Effects of Husband's and Wife's Social Status on Psychological Functioning

Abstract

This study explores the importance of each spouse's social stratification position for the other's psychological functioning, challenging long-held assumptions that husband's social-stratification position represents the stratification position of all family members. Using a national sample of 249 employed couples, effects of own and spouse's education, occupational status, and income are assessed on three dimensions of psychological functioning: ideational flexibility, self-directedness of orientation, and distress. The method of analysis involves linear structural equation models. Own stratification position is consistently more important than spouse's. Nonetheless, husband's social-stratification position does have a significant effect on wife's ideationalflexibility. Analysis of the reciprocal relationships between husband's and wife's self-directedness of orientation shows that husband's self-directedness has a much stronger effect on wife's self-directedness than her selfdirectedness has on his, suggesting that the process by which stratification position of husband affects wife's self-directedness is indirect: his social-stratification position affects his personality, and his personality in turn affects his wife's personality.