Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T04:57:26.780Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Change in Disagreements About Money, Time, and Sex and Marital Outcomes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Brandan Wheeler*
Affiliation:
School of Human Sciences, Mississippi State University, Mississippi, USA College of Human Sciences, Auburn University, Alabama, USA
Jennifer Kerpelman
Affiliation:
School of Human Sciences, Mississippi State University, Mississippi, USA College of Human Sciences, Auburn University, Alabama, USA
*
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE: Brandan Wheeler, Assistant Professor, School of Human Sciences, 265 Lloyd-Ricks-Watson, Mississippi State University, MS, 39762, USA. Email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households, an actor-partner interdependence model explored change in the frequency of disagreements and marital outcomes among 796 paired couples, early in marriage. Disagreements about money, time spent together, and the sexual relationship increased over 5 years. Money disagreements predicted disagreements about time and sex for husbands. Spillover findings showed disagreements about money and sex were related negatively to marital satisfaction. Disagreements in all three areas predicted marital instability for husbands, although only disagreements about money and time predicted marital instability for wives. Crossover findings showed husbands’ disagreements about money to be related negatively to wives’ marital satisfaction. Implications of the current findings are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, S.A., & Sabatelli, R.M. (2011). Family interaction: A multigenerational developmental perspective (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.Google Scholar
Archuleta, K.L. (2013). Couples, money, and expectations: Negotiating financial management roles to increase relationship satisfaction. Marriage and Family Review, 49, 391411. doi:10.1080/01494929.2013.766296 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boss, P. (2002). Family stress management: A contextual approach (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Bollen, K.A. (1989). Structural equations with latent variables. New York: John Wiley & Sons.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Britt, S.L., & Huston, S.J. (2012). The role of money arguments in marriage. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 33, 464476. doi:10.1007/s10834-012-9304-5 Google Scholar
Burns, A. (1984). Perceived causes of marriage breakdown and conditions of life. Journal of Marriage and Family, 46, 551562. doi:10.2307/352597 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, L., Simpson, J.A., Boldry, J.G., & Rubin, H. (2010). Trust, variability in relationship evaluations, and relationship processes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99, 1431. doi:10.1037/a0019714 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Center for Marriage and Family. (2000). Time, sex, and money: The first five years of marriage. Omaha, NE: Author.Google Scholar
Conger, R.D., Conger, K.J., Elder, G.H. Jr., Lorenz, F.O., Simons, R.L., & Whitbeck, L.B. (1992). A family process model of economic hardship and adjustment of early adolescent boys. Child Development, 63, 526541. doi:10.2307/1131344 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Conger, R.D., Elder, G.H. Jr., Lorenz, F.O., Conger, K.J., Simons, R.L., Whitbeck, L.B., Huck, S., & Melby, J.N. (1990). Linking economic hardship to marital quality and instability. Journal of Marriage and Family, 52, 643656. doi:10.2307/352931 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conger, R.D., Rueter, M.A., & Elder, G.H. Jr. (1999). Couple resilience to economic pressure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 5471. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.76.1.54 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cook, W.L., & Kenny, D.A. (2005). The actor-partner interdependence model: A model of bidirectional effects in developmental studies. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 29, 101109. doi:10.1080/01650444000405 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crowley, M.S. (1998). Men's self-perceived adequacy as the family breadwinner: Implications for their psychological, marital, and work-family well-being. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 19, 723. doi:10.1023/A:1022933123471 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dew, J. (2008). Debt change and marital satisfaction change in recently married couples. Family Relations, 57, 6071. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3729.2007.00483.x CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dew, J. (2009). The gendered meaning of assets for divorce. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 30, 2031. doi:10.1007/s10834-008-9138-3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dew, J., Britt, S., & Huston, S. (2012). Examining the relationship between financial issues and divorce. Family Relations, 61, 615628. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3729.2012.00715.x CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dew, J., & Dakin, J. (2011). Financial disagreements and marital conflict tactics. Journal of Financial Therapy, 2, 2342. doi:10.4148/jft.v2i1.1414 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gottman, J., & Silver, N. (1999). The seven principles for making marriage work. New York: Three Rivers Press.Google Scholar
