02/05/2010

A new study shows that people who drop out of college without completing their course are more likely to get divorced later in life.

The study has been published by economists Adam Isen and Betsey Stevenson from the University of Pennsylvania. The study is a look into trends in marriage, divorce and fertility.

The researchers found that people with college educations were less likely to get divorced than people with lower levels of education. However, people with 'some college education' – i.e. those who dropped out without finishing their course, had the highest divorce rate of all.

The economists said that college-educated people had a lower divorce rate because they embarked upon marriage with a different set of expectations. Stevenson explained, “they’re less likely to approach their marriages as sources of financial stability and they’re more likely to approach them as a source of personal fulfillment.”

However, the drop-out trend is explained a different way. The researchers believe that the factors that could cause someone to drop out of college (e.g lack of finances, emotional problems) could be the same that lead to divorce later in their adult lives.