The relationship between newly married couples’ debt levels and their marital satisfaction
• Among recently married couples, those who completely paid off their consumer debt (e.g., credit card debt, installment loans) over a period of five years reported being more satisfied with their marriage.
• Couples who paid off some of their consumer debt and couples who assumed large amounts of debt during the five-year period tended to report declines in their marital satisfaction, while couples who assumed relatively small amounts of consumer debt tended to report increases in marital satisfaction.
• Changes in marital satisfaction associated with changes in debt levels were partially explained by changes in time spent together, conflict over money, and spouses' perception of fairness regarding how money was spent in their households.
• Finally, changes in mortgage debt and student loan debt were not associated with any changes in marital satisfaction.
Sample or Data Description
Data came from Waves 1 (1987-88) and 2 (1992-1994) of the National Survey of Families and Households, a nationally representative, longitudinal study. The analytical sample consisted of 1,078 couples who had been married less than five years during the first wave of the survey in 1987-88. On average, couples had been married 2.72 years (with a majority in their first marriage), were 29 years (wives) to 31.4 years (husbands) old, had one year of college education, and earned a median household income of about $32,000. About 86 percent of the couples in the analytical sample were white, 6 percent African American, 4 percent Hispanic, and 4 percent other races and ethnicities.
Source
"Debt Change and Marital Satisfaction Change in Recently Married Couples"
Dew, Jeffrey
Family Relations Vol. 57, Number 1. January, 2008. Page(s) 60-71.