Mate Availability, Women's Marriage Prevalence, and Husbands' Education

Abstract

We predict that marriage prevalence and husbands' education for Black women vary directly with mate availability. We also predict that marriage prevalence and husbands' education will be lower for Black women with less than a high school education than for other Black women. We test these predictions using data on marriage and husbands' education for a national sample of individuals and data on aggregate-level marriage prevalence and husbands' education for a sample of large metropolitan areas. The results support our predictions, and they help to explain how low mate availability for Black women helps to create and maintain an underclass that is disproportionately composed of less-educated Black women and their children.