How Higher Education Affects the Formation of Stable Black Families

It is well known that black children are far less likely than their white peers to grow up in two-parent families. In 2006, 38.1 percent of black adults were married and living with their spouse. For whites the figure was 64.1 percent.

Now the question is whether blacks with a college education are more likely than other African Americans to enter into and stay in stable family relationships that will lead to better opportunities for their children. The short answer is an emphatic “Yes!”

Blacks with a bachelor’s degree are significantly more likely than less-educated blacks to live in married-couple families. In 2006, 46.2 percent of black adults with a bachelor’s degree lived in married-couple relationships. In comparison, 36.8 percent of blacks with only a high school education lived in married-couple families.

Furthermore, as blacks move further up the educational ladder, they are even more likely to live in stable, traditional families. More than 53 percent of black adults with a master’s degree live in married-couple families. For African Americans with professional degrees, 55 percent of black adults live in married-couple families.