Conflict over money is one of the most commonly cited topics of marital disagreements (Oggins, 2003). However, little empirical research has examined how marital couples communicate about financial issues, specifically, and how these financial communication messages contribute to, or detract from, marital satisfaction. Knowledge about how couples communicate regarding financial issues is of significance to conflict scholars because it would allow us to understand the potential detriments of certain financial conflict message patterns and how these patterns ultimately affect one’s marital satisfaction. Married individuals (not marital dyads) were recruited online to participate in an online survey about their financial communication patterns within his or her marriage. In the present study of 326 married individuals, we found that constructive financial conflict messages were positively associated with financial harmony, marital satisfaction, and financial communication satisfaction. Destructive financial conflict messages, the demand-withdraw financial conflict message pattern, and mutually avoiding financial conflict were each negatively associated with financial harmony, marital satisfaction, and financial communication satisfaction. In addition, financial communication satisfaction mediated the relationship between each of the financial conflict message patterns and marital satisfaction. The current study lays empirical groundwork for developing a theoretical framework for understanding marital interaction patterns and the effects these patterns have on marital satisfaction.
Archuleta, K. L., Britt, S. L., Tonn, T. J., & Grable, J. E. (2011). Financial Satisfaction and Financial Stressors in Marital Satisfaction. Psychological Reports, 108, 563-576. https://doi.org/10.2466/07.21.PR0.108.2.563-576
Atwood, J. D. (2012). Couples and Money: The Last Taboo. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 40, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/01926187.2011.600674
Britt, S. L., Huston, S., & Durband, D. B. (2010). The Determinants of Money Arguments between Spouses. Journal of Financial Therapy, 1, 42-60. https://doi.org/10.4148/jft.v1i1.253
Canary, D. J., & Cupach, W. R. (1988). Relational and Episodic Characteristics Associated with Conflict Tactics. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 5, 305-325. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407588053003
Canary, D. J., Cupach, W. R., & Serpe, R. T. (2001). A Competence-Based Approach to Examining Interpersonal Conflict: Test of a Longitudinal Model. Communication Research, 28, 79-104. https://doi.org/10.1177/009365001028001003
Canary, D. J., & Spitzberg, B. H. (1989). A Model of the Perceived Competence of Conflict Strategies. Human Communication Research, 15, 630-649. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.1989.tb00202.x
Christensen, A., & Heavey, C. L. (1990). Gender and Social Structure in the Demand/Withdraw Pattern of Marital Conflict. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 73-81. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.59.1.73
Christensen, A., & Shenk, J. L. (1991). Communication, Conflict, and Psychological Distance in Nondistressed, Clinic, and Divorcing Couples. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 59, 458-462. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.59.3.458
Cupach, W. R. (2015). Communication Competence in the Management of Conflict. In A. F. Hannawa, & B. H. Spitzberg (Eds.), Handbook of Communication Science (Vol. 22, pp. 341-366). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110317459-015
Dew, J., Britt, S., & Huston, S. (2012). Examining the Relationship between Financial Issues and Divorce. Family Relations, 61, 615-628. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2012.00715.x
Fairchild, A. J., MacKinnon, D. P., Toborga, M. P., & Taylor, A. B. (2009). R-Squared Effect-Size Measures for Mediation Analysis. Behavior Research Methods, 41, 486-498. https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.41.2.486
Futris, T. G., Campbell, K., Nielsen, R. B., & Burwell, S. R. (2010). The Communication Patterns Questionnaire-Short Form: A Review and Assessment. The Family Journal, 18, 275-287. https://doi.org/10.1177/1066480710370758
Hayes, A. F. (2009). Beyond Barron and Kenny: Statistical Mediation Analysis in the New Millennium. Communication Monographs, 76, 408-420. https://doi.org/10.1080/03637750903310360
