Educational Assortative Mating and Childbearing within Cohabitation - Evidence from Four European Contexts

Childbearing within unmarried cohabitation has increased significantly over past decades. Earlier studies have linked non-marital childbearing to low educational attainment. In this study, we address non-marital childbearing from a couple’s perspective, taking into account both his and her human capital. We examine the link between educational assortative mating and family formation within and outside marriage in Austria, Belgium, western Germany and eastern Germany. From a socio-economic point of view, we expect that higher education is associated with a lower likelihood of parenthood outside marriage. Furthermore, we expect that relationships where the man is more highly educated than the woman are more inclined towards traditional family behaviors. We apply competing risks models to the Generations and Gender Surveys for Austria and Belgium, and to the German Family Panel. For Germany, results show that non-marital childbearing is less likely among couples with a higher education. In western Germany, non-marital childbearing is more likely if the woman is more highly educated than the man. In Austria, we find that less educated couples are least likely to have their first child outside marriage, probably the result of the higher proportion of migrants who honor marriage over non-marriage in this group. In Belgium, we find no effect of educational pairing. Our results point to the peculiarity of each context and lead us to emphasize that results from one context should not be readily generalized. This study also shows that considering the male partner’s educational background gives a more complete picture of the link between education and non-marital fertility.