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

• Author: Lauren M. Papp,Marcie C. Goeke‐Morey,E. Mark Cummings
• Published date: 01 February 2009
• Date: 01 February 2009
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2008.00537.x

LAUREN M. PAPP University of Wisconsin—Madison

E. MARK CUMMINGS University of Notre Dame*

MARCIE C. GOEKE-MOREY Catholic University of America**

For Richer, for Poorer: Money as a Topic of Marital

Conf‌lict in the Home

Guided by a family stress perspective, we exam-

ined the hypothesis that discussing money

would be associated with the handling of mari-

tal conf‌lict in the home. Analyses were based on

dyadic hierarchical linear modeling of 100 hus-

bands’ and 100 wives’ diary reports of 748 con-

f‌lict 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, com-

pared to nonmoney 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.

The popular press cites money as one of the most

common sources of couples’ disagreements

(Betcher & Macauley, 1990; Bodnar & Cliff,

1991; Chatzky, 2007) and eventual divorce (Eng-

lander, 1998). Similarly, the scholarly research

also has indicated that money is a central issue

to couple relationships, from the earliest years

of partnerships (Marshall & Skogrand, 2004)

through the process of divorce (Benjamin & Irv-

ing, 2001). Furthermore, money tensions predict

marital distress (Dew, 2007) and dissolution

(Amato & Rogers, 1997). In light of accumulat-

ing evidence that money is a major source of

relationship concern with potentially serious im-

plications for close partnerships, how couples

handle money-related disagreements warrants

empirical investigation.

Theoretical Foundation

The present study focused on the issue of f‌inan-

cial conf‌lict because of its centrality to couple

and family daily life, and further addressed the

common wisdom that money as a topic of dis-

agreement is particularly troublesome for mar-

riages. However, despite the general acceptance

that money is a signif‌icant source of marital con-

f‌lict, there has been little conceptual development

of why this is the case. A notable exception is

Conger’s family stress theory, which posits that

economic pressure because of insuff‌icient f‌inan-

cial resourcescreates stresses linkedto heightened

marital conf‌lict (Conger, Ge, Elder, Lorenz, &

Simons,1994). Family stress becauseof economic

pressure is linkedto a wide array of family adjust-

ment problems, including a linkage between

economic pressure and marital functioning

Department of Human Development and Family Studies,

University of Wisconsin—Madison, 1430 Linden Drive,

Madison, WI 53706 (papp@wisc.edu).

*Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, 118

Haggar Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556.

**Department of Psychology, Catholic University of America,

Cardinal Station, Washington, DC 20064.

Key Words: diary methodology, economic stress, family

f‌inances, hierarchical linear modeling, marital conf‌lict.

Family Relations 58 (February 2009): 91–103 91

A Publication of

the National Council on

Family Relations