Effects of early marriage and marriage deferment on educational attainment and occupational achievement of black and white youth were investigated in a longitudinal study of 1,052 rural youth from Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas. Data were obtained from the larger Southern Youth Study, 1966-72. Within the framework of the life cycle perspective, early marriage was found to be associated with a set of attitudinal antecedents generally indicative of lower level achievements. Specific findings showed: both blacks and whites who held aspirations and expectations during adolescence for lower level education and occupation married early; actual early marriage was associated in early adulthood with lower attainment as well as with continuation of lower achievement orientations; negative achievement influence of early marriage was generally pervasive for both males and females, blacks and whites. An unexpected finding was that the interrelationship between marital deferment and achievement attitudes did not appear until early adulthood for blacks, and then for expectations and attainments only. For whites, early marriage had a depressant effect on adolescent and early adult aspirations and expectations, both educationally and occupationally. Findings taken collectively point to timing of marriage as an important behavior influence in status attainment processes. (Author/RS)