Heterogeneous Effects of College on Family Formation Patterns among Women

TLDR: Overall, education delays family formation and increases participation in the labor force and women at the margin of college completion are those for whom the expansion of higher education exerts its greatest impact.

Abstract: Educational attainment is a significant predictor of women’s family formation patterns (Becker 1991; Rindfuss, Bumpass, and St. John 1980; Rindfuss, Morgan, and Offut 1996) and labor force participation (Bianchi 1995). Overall, education delays family formation and increases participation in the labor force. While highly educated women have postponed both marriage and parenthood in recent decades, less-educated women have postponed marriage more than parenthood. As a result, non-marital births have risen dramatically among less-educated women relative to highly educated women. Despite a substantial literature on the effects of education on family formation patterns among women, few studies evaluate potential heterogeneity in these effects. Women’s significantly increasing level of educational attainment (Buchman and DiPrete 2006) motivates renewed and careful attention to the impact of education on family formation patterns, particularly among college-educated women who have a low likelihood of college completion. Women at the margin of college completion are those for whom the expansion of higher education exerts its greatest impact.