Do American Women Marry Up?

It has frequently been assumed that American women tend to marry men whose socioeconomic origins are higher than their own. One rationale for this assumption is the notion that the woman's romantic orientation is more adaptive and directive than that of the man. A review of the evidence reveals that the assumption has not been adequately tested, however. The present study approached the question by applying several statistical techniques to large-sample data on husbands' and wives' fathers' occupations. No overall tendency for American women to marry up was found. If only the two highest occupational categories are considered, however, women apparently do tend to marry up. In addition, farmers' daughters are more likely than farmers' sons to marry the children of white-collar workers.