Huge Racial Gap in Marriage Rates Is Attributable, at Least in Part, to the Gender Gap in African-American Higher Education

The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education produced an interesting article this past week on previous research they conducted regarding this idea that the gender gap in college degree attainment between black men and black women is also affecting the racial gap in marriage rates between blacks and whites. Click on title to read the article. Here are a few points raised in the article:

• By black women making up nearly two thirds of all African Americans earning a college degree from a four year college or university, it's becoming extremely difficult to find a mate with a similar level of education



• 43.8 percent of black women between the ages of 25 and 44 have never been married. Only 16 percent of white women in this age group have never married



• The huge gender gap in higher educational degree attainment undoubtedly is a major factor in the marriage rate gap between blacks and whites.

Another factor that contribute to the marriage gap that the JBHE did not mention is a increasingly growing number of women and a few men who would rather not work. With today's economy, that's becoming increasingly difficult. Therefore upon meeting somone regardless of their education or not, what's important a lot of the time is how do you support yourself versus what school did you graduate from.

I guess my point is while education is a factor, it's not the most important in determining the racial gap in marriages.

Please share other factors.