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Table 68. Statistical profile of doctorate recipients in humanities and arts fields, by sex and field of study: 2016

Characteristic All humanities and arts fields Foreign languages and literature History Letters Other humanities and arts
All doctorate recipients (number)a 5,484 599 1,147 1,533 2,205
Sex (%)
Male 48.1 38.1 54.1 39.1 54.0
Female 51.8 61.9 45.9 60.9 45.9
Unknown * 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1
Citizenship (%)
U.S. citizen or permanent resident 81.1 66.6 82.7 85.7 81.0
Temporary visa holder 13.0 27.4 12.4 8.2 12.7
Unknown 5.9 6.0 4.9 6.1 6.3
Marital status (%)
Never married 25.9 28.7 26.7 26.2 24.5
Married 46.8 42.2 49.0 45.9 47.6
Marriage-like relationship 10.1 9.8 10.1 11.0 9.4
Separated, divorced, widowed 5.0 5.2 4.1 4.8 5.6
Unknown 12.2 14.0 10.1 12.1 12.8
Bachelor's in same field as doctorate (%)b 53.5 45.2 57.3 45.7 59.1
Master's earned (%) 84.4 84.6 85.8 83.7 84.0
Age at doctorate (median years) 34.1 34.2 33.8 33.6 34.5
Time to doctorate (median years)
From bachelor's 11.0 10.6 10.9 10.6 11.4
From graduate school start 9.3 8.7 9.2 9.0 9.7
From doctoral program startc 7.0 6.7 7.2 6.7 7.2
Male doctorate recipients (number) 2,639 228 621 600 1,190
Citizenship (%)
U.S. citizen or permanent resident 81.1 67.5 83.1 84.7 80.8
Temporary visa holder 12.8 28.5 12.4 8.2 12.4
Unknown 6.1 3.9 4.5 7.2 6.8
Marital status (%)
Never married 24.3 30.7 23.3 26.0 22.6
Married 50.7 45.2 53.9 47.2 51.8
Marriage-like relationship 8.4 8.8 9.3 10.5 6.8
Separated, divorced, widowed 4.2 3.1 4.2 3.5 4.7
Unknown 12.5 12.3 9.2 12.8 14.1
Bachelor's in same field as doctorate (%)b 55.2 43.0 60.1 47.2 59.0
Master's earned (%) 83.6 85.1 86.3 81.3 83.0
Age at doctorate (median years) 34.3 34.2 34.3 34.0 34.4
Time to doctorate (median years)
From bachelor's 11.0 10.4 11.0 11.0 11.3
From graduate school start 9.2 8.1 9.0 9.0 9.7
From doctoral program startc 6.9 6.7 7.0 6.7 7.0
Female doctorate recipients (number) 2,843 371 526 933 1,013
Citizenship (%)
U.S. citizen or permanent resident 81.2 66.0 82.3 86.4 81.3
Temporary visa holder 13.1 26.7 12.4 8.3 13.0
Unknown 5.7 7.3 5.3 5.4 5.6
Marital status (%)
Never married 27.4 27.5 30.6 26.3 26.9
Married 43.3 40.4 43.2 45.0 42.7
Marriage-like relationship 11.6 10.5 11.0 11.4 12.5
Separated, divorced, widowed 5.8 6.5 4.0 5.7 6.7
Unknown 11.9 15.1 11.2 11.7 11.2
Bachelor's in same field as doctorate (%)b 51.9 46.6 54.0 44.8 59.3
Master's earned (%) 85.1 84.4 85.2 85.2 85.3
Age at doctorate (median years) 33.8 34.3 33.2 33.2 34.5
Time to doctorate (median years)
From bachelor's 11.0 11.0 10.7 10.6 11.6
From graduate school start 9.3 9.0 9.2 9.0 9.7
From doctoral program startc 7.0 6.7 7.2 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, 2016.