Gudmunson, C.G., Beutler, I.F., Israelsen, C.L., McCoy, J.K., & Hill, E.J. (2007). Linking financial strain to marital instability: Examining the roles of emotional distress and marital interaction. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 28, 357376. doi:10.1007/s10834-007-9074-7 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hardie, J.H., & Lucas, A. (2010). Economic factors and relationship quality among young couples: Comparing cohabitation and marriage. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72, 11411154. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00755.x CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hatch, L.R., & Bulcroft, K. (2004). Does long-term marriage bring less frequent disagreements? Five explanatory frameworks. Journal of Family Issues, 25, 465495. doi:10.1177/0192513X03257766 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heck, R.H., & Thomas, S.L. (2009). An introduction to multilevel modeling techniques (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hu, L.T. and Bentler, P.M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives, Structural Equation Modeling, 6, 155. doi:10.1080/10705519909540118 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huston, T.L., Niehuis, S., & Smith, S.E. (2001). The early marital roots of conjugal distress and divorce. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 10, 116119. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.00129 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, D.R., Amoloza, T.O., & Booth, A. (1992). Stability and developmental change in marital quality: A three-wave panel analysis. Journal of Marriage and Family, 54, 582594. doi:10.2307/353244 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karney, B.R., Story, L.B., & Bradbury, T.N. (2005). Chronic and acute stress among newlyweds. In Revenson, T.A., Kayser, K., & Bodenmann, G. (Eds.), Couples coping with stress: Emerging perspectives on dyadic coping (pp. 1332). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kashy, D.A., & Kenny, D.A. (2000). The analysis of data from dyads and groups. In Reis, H.T. & Judd, C.M. (Eds.), Handbook of research methods in social psychology (pp. 451477). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Katz, L.F., & Gottman, J.M. (1996). Spillover effects of marital conflict: In search of parenting and coparenting mechanisms. In McHale, J.P. & Cowan, P.A. (Eds.), Understanding how family-level dynamics affect children's development: Studies of two-parent families (pp. 5776). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Kiecolt-Glaser, J.K., & Newton, T.L. (2001). Marriage and health: His and hers. Psychological Bulletin, 127, 472500. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.127.4.472 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lavner, J.A., Karney, B.R., & Bradbury, T.N. (2014). Relationship problems over the early years of marriage: Stability or change? Journal of Family Pyschology, 28, 979985. doi:10.1037/a0037752 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leiter, M.P., & Durup, M.J. (1996). Work, home, and in-between: A longitudinal study of spillover. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 32, 2947. doi:10.1177/0021886396321002 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lichter, D.L., Qian, Z., & Mellott, L.M. (2006). Marriage or dissolution? Union transitions among poor cohabiting women. Demography, 43, 223240. doi:10.1353/dem.2006. 0016 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Litzinger, S., & Gordon, K.C. (2005). Exploring relationships among communication, sexual satisfaction, and marital satisfaction. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 31, 409424. doi:10.1080/00926230591006719 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Markman, H.J., Stanley, S.M., & Blumberg, S.L. (2010). Fighting for your marriage: A deluxe revised edition of the classic best seller for enhancing marriage and preventing divorce (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Josey-Bass.Google Scholar
Marquardt, E., Wilcox, B., Blankenhorn, D., Lerman, R.I., & Malone-Colon, L. (2012). The state of our unions: Marriage in America 2012: The president's marriage agenda. Charlottesville, VA: The National Marriage Project. Retrieved from http://nationalmarriageproject.org/reports/ Google Scholar
Marshall, J.P., & Skogrand, L. (2004). Newlywed debt: The anti-dowry. The Forum for Family and Consumer Issues, 9. Retrieved from http://ncsu.edu/ffci/publications/2004/v9-n1-2004-march/fa-1-newlywed.php Google Scholar
McCabe, M.P. (2006). Satisfaction in marriage and committed heterosexual relationships: Past, present, and future. Annual Review of Sex Research, 17, 3958. doi:10.1080/10532528.2006.10559836 Google Scholar
Mitchell, M.E., Eby, L.T., & Lorys, A. (2015). Feeling work at home: A transactional model of women and men's negative affective spillover from work to family. In Mills, M.J. (Ed.), Gender and the work-family experience (pp. 121140). Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-08891-4_7 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montgomery, A.J., Peeters, M.C. W., Schaufeli, W.B., & Panagopoulou, E.P. (2008). Crossover and work-home interference. The Irish Journal of Psychology. 29, 6176. doi:10.1037/t06070-000 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muthen, L.K., & Muthen, B.O. (1998–2011). Mplus user's guide (6th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Muthen & Muthen.Google Scholar
Neff, L., & Karney, B. (2004). How does context affect intimate relationships? Linking external stress and cognitive processes within marriage. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 134148. doi:10.1177/0146167203255984 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olson, D.H., & Olson, A.K. (1999). PREPARE ENRICH program: Version 2000. In Berger, R. & Hannah, M. (Eds.), Handbook of preventative approaches in couple therapy (pp. 196216). New York: Brunner/Mazel. Retrieved from www.prepare-enrich.com Google Scholar
