Abstract
Guided by the Couples and Finances Theory (CFT; Archuleta, 2013) and using data from the Familial Response to Financial Instability Study (Dew & Xiao, 2011, 2013), the purpose of the current study was to explore how financial concerns, relationship happiness (and an interaction between these terms), and marital status (i.e., married or cohabiting) influence cash, credit, savings, and insurance financial management behaviors following the economic recession of 2007–2009. In general, financial concerns were related negatively to financial management behaviors, while relationship happiness was related positively to financial management behaviors. Relationship happiness also moderated the relationship between financial concerns and cash management behaviors. Specifically, for participants with high levels of financial concerns, each unit increase in relationship happiness was associated with an increase in cash management behaviors. Marital status was unrelated to financial management behaviors. These findings and potential implications are discussed in more detail.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Addo, F. R. (2014). Debt, cohabitation, and marriage in young adulthood. Demography, 51(5), 1677–1701. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-014-0333-6
Addo, F. R., & Sassler, S. (2010). Financial arrangements and relationship quality in low-income couples. Family Relations, 59(4), 408–423. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2010.00612.x
Addo, F. R., Houle, J. N., & Sassler, S. (2018). The changing nature of the association between student debt and marital behavior in young adulthood. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 40(1), 86–101. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-018-9591-6
Archuleta, K. L. (2013). Couples, money, and expectations: Negotiating financial management roles to increase relationship satisfaction. Marriage and Family Review, 49(5), 391–411. https://doi.org/10.1080/01494929.2013.766296
Archuleta, K. L., & Burr, E. A. (2015). Systemic financial therapy. In B. T. Klontz, S. L. Britt, & K. L. Archuleta (Eds.), Financial therapy: Theory, research and practice (pp. 217–234). Springer.
Archuleta, K. L., & Lutter, S. (2020). Utilizing family systems theory in financial therapy. Financial Planning Review, 3, 1073.
Archuleta, K. L., Britt, S. L., Tonn, T., & Grable, J. E. (2011). Financial satisfaction and financial stressors in marital satisfaction. Psychological Reports, 108(2), 563–576. https://doi.org/10.2466/07.21.PR0.108.2.563-576
Archuleta, K. L., Grable, J. E., & Britt, S. L. (2013). Financial and relationship satisfaction as a function of harsh start-up and shared goals and values. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning, 24(1), 3–14.
Archuleta, K. L., Mielitz, K. S., Jayne, D., & Le, V. (2020). Financial goal setting, financial anxiety, and solution-focused financial therapy (SFFT): A quasi-experimental outcome study. Contemporary Family Therapy, 42(1), 68–76. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10591-019-09501-0
Baek, E., & DeVaney, S. A. (2010). How do families manage their economic hardship? Family Relations, 59(4), 358–368. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2010.00608.x
Baisden, E. D., Fox, J. J., & Bartholomae, S. (2018). Financial management and marital quality: A phenomenological inquiry. Journal of Financial Therapy, 9(1), 47–71. https://doi.org/10.4148/1944-9771.1153
Baryła-Matejczuk, M., Skvarciany, V., Cwynar, A., Poleszak, W., & Cwynar, W. (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. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(4), 1190–1205. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17041190
Berthoud, R., & Kempson, E. (1992). Credit and debt: The PSI report. Policy Studies Institute.
Boss, P. (2002). Family stress management: A contextual approach (2nd ed.). Sage Publications.
Britt, S. L., & Huston, S. J. (2012). The role of money arguments in marriage. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 33(4), 464–476. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-012-9304-5
Britt, S. L., Canale, A., Fernatt, F., Stutz, K., & Tibbetts, R. (2015). Financial stress and financial counseling: Helping college students. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning, 26(2), 172–186. https://doi.org/10.1891/1052-3073.26.2.172
Burgoyne, C. B., Reibstein, J., Edmunds, A., & Dolman, V. (2007). Money management systems in early marriage: Factors influencing change and stability. Journal of Economic Psychology, 28(2), 214–228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2006.02.003
Conger, R. D., & Elder, G. H., Jr. (1994). Families in troubled times: Adapting to change in rural America. Aldine.
