For Richer, for Poorer: Money As a Topic of Marital Conflict in the Home

Overview

Journal Fam Relat

Date 2011 Dec 14

PMID 22162622

Citations 37

Authors

Lauren M Papp

E Mark Cummings

Marcie C Goeke-Morey

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Guided by a family stress perspective, we examined the hypothesis that discussing money would be associated with the handling of marital conflict in the home. Analyses were based on dyadic hierarchical linear modeling of 100 husbands' and 100 wives' diary reports of 748 conflict instances. Contrary to findings from previous laboratory-based surveys, spouses did not rate money as the most frequent source of marital conflict in the home. However, compared to non-money issues, marital conflicts about money were more pervasive, problematic, and recurrent, and remained unresolved, despite including more attempts at problem solving. Implications for professionals who assist couples in managing their relationships and family finances are discussed.

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