Changing Patterns of Union Dissolution: A Meta-Analysis on the Role of Education

Anna Matysiak, Warsaw School of Economics
Daniele Vignoli, University of Florence
Marta Styrc, Warsaw School of Economics

A large body of empirical studies exist on the relationship of education for the changes in union dissolution in Europe. However, these studies are not consistent in their findings. This paper aims at assessing the relationship between educational attainment and the incidence of divorce by systematizing the existing empirical evidence on the topic via a quantitative literature review (a meta-analysis). This allows us to assess the relationship in a quantitative manner and to investigate its temporal and cross-country variation, net of the across-study differences. The paper contributes to the discussion on the impact of the country context on union dissolution. It also investigates whether a failure to account for some specific information (such as job characteristics or social background) may result in a bias to the estimated effect of education on marriage dissolution.