All’s not fair in love and work: financial distress, work-family spillover, and relationship satisfaction in newly-married couples

ABSTRACT

Using Social Exchange Theory (SET) and an actor-partner interdependence model (APIM), we examine direct and indirect associations among financial distress, work-family spillover, and relationship satisfaction. Data come from wave 3 of the Couple Relationships and Transition Experiences (CREATE) study: a dyadic, nationally-representative sample of U.S. newlyweds (N = 1,044 opposite-sex, dual-earner couples). We found wives’ and husbands’ financial distress were negatively associated with both their own relationship satisfaction, while only wives’ financial distress was associated with their spouse’s relationship satisfaction. Wives’ and husbands’ work-family spillover were both negatively associated with their own relationship satisfaction. Wives’ work-family spillover was negatively associated with their husbands’ relationship satisfaction, while husbands’ work-family spillover was not significantly associated with their wives’ relationship satisfaction. Wives’ work-family spillover partially mediated the negative associations between their own financial distress and relationship satisfaction as well as their husbands’ relationship satisfaction. In addition, husbands’ work-family spillover partially mediated the negative association between husbands’ financial distress and their own relationship satisfaction, but not the association between husbands’ financial distress and wives’ relationship satisfaction. This study highlights the importance of considering the work-family interface and using dyadic data to understand the nuanced connection between financial distress and relationship satisfaction.

KEYWORDS:

• Financial distress
• work-family spillover
• relationship satisfaction
• social exchange theory
• marriage
• dyadic

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data used in the current study are not publicly available due to privacy restrictions set forth in the participant consent form and by the institutional review board. However, the analysis code/syntax used in the current study is available upon request from the first author. This study was not pre-registered.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Toby M. Driggs

Toby Driggs is a PhD student studying at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. He is studying Industrial/Organizational Psychology. His research interests focus on the work-family interface, telework, and distractions.

Ashley B. LeBaron-Black

Ashley LeBaron-Black is an Assistant Professor of Family Life at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. She received her PhD in Family Studies and Human Development from the University of Arizona. Her research focus is family finance, including couple finance and financial socialization. Ashley has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles and is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Family and Economic Issues. She is Chair of the Family Financial Wellbeing focus group for the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR). https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4980-2659

Matthew T. Saxey

Matthew T. Saxey is a Master's student in Marriage, Family, and Human Development at Brigham Young University. In general, he is interested in what contributes to healthy committed romantic relationships. Specifically, he researches how couples navigate their finances and how these behaviors impact committed romantic relationship outcomes. He currently serves as the Emerging Scholar Co-Chair in the Finances Topic Network for the Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood.

E. Jeffrey Hill

E. Jeffrey Hill, PhD, is a Professor of Family Life at Brigham Young University where he teaches classes in family finance, work and family, and home and family living to about 1500 students each year. His research examines the interface of work, finances, and family life. Dr. Hill obtained a doctorate in Family and Human Development at Utah State University and Masters of Organizational Behavior from the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University. Prior to coming to BYU he was a work and family subject matter expert at IBM for many years. He has authored or co-authored seven books and more than 100 scholarly articles and book chapters about work and family, and family finance. He recently held the Camilla Eyring Kimball Chair in the BYU School of Family Life. Jeff and his wife Tammy are blending a family with 12 children and 35 grandchildren. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3422-5940

Spencer L. James

Spencer L. James is an Associate Professor of Family Life at BYU. His research interests include global family relationships and the impact of those relationships on the wellbeing of children, adolescents, and adults. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3901-3880

Jeremy B. Yorgason

Jeremy B. Yorgason is a Professor of Family Life at BYU. His research interests include later life couple relationships in context of the effects of daily health stressors, managing multiple chronic illnesses, and on grandparent/grandchild relationships. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4208-7306

Erin K. Holmes

Erin K. Holmes is the Director of the School of Family Life at BYU. Her research interests include a systemic ecological orientation to the study of families as well as how contexts outside of family further impact relationship processes. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9830-2792