Sound Financial Management and Happiness: Economic Pressure and Relationship Satisfaction as Mediators

This study examines the relationship between sound financial management behaviors and happiness using a national sample of adults collected in 2009 (N = 1,014). We used Maslow's hierarchy of needs (1943) as a theoretical framework to examine associations between sound financial management behavior, economic pressure, relationship satisfaction, and happiness. Findings suggested that economic pressure and relationship satisfaction both mediated the association between sound financial management and happiness, but the mediator effects were only partial. That is, even after accounting for participants' actual financial context, feelings of economic pressure, and relationship satisfaction, a positive association between sound financial management behavior and happiness remained.