Status and identity in marital interaction

I draw on the concepts of status and identity to study marital interaction, arguing that people behave in ways that not only reflect their position in the social structure but also reaffirm who they are in marriage. To rest this argument I examine the effects not only of gender as status in newly formed marriages but also the status characteristics of age, education, and occupation. If being female influences negative behavior in conversations, the question is whether one's low position in other social groups, such as being young, less highly educated, and having a low-status occupation, also produces negative behavior or whether the effect is confined to gender I also examine whether these self-meanings continue to influence behavior when membership in other status groups is considered. I find that those with low status on these other dimensions in fact use negative behavior in marriage more than high-status individuals; the influence of a more masculine, more dominant control identity on negative behavior remains. These results identify a more general status pattern, which I discuss in terms of how one's structural position and self-meanings combine to produce actions that maintain both the status hierarchy and the self.