Professional Black Women: You’ll Never Find a Husband
August 18, 2009 by blackgirlgrown
Filed under black women, life, relationships
At least according to some cold hard data. You’ve probably read recent news articles this past week on the subject. I must admit I have subconsciously avoided reading them. The current flurry of articles expound on research presented at the 104th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.
Yes, it’s no longer anecdotal as social scientists have data and research confirming that the smarter and more accomplished you are, the less likely you are to get married.
Hmm. That’s a great lesson for young black girls.
According to Hannah Brueckner, professor of sociology at Yale University and the study’s co-author:
Both white and black highly educated women have increasingly delayed childbirth and remained childless, but the increase is stronger for black women.
So, what does the data say?
- Black women born after 1950 were twice as likely as white women to never have married by age 45 and twice as likely to be divorced, widowed or separated
- The gap in the proportion of black and white highly educated women living with a spouse has grown over the decades, increasing from 9 percent in the 1970s to 21 percent in 2000-2007
- Black women are less likely than black men to marry outside their race, and, compared to whites and black men, they are least likely to marry a college-educated spouse
The study’s research sources and methodology: The authors analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey to uncover marriage and family trends among black women with postgraduate degrees. The Current Population Survey has surveyed approximately 50,000 households monthly for more than 50 years to collect data on the American labor force.
If you are interested in reading more, a copy of the paper’s executive summary is available here. And you can request a copy of the full paper from the American Sociological Association here.
blackgirlgrown
