Higher education, lower satisfaction: hypogamy and traditional norms in Japan

Abstract This paper examines whether traditional gender norms are associated with well-being penalties for the rising share of women who are more educated than their husbands (hypogamy). Using panel data from the Japanese Panel Survey of Consumers (JPSC) covering the period of 1993 to 2020, the results show that women in hypogamous marriages report lower life satisfaction than other married women. The negative association is less pronounced for more recent marriage cohorts, as well as for women with less traditional norms. Moreover, the association shows stronger negative well-being implications for hypogamous women whose intra-household role is not in line with norm-based expectations.