Topic: Educational Assortative Mating and Marital Satisfaction: A Study Based on Chinese Family Panel Studies
Abstract: Using data from Chinese Family Panel Studies (CFPS 2018), this paper analyses the impact of educational assortative mating on marital satisfaction of conjugal partners by using diagonal reference models. The results suggest that the higher the level of educational homogamy, the higher the marital satisfaction for both spouses; that hypergamous marriage can significantly reduce the marital satisfaction of both spouses while hypergamous marriage has a positive effect on wife's marital satisfaction; and that there are clear gender differences of educational impacts on marital satisfaction - for wives, the larger the differences between their own and the husband's educational levels, the stronger the negative effect on their marital satisfaction whereas short-range hypergamy increases their marital satisfaction; for husbands, only long-range hypergamous marriage has a negative impact on their own marital satisfaction. With the gender-gap reversal in education, hypogamy will increase, and the stability of marriage and marital satisfaction may face more challenges in the future.
Speaker Profile: Professor LI Yaojun
Professor Lee is a Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Manchester, UK and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). He holds an MA in Sociology and a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Oxford. Professor Li's research interests include social mobility and social stratification. He has a particular interest in the themes of class, education, labour market status, social capital and racial integration in the UK and China. His research has been published in the American Journal of Sociology, British Journal of Sociology, Sociology, European Sociological Review and other sociological journals.
Time: 21:00-22.30 ( Beijing time ) 14:00-15:30 ( UK time ), Thursday, 26 May 2022