Social Class Heterogamy and Marital Success: A Study of the Empirical Adequacy of a Textbook Generalization

“Functional” marriage textbooks usually state that differences between spouses in class background are, regardless of adult status, influences for marital maladjustment and instability; but a search of the literature revealed no empirical support for this generalization. Data from a sample of males in a high-status occupation reveal no marital instability which can be attributed to an interaction between the class backgrounds of the spouses.