Prior studies have argued that changes in nuptial behavior are the main contributors to the decline in fertility in Japan and educational gradients in fertility are negligible. Recently, however, changes in marital fertility have also contributed to the decline in fertility. While the influence of women's educational attainment on fertility has only been paid attention, since fertility involves two partners and so it is also possible to focus on the influence of the male partner's social

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... Moreover, not only can each partner's socioeconomic status, but also their combining as a couple (assortative mating), influence fertility. In spite of theoretical significance to examine the relationship between educational assortative mating and fertility, scholars face a methodological problem in examining an interaction of two variables. In this study, applying diagonal reference model to event history analysis, I estimated the effect of educational assortative mating on having first and second childbirth in Japan. A series of analysis revealed that homogamy couples of the high educated are less likely to have their second child than other types of educational coupling.