Of marriage and movie stars

Love is a mystery wrapped in a riddle and our choice of marriage partners is heavily guided by the stars and energies of fate; right? Well, if you ask the psychological fraternity/sisterhood there are some less abstract reasons why we choose our spouses. Despite appearing in the “Journal of Human Capital”, the name of which suggests a prosaic and utilitarian approach to life, the study found that the glittering folk we call movie stars have something to teach us about our choice of partners.

It has been established in earlier studies that married couples tend to be sorted by their levels of education. That is, we marry people of a similar educational attainment. The reasons for this have never really been pinned down; until now.

There have been lots of theories put forward over the years. It might be that people of a similar educational level will have similar salaries and job status. It could be that they will tend to have similar interests and hobbies. It might also just be that people of a similar educational status are more likely to meet either in school, university, or the workplace. Now a new study has suggested that movie stars can help make sense of all of this.

The researcher compiled a large set of data that included top movie stars’ marriages, earnings, and education levels. Firstly, he found that level of education had no relationship to a movie stars’ success, measured either by box office earnings or chances of winning an Oscar. Despite this disconnect between education and success, movie stars still tend to marry other movie stars who have a similar educational background.

The data also revealed that actors are unlikely to meet their spouses in school, and that their education level did not impact their chances of being cast in a movie together.

This tells us then that the link between education and marriage is not about money or simply a result of the likelihood of being thrown together. So the education link probably is due to shared interests beyond the financial, which brings us back to the mystery and intangible quality of life rather driving our spousal choices rather than harsh financial calculation.

Let’s let out a collective “Phew!” over that one.

It does suggest however, that if you are planning to snare Hollywood actor James Franco for some nuptials you might want to enrol for your tertiary studies pretty quickly. Franco has just enrolled for his second PhD on top of his undergraduate degree and Master of Fine Arts. Good luck with that one!

Source: Journal of Human CapitalMeanwhile if you visit Meijer Ad that contains mostly likewise discounts with Winn Dixie Ad you surely have a range like ALDI Ad.