Little empirical work to date has directly addressed the specific manner in which marital couples
communicate about financial issues.
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.
Then we make the case that satisfaction with
communicating about financial issues in marriage mediates the relationship between financial conflict messages and marital satisfaction.
This literature raises the question of how marital partners are specifically
communicating about financial issues.
Not exact matches
Despite the importance of
financial issues, marital couples are often reluctant to
communicate about them (Atwood, 2012).
Communicating constructively
about financial issues within a marriage is likely to act as a buffer against the negative relational consequences of
financial conflict.
They may also be more likely to
communicate in constructive ways because they already have a preconceived notion of their spouse's beliefs
about money, and because their spouse's beliefs are in line with theirs, they constructively and proactively deal with their
financial issues.
Given the centrality of
financial issues in marriage, knowing the relatively more effective approaches to
communicating about finances can ultimately enhance marital happiness and stability.
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.
Given the centrality of
financial issues in marriage, knowing the relatively more effective approaches to
communicating about finances can ultimately enhance marital satisfaction and commitment.
Family dispute resolution (FDR) This is a process that helps couples and families who are in conflict to
communicate with each other and reach agreement
about issues relating to their separation (such as care of children,
financial arrangements and property settlement).