non-marital first birth. Strikingly, it does not matter whether it is he or she who has the highest level of education.

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