Pahl, J. (2008). Family finances, individualization, spending patterns and access to credit. The Journal of Socio-Economics, 37, 577591. doi:10.1016/j.socec.2006.12.041 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Papp, L.M., Cummings, E.M., & Goeke-Morey, M.C. (2009). For richer, for poorer: Money as a topic of marital conflict in the home. Family Relations, 58, 91103. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3729.2008.00537.x CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pedro, M.F., Ribeiro, T., & Shelton, K H. (2012). Marital satisfaction and partners’ parenting practices: The mediating role of coparenting behavior. Journal of Family Psychology, 26, 509522. doi:10.1037/a0029121 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pew Research Center. (2010). The decline of marriage and rise of new families. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://www.pewsocialtrends.org Google Scholar
Rehman, U.S., Janssen, E., Newhouse, S., Heiman, J., Holtzworth-Munroe, A., Fallis, E., & Rafaeli, E. (2011). Marital satisfaction and communication behaviors during sexual and nonsexual conflict discussions in newlywed couples: A pilot study. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 37, 94103. doi:10.1080/0092623X.2011.547352 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rick, S.I., Small, D.A., Finkel, E.J. (2011). Fatal (fiscal) attraction: Spendthrifts and tightwads in marriage. Journal of Marketing Research, 48, 228237. doi:10.1509/jmkr.48.2.228 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Risch, G.S., Riley, L.A., & Lawler, M.G. (2003). Problematic issues in the early years of marriage: Content for premarital education. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 31, 253269. Retrieved from http://www.biola.edu/jpt/ CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanders, C.K., & Porterfield, S.L. (2010). The ownership society and women: Exploring female householders’ ability to accumulate assets. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 31, 90106. doi:10.1007/s10834-009-9175-6 Google Scholar
Sanford, K. (2003). Problem-solving conversations in marriage: Does it matter what topics couples discuss? Personal Relationships, 10, 97112. doi:10.1111/1475-6811.00038 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schramm, D.G., Marshall, J.P., Harris, W., & Lee, T.R. (2005). After ‘I do’: The newlywed transition. Marriage & Family Review, 38, 4567. doi:10.1300/J002v38n01_05 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shapiro, M. (2007). Money: A therapeutic tool for couples therapy. Family Process, 46, 279291. doi:10.1111/j.1545-5300.2007.00211.x CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skinner, K.B., Bahr, S.J., Crane, D.R., & Call, V.R. A. (2002). Cohabitation, marriage, and remarriage: A comparison of relationship quality over time. Journal of Family Issues, 23, 7490. doi:10.1177/0192513X02023001004 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skogrand, L., Johnson, A.C., Horrocks, A.M., & DeFrain, J. (2011). Financial management practices of couples with great marriages. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 32, 2735. doi:10.1007/s10834-010-9195-2 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Springer, K.W. (2010). Economic dependence in marriage and husbands’ midlife health: Testing three possible mechanisms. Gender & Society, 24, 378401. doi:10.1177/0891243210371621 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stanley, S.M., Markman, H.J., & Whitton, S.W. (2002). Communication, conflict, and commitment: Insights on the foundations of relationship success from a national survey. Family Process, 41, 659675. doi:10.1111/j.1545-5300.2002.00659.x CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sweet, J., Bumpass, L., & Call, V. (1988). The design and content of the national survey of families and households (NSFH Working Paper #1). Madison, WI: Center for Demography and Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Retrieved from http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/nsfh Google Scholar
Terling-Watt, T. (2001). Explaining divorce. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 35, 125145. doi:10.1300/J097v35n03_08 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tukey, J.W. (1977). Exploratory data analysis. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Thorne, D. (2010). Extreme financial strain: Emergent chores, gender inequality and emotional distress. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 31, 185197. doi:10.1007/s10834-010-9189-0 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wheaton, B., Muthen, B., Alwin, D., & Summers, G. (1977). Assessing reliability and stability in panel models. In Heise, D. (Ed.), Sociological Methodology (pp. 84136). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Wilcox, W.B., & Dew, J. (2012). The date night opportunity: What does couple time tell us about the potential value of date night? Charlottesville, VA: The National Marriage Project. Retrieved from http://nationalmarriageproject.org/reports/ Google Scholar
Williamson, H.C., Hanna, M.A., Lavner, J.A., Bradbury, T.N., & Karney, B.R. (2013). Discussion topics and observed behavior in couples’ problem-solving conversations: Do problem severity and topic choice matter? Journal of Family Pyschology, 27, 330335. doi:10.1037/a0031534 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: File

Wheeler and Kerpelman supplementary material

Appendices

Download Wheeler and Kerpelman supplementary material(File)
File 19.6 KB