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 the Family, 52(3), 643–656. https://doi.org/10.2307/352931
Coyne, S. M., Nelson, D. A., Carroll, J. S., Smith, N. J., Yang, C., Holmgren, H. G., & Johnson, C. (2017). Relational aggression and marital quality: A five-year longitudinal study. Journal of Family Psychology, 31(3), 282–293. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000274
Davis, K., & Runyan, R. C. (2016). Personality traits and financial satisfaction: Investigation of a hierarchical approach. Journal of Financial Counseling & Planning, 27(1), 47–60. https://doi.org/10.1891/1052-3073.27.1.47
Dew, J. (2011). Financial issues and relationship outcomes among cohabiting individuals. Family Relations, 60(2), 178–190. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2010.00641.x
Dew, J. P. (2016). Revisiting financial issues and marriage. In J. J. Xiao (Ed.), Handbook of consumer finance research (2nd ed., pp. 281–290). Springer.
Dew, J., & Xiao, J. J. (2011). The financial management behavior scale: Development and validation. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning, 22(1), 43–59.
Dew, J. P., & Xiao, J. J. (2013). Financial declines, financial behaviors, and relationship satisfaction during the recession. Journal of Financial Therapy, 4(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.4148/jft.v4i1.1723
Eickmeyer, K. J., Guzzo, K. B., Manning, W. D., & Brown, S. L. (2019). A research note on income pooling in partnerships: Incorporating nonresident children. Journal of Family Issues, 40(18), 2922–2943. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X19868270
Falconier, M. K., & Epstein, N. B. (2011). Couples experiencing financial strain: What we know and what we can do. Family Relations, 60(3), 303–317. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2011.00650.x
Fincham, F. D. (1991). Understanding close relationships: An attributional perspective. In S. L. Zelen (Ed.), New models, new extensions of attribution theory (pp. 163–206). Springer.
Fincham, F. D., Beach, S. R., & Baucom, D. H. (1987). Attribution processes in distressed and nondistressed couples: IV. Self-partner attribution differences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52(4), 739–748. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.52.4.739
Garbinsky, E., Gladstone, J., & Holmes, C. M. (2019). Pooling finances and relationship satisfaction. Advances in Consumer Research, 47, 569–570.
Garman, E. T., & Forgue, R. E. (2015). Personal finance (12th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Gibson-Davis, C. M. (2009). Money, marriage, and children: Testing the financial expectations and family formation theory. Journal of Marriage and Family, 71(1), 146–160. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2008.00586.x
Gottman, J. M. (1999). The marriage clinic. W. W. Norton & Company.
Grable, J., Heo, W., & Rabbani, A. (2015). Financial anxiety, physiological arousal, and planning intention. Journal of Financial Therapy, 5(2), 2. https://doi.org/10.4148/1944-9771.1083
Green, S. B., & Salkind, N. J. (2005). Using SPSS for windows and macintosh: Analyzing and understanding data (4th ed.). Pearson Education Inc.
Halliday-Hardie, J., & Lucas, A. (2010). Economic factors and relationship quality among young couples: Comparing cohabitation and marriage. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72(5), 1141–1154. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00755.x
Heimdahl, K. R., & Houseknecht, S. K. (2003). Cohabiting and married couples’ income organization: Approaches in Sweden and the United States. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 65(3), 525–538. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2003.00525.x
Kerkmann, B. C., Lee, T. R., Lown, J. M., & Allgood, S. M. (2000). Financial management, financial problems and marital satisfaction among recently married university students. Journal of Financial Counseling & Planning, 11(2), 55–65.
Ksendzova, M., Donnelly, G. E., & Howell, R. T. (2017). A brief money management scale and its associations with personality, financial health, and hypothetical debt repayment. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning, 28(1), 62–75. https://doi.org/10.1891/1052-3073.28.1.62
Mauldin, T., Mimura, Y., & Wilmarth, M. J. (2009). Savings behavior among cohabiting, married, and single parents. Consumer Interests Annual, 55, 117.
Olson, D. H., DeFrain, J., & Skogrand, L. (2008). Marriages & families: Intimacy, diversity, and strengths (6th ed.). McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
O’Neill, B., & Xiao, J. J. (2012). Financial behaviors before and after the financial crisis: Evidence from an online survey. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning, 23(1), 33–46.