Hayes, A. F. (2013). Introduction to Mediation, Moderation, and Conditional Process Analysis: A Regression-Based Approach. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Hecht, M., Sereno, K., & Spitzberg, B. H. (1984). Communication Satisfaction and Satisfaction with Self and Other: The Relevance of Relationship Level and Topic Level. Personality and Social Psychology, 10, 376-384. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167284103005
Newton, D. A., & Burgoon, J. K. (1990). Nonverbal Conflict Behaviors: Functions, Strategies, and Tactics. In D. D. Cahn (Ed.), Intimates in Conflict: A Communication Perspective (pp. 77-104). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Oggins, J. (2003). Topics of Marital Disagreement among African-American and Euro-American Newlyweds. Psychological Reports, 92, 419-425. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.2003.92.2.419
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, 91-103. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2008.00537.x
Papp, L. M., Kouros, C. D., & Cummings, E. M. (2009). Demand-Withdraw Patterns in Marital Conflict in the Home. Personal Relationships, 16, 285-300. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6811.2009.01223.x
Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008). Contemporary Approaches to Assessing Mediation in Communication Research. In A. F. Hayes, M. D. Slater, & L. Synder (Eds.), The Sage Sourcebook of Advanced Data Analysis Methods for Communication Research (pp. 13-54). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452272054.n2
Putnam, L. L., & Wilson, C. E. (1982). Communication Strategies in Organizational Conflicts: Reliability and Validity of a Measurement Scale. In M. Burgoon (Ed.), Communication Yearbook 6 (pp. 629-652). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Rick, S. I., Small, D. A., & Finkel, E. J. (2011). Fatal (Fiscal) Attraction: Spendthrifts and Tightwads in Marriage. Journal of Marketing Research, 48, 228-237. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkr.48.2.228
Roloff, M. E. (1976). Communication Strategies, Relationships, and Relational Change. In G. R. Miller (Ed.), Explorations in Interpersonal Communication (pp. 173-195). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Roloff, M. E., & Ifert, D. E. (2000). Conflict Management through Avoidance: Withholding Complaints, Suppressing Arguments, and Declaring Topics Taboo. In S. Petronio (Ed.), Balancing the Secrets of Private Disclosures (pp. 151-179). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Romo, L. K. (2011). Money Talks: Revealing and Concealing Financial Information in Families. Journal of Family Communication, 11, 264-281. https://doi.org/10.1080/15267431.2010.544634
Schrodt, P., Witt, P. L., & Shimkowski, J. R. (2014). A Meta-Analytical Review of the Demand/Withdraw Pattern of Interaction and Its Associations with Individual, Relational, and Communicative Outcomes. Communication Monographs, 8, 28-58. https://doi.org/10.1080/03637751.2013.813632
Sillars, A. L. (1980). Attributions and Communication in Roommate Conflict. Communication Monographs, 47, 180-200. https://doi.org/10.1080/03637758009376031
Sillars, A. L., Coletti, S. F., Parry, D., & Rogers, M. A. (1982). Coding Verbal Conflict Tactics: Nonverbal and Perceptual Correlates of the “Avoidance-Distributive-Integrative” Distinction. Human Communication Research, 9, 83-95. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.1982.tb00685.x
Smith, L., Heaven, P. C. L., & Ciarrochi, J. (2008). Trait Emotional Intelligence, Conflict Communication Patterns, and Relationship Satisfaction. Personality and Individual Differences, 44, 1314-1325. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2007.11.024
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, 659-675. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1545-5300.2002.00659.x
Ting-Toomey, S. (1983). Coding Conversation between Intimates: A Validation Study of the Intimate Negotiation Coding System (INCS). Communication Quarterly, 31, 68-77. https://doi.org/10.1080/01463378309369488
Wilmarth, M. J., Nielsen, R. B., & Futris, T. G. (2014). Financial Wellness and Relationship Satisfaction: Does Communication Mediate? Family and Consumer Science Research, 43, 131-144. https://doi.org/10.1111/fcsr.12092
