College-Educated Black Men Are More Likely Than Black Women With a College Degree to Live as Married-Couple Families

Last week JBHE reported that African Americans with a college education were significantly more likely than other blacks to live in traditional, married-couple families. But in what may be a surprise to many readers, black men with a college degree are more likely than black women with a college education to live in married-couple families. Slightly more than half of all black adult men with a college degree live in married-couple families. For adult African-American women with a college degree, only 41 percent live in traditional, dual-spouse families.

The explanation for the gender gap is that there are far more black women graduating from college than black men. Thus there is a shortage of marriage partners for black women who desire a black mate with a similar level of education. Nearly 30 percent of all black women adults with a college degree have never been married.

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