Painter, M. A., II., & Vespa, J. (2012). The role of cohabitation in asset and debt accumulation during marriage. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 33(4), 491–506. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-012-9310-7
Rea, J. K., Zuiker, V. S., & Mendenhall, T. J. (2016). Money and emerging adults: A glimpse into the lives of college couples’ financial management practices. Journal of Financial Therapy, 7(2), 16–40. https://doi.org/10.4148/1944-9771.1110
Romans, C. (2010). Smart is the new rich: If you can’t afford it—put it down. Wiley.
Shapiro, M. (2007). Money: A therapeutic tool for couples therapy. Family Process, 46(3), 279–291. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1545-5300.2007.00211.x
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(1), 27–35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-010-9195-2
Smock, P. J., Manning, W. D., & Porter, M. (2005). “Everything’s there except money”: How money shapes decisions to marry among cohabitors. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67(3), 680–696. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2005.00162.x
Spuhlera, B. K., & Dew, J. (2019). Sound financial management and happiness: Economic pressure and relationship satisfaction as mediators. Journal of Financial Planning and Counseling, 30(2), 157–174. https://doi.org/10.1891/1052-3073.30.2.157
Wheeler, B. E., Kerpelman, J. L., & Yorgason, J. B. (2019). Economic hardship, financial distress, and marital quality: The role of relational aggression. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 40(4), 658–672. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-019-09632-4
Xu, Y., Johnson, C., Bartholomae, S., O’Neill, B., & Gutter, M. S. (2015). Homeownership among millennials: The deferred American dream? Family & Consumer Sciences Research Journal, 44(2), 201–212. https://doi.org/10.1111/fcsr.12136
Zelenak, M. J., & Reiboldt, W. (2010). Consumer economics: The consumer in our society (15th ed.). Holcomb Hathaway.
APA (American Psychological Association). (2015). Stress in America: Paying with our health. American Psychological Association.
Archuleta, K. L. (2008). The impact of dyadic processes and financial management roles on farm couples. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Kansas State University.
CareerBuilder. (2017). Living paycheck-to-paycheck is a way of life for majority of U.S. workers, according to new CareerBuilder survey. http://press.careerbuilder.com/2017-08-24-Living-Paycheck-to-Paycheck-is-a-Way-of-Life-for-Majority-of-U-S-Workers-According-to-New-CareerBuilder-Survey.
Data Sharing for Demographic Research. (2021). Familial responses to financial instability: The financial management behaviors scale, 2009 [ICPSR 26542]. Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR). Retrieved from https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/DSDR/studies/26542.
DeCambre, M. (2019). U.S. consumer debt is now above levels hit during the 2008 financial crisis. MarketWatch. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-consumer-debt-is-now-breaching-levels-last-reached-during-the-2008-financial-crisis-2019-06-19.
Frankel, M. (2018, September 23). 10 years later: How has America’s consumer debt changed since the financial crisis? Yahoo! News. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/10-years-later-america-apos-120700388.html
Lending Tree. (2018). The state of consumer debt 10 years after the Great Recession. https://www.lendingtree.com/debt-consolidation/consumer-debt-outlook-september-2018/.
McWhinney, J. E. (n.d.). Understanding the consumer confidence index. Investopedia. http://www.investopedia.com/articles/05/010604.asp
Trujillo, S., Erickson, J., & Dew, J. (2019). Does financial deception in marriage affect relationship quality? [Blog Post]. Institute for Family Studies. https://ifstudies.org/blog/does-financial-deception-in-marriage-affect-relationship-quality
Williams, R. (2021). Interpreting interaction effects: Interaction effects and centering. Retrieved from https://www3.nd.edu/~rwilliam/stats2/l53.pdf.
Funding
No funding was received for this study.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial conflicts of interests to disclose.
Ethical Approval
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.
Informed Consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wheeler, B.E., Brooks, C. Financial Concerns, Relationship Happiness, and Financial Management Behaviors: A Moderating Relationship Among Married and Cohabiting Respondents. J Fam Econ Iss 44, 325–341 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-022-09824-5
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-022-09824-5