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Table 68. Statistical profile of doctorate recipients in humanities and arts fields, by sex and field of study: 2015

Characteristic All humanities and arts fields Foreign languages and literature History Letters Other humanities and arts
All doctorate recipients (number)a 5,600 656 1,145 1,590 2,209
Sex (%)
Male 49.4 36.4 55.2 40.9 56.4
Female 50.6 63.6 44.8 59.1 43.5
Unknown * 0.0 0.0 0.0 *
Citizenship (%)
U.S. citizen or permanent resident 80.0 70.6 82.3 85.5 77.6
Temporary visa holder 12.7 23.0 11.4 7.7 14.0
Unknown 7.3 6.4 6.3 6.8 8.4
Marital status (%)
Never married 24.0 24.8 25.3 25.3 22.0
Married 48.2 48.9 49.5 45.3 49.4
Marriage-like relationship 10.4 12.0 9.1 12.1 9.3
Separated, divorced, widowed 4.7 4.6 4.8 5.0 4.6
Unknown 12.7 9.6 11.3 12.3 14.8
Bachelor's in same field as doctorate (%)b 52.9 47.1 56.8 46.4 57.3
Master's earned (%) 82.7 86.9 86.0 82.3 80.0
Age at doctorate (median years) 34.2 34.3 33.9 33.4 34.8
Time to doctorate (median years)
From bachelor's 11.0 10.7 10.9 10.3 11.8
From graduate school start 9.2 8.9 9.0 8.9 9.8
From doctoral program startc 6.9 6.9 7.0 6.7 7.1
Male doctorate recipients (number) 2,767 239 632 650 1,246
Citizenship (%)
U.S. citizen or permanent resident 79.5 69.9 81.6 84.5 77.7
Temporary visa holder 12.7 23.4 11.4 8.2 13.6
Unknown 7.8 6.7 7.0 7.4 8.7
Marital status (%)
Never married 21.1 22.2 21.7 24.3 18.9
Married 51.9 46.4 52.8 47.2 54.8
Marriage-like relationship 10.0 14.2 9.7 13.1 7.8
Separated, divorced, widowed 3.7 5.9 4.1 3.2 3.4
Unknown 13.3 11.3 11.7 12.2 15.1
Bachelor's in same field as doctorate (%)b 53.8 43.9 56.8 47.1 57.8
Master's earned (%) 81.5 85.4 85.0 80.9 79.3
Age at doctorate (median years) 34.5 35.3 34.4 34.1 34.8
Time to doctorate (median years)
From bachelor's 11.0 10.8 10.9 10.5 11.6
From graduate school start 9.3 8.7 9.0 8.8 9.7
From doctoral program startc 6.7 6.7 7.0 6.7 6.9
Female doctorate recipients (number) 2,832 417 513 940 962
Citizenship (%)
U.S. citizen or permanent resident 80.5 71.0 83.0 86.3 77.7
Temporary visa holder 12.8 22.8 11.5 7.3 14.4
Unknown 6.7 6.2 5.5 6.4 7.9
Marital status (%)
Never married 26.8 26.4 29.8 26.1 26.0
Married 44.7 50.4 45.4 44.0 42.4
Marriage-like relationship 10.7 10.8 8.4 11.4 11.2
Separated, divorced, widowed 5.7 3.8 5.7 6.2 6.1
Unknown 12.1 8.6 10.7 12.3 14.2
Bachelor's in same field as doctorate (%)b 52.0 48.9 56.7 46.0 56.8
Master's earned (%) 83.9 87.8 87.3 83.2 81.1
Age at doctorate (median years) 33.8 34.0 33.3 33.0 34.8
Time to doctorate (median years)
From bachelor's 11.0 10.6 10.7 10.3 12.0
From graduate school start 9.2 8.9 8.9 8.9 10.0
From doctoral program startc 7.0 7.0 7.1 6.7 7.3
* = value < 0.05%.
a Includes respondents who did not report sex.
b A bachelor's degree is counted as "in same field as doctorate" if the fields of study for the doctorate recipient's bachelor's degree and doctorate degree are both in the same major field category of the National Science Foundation's field of study taxonomy, except for engineering and education fields where broad field categories need be the same. See table A-6 in the technical notes for a listing of major fields and their constituent subfields.
c Time to doctorate from doctoral program start is based on master's degree entry if the master's degree was at the doctoral institution in the same fine field of study or was a prerequisite to the doctorate; otherwise, it is based on doctoral program entry.
NOTE: Due to rounding, percentages may not sum to 100.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Earned Doctorates, 2015.