Spousal educational matching patterns and fertility behavior

Abstract The rise in women’s educational attainment and shifts in gender roles have reshaped marriage patterns and childbearing in China. Drawing on household-level data, this study examines cohort changes in spousal educational matching and their implications for fertility behavior. The results show a decline in traditional gradient marriages alongside an increase in highly educated homogamous marriages and marriages where women marry down in education. Fertility outcomes vary across educational pairing types. Among homogamous couples, a negative gradient emerges: the higher the educational attainment, the fewer children they have, with highly educated couples exhibiting the fewest children and the lowest likelihood of having a second child. Additionally, as wives’ educational advantage over husbands increases, the probability of having a second child declines. However, over time, the fertility disadvantages associated with highly educated homogamy and female downward marriages have diminished. This study’s findings underscore how evolving gender roles, relative status within couples, and the gendered division of labor shape fertility decision-making, offering valuable insight into fertility trends and informing policy development.