Date of Award

Spring 5-21-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Sociology

First Advisor

Jennifer Mueller

Abstract

The research reported here used measures of educational attainment and happiness of marriage to assess how happy college educated women are in their marriages relative to their non college educated counterparts. A regression analysis of data from the 2018 General Social Survey American indicated that there is no link between marital happiness and degree attained based on gender. The greatest indicated likelihood of being in a happy marriage of the highest quality is among those who are white identifying people, net of the estimated effects of time since first marriage and several variables that might commonly affect marital happiness such as sex, age and race. The non-significant relationship between the degree variable and happiness of marriage can be due to many factors but it would be premature to conclude that there is absolutely not relationship between degree and happiness of marriage, especially given the existing scholarship. However, the findings do suggest that white people are more likely to say they are very happy in their marriages, pursue and attain a college education, and are older compared to their counterparts. These results are very telling of one of many socially constructed institutions that benefits white individuals and provides more advantages that increase the chances of marital success and happiness.

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