Marriage and Materialism: Actor and Partner Effects Between Materialism, Importance of Marriage, and Marital Satisfaction

Abstract

Drawing upon both the incompatibility of materialism and children model and marital paradigms theory, the purpose of the current study was to examine husband-wife actor and partner effects between materialism and marital satisfaction and to explore perception of the importance of marriage as a mediator of these relationships. Using a sample of 706 couples from the RELATE dataset, wives' materialism negatively predicted both their own marital satisfaction, as well as their husbands' marital satisfaction. However, when controlling for financial problems in marriage, these effects became non-significant. Additionally, upon adding both wives' and husbands' importance of marriage (as well as combined couples' "common fate" importance of marriage) to the model as mediators, indirect effects (actor and partner) between materialism and marital satisfaction were noted. Thus, when one partner (regardless of gender) places a high value on money and possessions, both spouses are less likely to place a high value on marriage, and are subsequently less likely to be satisfied in their marriage. Implications for financial therapists are discussed.

Perceived Family and Partner Support and the Work-Family Interface: A Meta-analytic Review

“…This third point may be especially impactful and achievable, as one of the primary goals of many therapists is to help clients recognize their thought patterns and behavior patterns and how those are interrelated (e.g., in cognitive behavioral therapy). Perceptions can help shape our reality, and as such, perceptions can be just as important as reality in shaping outcomes (LeBaron et al, 2017;LeBaron et al, 2020). By helping clients develop positive perceptions of their support network (e.g., that they can turn to family members for support, that their partner or other family members are on their side and rooting for their success, that their family will give them the support they need, etc.…”

Materialism, wives’ relative earnings, and marital satisfaction among South Korean couples: Actor and partner effects.

“…Husbands may also be unhappy in their marriage when they are married to materialistic wives. Previous studies have found that materialistic wives are more concerned about financial problems and place less value on marriage than do their husbands, leading to low marital satisfaction for both spouses (Dean et al, 2007;LeBaron et al, 2017). Materialistic wives may express their discontent with their husband's income in other ways, as well.…”

“…We used the APIM to examine the interaction effects of spouses' materialism and wives' relative earnings on marital satisfaction. Following prior studies (Carroll et al, 2011;LeBaron et al, 2017), we hypothesized that there would be gender differences in the main actor and partner effects of materialism on marital satisfaction. Specifically, we expected that wives' materialism would negatively predict both spouses' marital satisfaction, but husbands' materialism would neither predict their own nor their wife's marital satisfaction.…”

“…The association of wives' materialism on husbands' marital satisfaction was five times stronger than that of husbands' materialism on wives' marital satisfaction. LeBaron et al (2017) replicated Dean et al's (2007), controlling for financial problems and examining the mediating effects of the value placed on marriage. The authors found that wives' materialism significantly predicted their own marital satisfaction as well as that of their husband.…”

Financial Stress and Marital Quality: The Moderating Influence of Couple Communication

“…An additional limitation of this study is that it only partially applied the FAAR Model, as it did not investigate the role of meanings. The meanings couples hold regarding commitment, marital and financial satisfaction, and the importance of marriage and materialism (LeBaron, Allsop, Hill, Willoughby, & Britt-Lutter, 2017;LeBaron, Kelley, and Carroll, 2017) can either exacerbate or alleviate their crisis. Future research should investigate how these meanings influence the effects of financial stress on marital quality.…”