Divorce Rate Tied to Education, Race

First-time divorce rate depends upon education and race, marital stability increases with the level of education, says study. For the study conducted by the National Centre for Family and Marriage Research (NCFMR) at Bowling Green State University, the date for the family profile "First Divorce Rate, 2010" was gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2010.

The study found that among women in a first marriage, the rate of first divorce was highest for those who received some education after high school, but did not earn a bachelor's degree - 23 per 1,000.

The association between education and divorce was also curvilinear, as the and highest educated women shared the lowest rate of first divorce, with 14.4 and 14.2 per 1,000, respectively.

Broken down by race and ethnicity, the study found Asian women to be having the lowest first divorce rate at 10 divorces per 1,000 women in a first marriage.

The first divorce rates of white and Hispanic women were similar at 16.3 and 18.1, respectively, while African-American women have substantially higher rates of first divorce compared to all other racial and ethnic groups, at 30.4 divorces per 1,000 women in a first marriage.

"Contrary to the notion that women with a college degree face the lowest chances of divorce, those without a high school degree actually have similar low odds of divorce," Dr. Susan Brown, NCFMR co-director, said.

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"The relationship between education and divorce is not straightforward," she said.

Source-ANI