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Marriage and Family-Building Patterns of University Graduates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

R. Keith Kelsall
Affiliation:
Higher Education Research Unit, Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield
Anne Poole
Affiliation:
Higher Education Research Unit, Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield
Annette Kuhn
Affiliation:
Higher Education Research Unit, Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield

Extract

The findings relating to marriage and fertility of the National Survey of 1960 Graduates show that highly-educated people are on the whole no exception to the generally observed principle of social and educational endogamy. Those from working-class homes, however, marry overwhelmingly into the middle class, so that marriage here constitutes a means of consolidating newly-won status. Respondents on the whole tended to delay marriage and family building while still engaged in full-time study, but more graduates are ultimately marrying and are doing so at younger ages than ever before. There are also certain consistent differences between the sexes, which indicate that women graduates are much more susceptible than men to the delaying influences on marriage and family building of the continued exposure to higher education.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1971

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