Marital Attitudes of African-Americans Obtaining Graduate Education

There is an escalating trend towards the decrease in marriage rates in the African-American community. However, previous research on this trend has focused largely on the perspectives of lower-income and less educated African-Americans. The perspectives of middle-income and educated African Americans have remained untapped in much of the marriage and divorce literature. Educational and economic disparities and a sex ratio balance between African-American men and women have been identified as factors that impact marital attitudes and behaviors in the African-American community. However, research has not examined the impact of these factors on the highly educated population of African Americans. This study utilized a survey method to measure the impact of these identified factors on the marital attitudes of 340 African Americans (263 females, 77 males) enrolled in graduate, law, or medical programs across the country. Analyses of variance and correlations were conducted to better understand the relationships between attitudes toward marriage and childhood family structure, gender, and marital considerations