IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jfamec/v33y2012i4p464-476.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Role of Money Arguments in Marriage

Author

Listed:
  • Sonya Britt
  • Sandra Huston

Abstract

Despite the paucity of empirical evidence indicating the impact of money arguments on spousal relationship outcomes, it is common belief that money plays a large role in the life of couples. This study used panel data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Study of Youth to examine how money-related arguments affect the marital relationship. Economic theory indicates that initial expectations about the marriage and variance in expectations are both important in predicting relationship satisfaction and divorce. Money arguments were modeled as a sign of the lack of investment in spousal-specific capital and were hypothesized to negatively impact relationship quality. Results suggest that money arguments are an important indicator of relationship satisfaction, but are not as influential in predicting divorce. Both the approach used to model money arguments and the empirical results can be used by marriage therapists and financial counselors to help couples understand and improve the benefits received through marriage. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012

Suggested Citation

  • Sonya Britt & Sandra Huston, 2012. "The Role of Money Arguments in Marriage," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 33(4), pages 464-476, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:jfamec:v:33:y:2012:i:4:p:464-476
    DOI: 10.1007/s10834-012-9304-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10834-012-9304-5
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10834-012-9304-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gary S. Becker, 1981. "A Treatise on the Family," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number beck81-1.
    2. Bryant,W. Keith & Zick,Cathleen D., 2006. "The Economic Organization of the Household," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521805278.
    3. Zagorsky, Jay L., 2003. "Husbands' and wives' view of the family finances," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 127-146, May.
    4. Nancy Jianakoplos & Alexandra Bernasek, 2008. "Family Financial Risk Taking When the Wife Earns More," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 29(2), pages 289-306, June.
    5. Rand Ressler & Melissa Waters, 2000. "Female earnings and the divorce rate: a simultaneous equations model," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(14), pages 1889-1898.
    6. Bryant,W. Keith & Zick,Cathleen D., 2006. "The Economic Organization of the Household," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521801416.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Melissa A. Curran & Emily Parrott & Sun Young Ahn & Joyce Serido & Soyeon Shim, 2018. "Young Adults’ Life Outcomes and Well-Being: Perceived Financial Socialization from Parents, the Romantic Partner, and Young Adults’ Own Financial Behaviors," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 39(3), pages 445-456, September.
    2. Bryce L. Jorgensen & David B. Allsop & Samuel D. Runyan & Brandan E. Wheeler & David A. Evans & Loren D. Marks, 2019. "Forming Financial Vision: How Parents Prepare Young Adults for Financial Success," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 553-563, September.
    3. Lars Evertsson & Charlott Nyman, 2014. "Perceptions and Practices in Independent Management: Blurring the Boundaries Between “Mine,” “Yours” and “Ours”," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 65-80, March.
    4. Brandan E. Wheeler & Jennifer L. Kerpelman & Jeremy B. Yorgason, 2019. "Economic Hardship, Financial Distress, and Marital Quality: The Role of Relational Aggression," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 658-672, December.
    5. Marshal Neal Fettro & Kei Nomaguchi, 2018. "Spousal Problems and Family-to-Work Conflict Among Employed US Adults," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 277-296, June.
    6. Sangeetha Madhavan & Linda Richter & Shane Norris & Victoria Hosegood, 2014. "Fathers’ Financial Support of Children in a Low Income Community in South Africa," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 35(4), pages 452-463, December.
    7. Ashley Larsen Gibby & Logan Pettit & E. Jeffrey Hill & Jeremy Yorgason & Erin Kramer Holmes, 2021. "Implicit and Explicit Childhood Financial Socialization: Protective Factors for Marital Financial Disagreements," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 225-236, June.
    8. Brandan E. Wheeler & Cecilia Brooks, 2023. "Financial Concerns, Relationship Happiness, and Financial Management Behaviors: A Moderating Relationship Among Married and Cohabiting Respondents," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 325-341, June.
    9. Donald Bruce Ross & Catherine Walker O’Neal & Amy Laura Arnold & Jay A. Mancini, 2017. "Money Matters in Marriage: Financial Concerns, Warmth, and Hostility Among Military Couples," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 572-581, December.
    10. J. Scott Crapo & Joshua J. Turner & Olena Kopystynska & Kay Bradford & Brian J. Higginbotham, 2021. "Financial Stress and Perceptions of Spousal Behavior Over Time in Remarriages," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 300-313, June.
    11. Kirk Doran & Joseph Price, 2014. "Pornography and Marriage," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 35(4), pages 489-498, December.
    12. Elizabeth Horner, 2014. "Continued Pursuit of Happily Ever After: Low Barriers to Divorce and Happiness," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 228-240, June.
