Assortative Mating Among College Graduates: Heterogeneity Across Fields of Study

Abstract

Advancing prior research that treated college graduates as a homogeneous group, we investigate heterogeneity in assortative mating patterns across baccalaureate degree fields. As baccalaureate degree fields are related to occupation, an important question remains about whether field-of-study homogamy begets occupational homogamy. We drew on the school-to-work transition literature, which shows that baccalaureate degree fields differ in their linkages to a targeted or diffuse set of occupational destinations. We analyzed 34,373 college-educated newlyweds from the 2009–2019 American Community Surveys. Log-linear analysis revealed a tendency for college graduates, especially those in vocational specific fields (fields that have targeted connections to specific occupations; e.g., law, health, and education), to marry a spouse in the same field. In addition, occupational homogamy was more likely to occur among couples with two spouses in the same vocational specific field than among couples with two spouses in different fields. By examining patterns and implications of field-of-study assortative mating, this study underlines the importance of horizontal stratification of higher education in shaping meeting opportunities and highlights how pathways from field of study to occupation structure marriage markets.