A recent scientific study has shed light on the intricate relationship between money and marriage. The findings, published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, challenge traditional assumptions about how financial behaviors, communication about money, and marital satisfaction influence one another. The study found husbands’ marital satisfaction tends to predict improvements in financial communication, while wives’ financial behaviors are more likely to predict enhanced financial communication.
It’s no secret that money plays a role in marital relationships. Financial issues are often cited as one of the top causes of marital stress and conflict. Previous research has explored the connection between financial behaviors, financial communication, and marital satisfaction, but this study sought to better understand the relationships between these factors.
One school of thought posits that financial behaviors, such as budgeting, saving, and spending habits, significantly influence marital satisfaction. Others argue that effective financial communication between partners plays a pivotal role in maintaining a happy marriage. However, the direction of these relationships has remained a subject of debate. Does financial stability lead to marital happiness, or does a harmonious marriage pave the way for constructive financial behaviors?
“While we sometimes think that finances impact our marriage, it could just as easily be that our marriage also impacts our finances. This study was among the first efforts to understand the bidirectional connections between finances and marriage,” said study author Matthew T. Saxey, a doctoral student at Auburn University in Human Development & Family Science.
The researchers drew their data from two waves of the Couple Relationships and Transition Experiences (CREATE) study, focusing on wave three (collected in 2018–2019) and wave four (collected in 2019–2020). The CREATE dataset represents a nationally representative sample of newlywed couples, offering a diverse cross-section of experiences and backgrounds.
To ensure the study’s rigor and reliability, the researchers established strict criteria for their analytical sample. They included couples where both partners participated in wave one (collected in 2015–2016) and remained continuously married through wave four. This selection process ultimately resulted in a final analytical sample of 1,220 mixed-gender couples.
The study employed a range of measures to understand the dynamics between financial behaviors, financial communication, and marital satisfaction. Although there was no validated scale for financial communication, the researchers crafted a single-item measure. Participants were asked, “How well are you and your spouse able to communicate about money?” They used a scale ranging from “Extremely well” to “Not well at all.”
The study utilized a validated scale to assess financial behaviors, including practices such as bill payment, budget adherence, and savings habits. Marital satisfaction was measured using a well-established index that gauged overall satisfaction, relationship reward, warmth, and happiness.
The researchers also controlled for factors like age, education, and household income to account for potential variations in financial behaviors, financial communication, and marital satisfaction across socioeconomic statuses.
Contrary to previous beliefs, the study did not find any significant cross-lagged associations between financial behaviors and marital satisfaction. In other words, changes in financial behaviors did not predict changes in marital satisfaction, and vice versa. This finding was particularly intriguing because it defied the commonly held assumption that financial behaviors directly impact marital satisfaction. It suggests that other factors may play a more significant role in determining marital happiness.
In contrast to the first (null) finding, the study uncovered intriguing dynamics related to financial communication and marital satisfaction. For husbands, marital satisfaction at one point in time predicted changes in their own financial communication at a later point. In other words, happy husbands tended to have more open and effective financial discussions with their spouses as time passed. However, the reverse was not true; husbands’ financial communication did not significantly affect their subsequent marital satisfaction.
“Many marital and financial scholars and clinicians may have assumed that to help couples improve their relationship, clinicians should help couples improve their communication (including about difficult topics like money) and improved marital satisfaction would naturally ensue. Our study suggests the opposite: To help husbands improve their financial communication, clinicians should help them improve their marital satisfaction, and improved financial communication might naturally ensue,” the researchers wrote.
Similarly, for wives, marital satisfaction predicted changes in their own financial communication over time. Yet, unlike husbands, wives’ marital satisfaction did not appear to predict their financial communication more strongly than the other way around.
“We often might think that the way we communicate about finances in our marriage impacts our marriage,” Saxey told PsyPost. “Our findings did not support this common assumption. Rather, when both newlywed husbands and wives prioritized their marriage, they communicated more about finances over time.”
“We were somewhat surprised that couples’ financial communication did not impact their marital satisfaction over time and that only their marital satisfaction impacted their financial communication over time. This finding was surprising because there is evidence that couples’ financial communication does tend to impact their relationship over time.”
As with any scientific study, there are limitations to consider. The research was primarily based on newlywed couples in the United States, so the findings might not fully generalize to other types of couples or cultural contexts. Additionally, the study focused on a specific moment in couples’ lives, leaving room for future research to explore how these dynamics evolve over time.
“The data from this paper were only from two points in time,” Saxey said. “While the longitudinal methodology was advanced, we need to continue to understand how couples’ financial communication and marital satisfaction are related over time with more time points than two.”
“As newlywed couples prioritize their marriage first, it might be more motivating to invest in communicating about and managing their finances well. Having a better marriage might make managing finances poorly a bigger potential cost.”
The study, “Money to Marriage, or Marriage to Money? Examining the Directionality Between Financial Processes and Marital Processes Among Newlywed Couples“, was authored by Matthew T. Saxey, Ashley B. LeBaron-Black, Jeffrey P. Dew, Jeremy B. Yorgason, Spencer L. James, and Erin K. Holmes.