    13. Ashley B. LeBaron & E. Jeffrey Hill & Christina M. Rosa & Travis J. Spencer & Loren D. Marks & Joshua T. Powell, 2018. "I Wish: Multigenerational Regrets and Reflections on Teaching Children About Money," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 220-232, June.
    14. Jeffrey Dew, 2021. "Ten Years of Marriage and Cohabitation Research in the Journal of Family and Economic Issues," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 52-61, July.
    15. Monika Baryła-Matejczuk & Viktorija Skvarciany & Andrzej Cwynar & Wiesław Poleszak & Wiktor Cwynar, 2020. "Link between Financial Management Behaviours and Quality of Relationship and Overall Life Satisfaction among Married and Cohabiting Couples: Insights from Application of Artificial Neural Networks," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-16, February.
    16. David Boto‐García & Federico Perali, 2024. "The association between marital locus of control and break‐up intentions," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 83(1), pages 35-57, January.
    17. Yunchao Cai & Qian Li, 2024. "The Role of Relative Income in Determining Marital Satisfaction for Husband and Wife in China," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 45-55, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jara-Díaz, Sergio & Rosales-Salas, Jorge, 2017. "Beyond transport time: A review of time use modeling," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 209-230.
    2. Paz, Jorge & Arévalo, Carla, 2014. "Nivel y desigualdad por género en el uso del tiempo en la Argentina. Una nota introductoria [Gender inequality in the use of time in Argentina. An introductory note]," MPRA Paper 56085, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Michael Walden, 2012. "Will Households Change Their Saving Behaviour After the “Great Recession”? The Role of Human Capital," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 237-254, June.
    4. XXX, Shuya & Iwata, Shinichiro, 2012. "Fertility and the user cost of home ownership: Evidence from regional panel data," MPRA Paper 37387, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Hyrum Smith & Michael Finke & Sandra Huston, 2012. "Financial Sophistication and Housing Leverage Among Older Households," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 315-327, September.
    6. Melisa Bubonya & Deborah A. Cobb-Clark & Mark Wooden, 2017. "Job loss and the mental health of spouses and adolescent children," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-27, December.
    7. Herrera Gómez, Marcos & Cid, Juan Carlos & Paz, Jorge Augusto, 2012. "Introducción a la econometría espacial: Una aplicación al estudio de la fecundidad en la Argentina usando R [Introduction to Spatial Econometrics: An application to the study of fertility in Argent," MPRA Paper 41138, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Luca Zanin, 2017. "The effects of various motives to save money on the propensity of Italian households to allocate an unexpected inheritance towards consumption," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 1755-1775, July.
    9. Rosales-Salas, Jorge & Jara-Díaz, Sergio R., 2017. "A time allocation model considering external providers," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 175-195.
    10. González-Val, Rafael & Marcén, Miriam, 2012. "Unilateral divorce versus child custody and child support in the U.S," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 613-643.
    11. Atte Oksanen & Mikko Aaltonen & Kati Rantala, 2015. "Social Determinants of Debt Problems in a Nordic Welfare State: a Finnish Register-Based Study," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 229-246, September.
    12. Luca Zanin, 2016. "On Italian Households’ Economic Inadequacy Using Quali-Quantitative Measures," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(1), pages 59-88, August.
    13. Olivier Bargain & Nicolas Moreau, 2013. "The Impact of Tax-Benefit Reforms on Labor Supply in a Simulated Nash-bargaining Framework," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 77-86, March.
    14. Angela Lyons & Urvi Neelakantan & Erik Scherpf, 2008. "Gender and Marital Differences in Wealth and Investment Decisions: Implications for Researchers, Financial Professionals, and Educators," NFI Working Papers 2008-WP-02, Indiana State University, Scott College of Business, Networks Financial Institute.
    15. Dibb, Sally & Merendino, Alessandro & Aslam, Hussan & Appleyard, Lindsey & Brambley, William, 2021. "Whose rationality? Muddling through the messy emotional reality of financial decision-making," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 826-838.
    16. Ivan-Damir Anić & Sonja Radas, 2016. "Boundaries for the Retail Geographical Market and Factors Influencing Shoppers' Mobility," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(2), pages 315-341, July.
    17. González-Val, Rafael & Marcén, Miriam, 2010. "Unilateral Divorce vs. Child Custody and Child Support in the U.S," MPRA Paper 24695, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Agus Surachman & Hartoyo, 2015. "Parental Investment and Poverty Dynamics in West Java, Indonesia," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 340-352, September.
    19. Cathleen Zick & Robert Stevens, 2011. "Time Spent Eating and Its Implications for Americans’ Energy Balance," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 101(2), pages 267-273, April.
    20. Mariyah Mariyah & Yusman Syaukat & Sri Hartoyo & Anna Fariyanti & Bayu Krisnamurthi, 2018. "The Role of Farm Household Saving for Oil Palm Replanting at Paser Regency, East Kalimantan," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 8(5), pages 124-130.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jfamec:v:33:y:2012:i:4:p:464-476. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.