Early Marriage versus Professional Success

        Columbia University sociologist Ely Ginzberg published a related
study in which he had followed up for some fifteen years a large group
of medical school graduates. Over that period of time all of the doctors
studied had achieved a considerable amount of professional success. But
Ginzberg found that one of the strongest and least expected predictors of
career success was the age at which a doctor had married.  Most Amer-
icans have long operated under the ascetic assumption that one of the
sacrifices a person must make in order to become a medical doctor is
that of delayed marriage. NOT SO, according to Ginzberg's findings.
     Ginzberg divided the doctors up into thirds in terms of how suc-
cessful they were fifteen years after graduation from medical school.
There was the most successful one-third, the least successful one-third,
and the third that was in the middle in terms of career success. In a
nutshell, the most successful one-third had married earliest in life, whereas
the least successful one-third had married latest. Indeed, several of the
least successful one-third had not married at all, whereas none of the
most successful one-third had remained unmarried Moreover, a majority
of the most successful doctors had married while they were still in their
junior or senior year of undergraduate work, or while they were in their
first two years of medical school training
      Of course, early marriage does not assure strong interpersonal
skills. However, the evidence from the research of Jencks, Ginzberg,
and many others, strongly suggests that early, successful heterosexual
interaction does lead to the kind of social skills and social self-confidence
that is as valuable in the world of employment as it is within the context
of an individual's personal life.