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Researchers have shown that if couples manage their money in sound ways, their marriages may benefit. Scholars have also shown that the quality of a marriage may precede positive financial behaviors. Previous studies have not determined the directionality of these processes, but researchers have assumed that it flows from financial variables to marital satisfaction. Utilizing a sample of U.S. mixed-gender, newlywed dyads (N = 1220), we examined which is a stronger association: financial processes predicting marital processes or marital processes predicting financial processes. Specifically, we estimated three dyadic, structural equation models to examine cross-lagged associations between husbands' and wives' own financial behaviors and their own marital satisfaction, between husbands' and wives' own financial communication and their own marital satisfaction, and between husbands' and wives' own financial behaviors and their own financial communication across two waves of data. We found that husbands' marital satisfaction predicted rank-order change in their reports of financial communication more strongly than the reverse. Furthermore, we found that wives' financial behaviors predicted rank-order change in their reports of financial communication more strongly than the reverse. These results have implications for theory, future research, and improving the financial and marital wellbeing of U.S. mixed-gender, newlywed couples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine how problematic media use (technoference, internet gaming disorder symptoms, and pornography use) predicted later partner relationship outcomes, operating through the mediator of partner responsiveness. Participants (N = 1039) were from Waves II–IV of a nationally representative quantitative study on marriage relationships across the United States. Both spouses completed surveys reporting problematic media use, partner responsiveness, and relationship outcomes at three separate time points each spaced a year apart. In order to test the hypotheses, three longitudinal actor-partner interdependence models with indirect paths were estimated, with each model corresponding to one type of problematic media use. Results indicated that at the cross-sectional level, all three types of problematic media use had significant indirect actor and partner effects, where problematic media use predicted lower relationship outcomes through the intervening variable of partner non-responsiveness. Longitudinally, wife technoference directly negatively predicted later partner responsiveness, but there were no full indirect paths of Wave II problematic media to Wave IV relationship outcomes through the intervening variable of Wave III partner responsiveness. Implications of these findings and future directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the relational and sexual costs of materialism in couple relationships. Path analyses utilizing an actor–partner interdependence model (APIM) based on social comparison theory longitudinally predicted relationships across three waves of data over two years. Respondents included 338 couples (married and cohabiting) who participated in three waves of the (Day et al. 2016) Project. Women's goods materialism at Time 2 was also directly related to their own (positively) and their partner's (negatively) sexual satisfaction at Time 3. Men's image materialism at Time 2 was directly and negatively related to their own commitment at Time 2 and their goods materialism at Time 2 was directly and negatively related to their own Time 2 relationship satisfaction. We also identified negative indirect associations between men's T2 image and goods materialism and men's and women's T3 relationship satisfaction. This study provided evidence of the concurrent and longitudinal associations of materialism and relationship and sexual satisfaction using dyadic data. Implications for family life educators and therapists are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]