Is educational assortative mating passed down through generations? Evidence from Europe

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Educational assortative mating can contribute to social closure and the intergenerational reproduction of inequality; a stratifying force that may intensify if mating behaviors are transmitted from parents to children. Despite its potential role in deepening social inequalities, however, the intergenerational transmission of educational assortative mating has been largely overlooked in empirical work. This study tests such transmission using micro-data from four EU-SILC waves, covering 32 European countries and a 45-year period. The analytical sample comprises 174,990 men and women, aged 35–45 and living with a different-sex partner. Based on a research design that accounts for indirect effects and confounding, the findings show that educational homogamy is transmitted across generations, but only among the highly educated. The transmission of heterogamy is gender-specific and occurs only when the same-sex parent occupies the higher educational position. The findings contribute to debates about the role of educational assortative mating in perpetuating inequality.