Educational Homogamy of Married and Unmarried Couples in English and French Canada

This study investigates the relative similarity of educational assortative mating patterns among young married and cohabiting couples using Canadian census data from 1991, 1996, and 2001. It contrasts the patterns observed in Quebec with those observed elsewhere in Canada, as these regions display very different demographic trends, especially with respect to cohabitation. First, we hypothesize that the gap between married and unmarried couples will be smaller in Quebec, as cohabitation is more common in this province. Second, we suggest that the double-selection hypothesis predicting higher educational homogamy among married couples should be more appropriate to explain the behaviours observed in Canada outside of Quebec, whereas the utilitarian theory predicting higher educational homogamy among cohabiting couples should apply better to the French province situation. The results fully support our first hypothesis. However, the analyses do not unambiguously confirm our second hypothesis concerning the direction of the differences. Even though we find that married couples living outside of Quebec generally display higher levels of educational homogamy than cohabiting partners, no clear trend is observed in Quebec. In addition, our data do not reveal any clear change over the period considered. Resume. Cet article examine le degre d’homogamie educative des jeunes couples maries et en union libre a partir des donnees du recensement canadien de 2001. Il compare les comportements des couples quebecois a ceux observes ailleurs au Canada, compte tenu de l’evolution differente qu’ont connue ces deux regions, particulierement en regard des unions libres. Dans un premier temps, nous faisons l’hypothese que l’ecart entre couples maries et cohabitants sera plus faible au Quebec, l’union libre etant plus repandue dans cette province. En deuxieme lieu, nous suggerons que l’hypothese de la «double-selection» predisant un plus haut niveau d’homogamie educative chez les couples maries est plus appropriee pour rendre compte des comportements observes au Canada en dehors du Quebec, alors que la theorie utilitariste predisant une homogamie educative plus grande parmi les couples en union libre colle davantage a la situation de la province francophone. Les resultats de l’analyse ne confirment pas nos hypotheses. L’ecart qui separe mariage et union libre est relativement semblable dans les deux regions du pays et les couples cohabitants affichent dans l’ensemble un niveau d’homogamie plus faible que leurs homologues maries.