The Association Between Employment- And Housing-Related Financial Stressors And Marital Outcomes During The 2007–2009 Recession, Robert C. Stewart, Jeffrey P. Dew, Yoon G. Lee

Journal of Financial Therapy

This study examined the association between recession-related employment problems, recession-related housing problems, and marital quality. It used a national sample of married couples between the ages of 18 and 55. The analyses revealed that housing problems were negatively associated with wives’ reports of marital satisfaction and positively associated with wives’ and husbands’ reports of divorce proneness. Feelings of economic pressure fully mediated the association between housing problems and wives’ marital satisfaction and housing problems and husbands’ feelings of divorce proneness. Feelings of economic pressure only partially mediated the association between housing problems and wives’ reports of divorce proneness. Interestingly, recession-related …

Editorial Vol. 8 Issue 1, Sonya Lutter

Journal of Financial Therapy

Editorial Vol. 8 Issue 1

Money Disorders And Locus Of Control: Implications For Assessment And Treatment, Colby D. Taylor, Bradley Klontz, Derek Lawson

Journal of Financial Therapy

Research has implicated locus of control (LOC) as a factor in the development of psychological disorders, but few studies have examined how LOC relates to money disorders, which occur when stress surrounding money negatively impacts financial health. The present study utilized hierarchical regression to examine how select demographic factors and LOC contribute to 7 distinct money disorders among a sample of 164 college students. Results demonstrate that the link between external LOC and money disorders is stronger than indicated by previous research. Unlike demographic factors, which are static and were not found to predict money disorders in the present study, …

Practitioner Profile: Roseann Adams, Roseann Adams

Journal of Financial Therapy

Roseann Adams was born into a working-class Italian immigrant family in Chicago. Her father had been very poor as a child and delighted in the opportunities he found to earn money and provide for his family. Money was not a taboo topic in their household. From a young age she and her younger brothers were exposed to information about their family income, savings, spending, and debt. The children were often in on financial decision-making. It surprised Roseann when she learned that other kids she knew did not have similar information about their own family’s financial matters. She grew up with …

Book Review: Words From The Heart: A Practical Guide To Writing An Ethical Will, Miranda Reiter

Journal of Financial Therapy

Book Review

Words from the Heart: A Practical Guide to

Writing an Ethical Will

Researcher Profile: Thomas Smith, Thomas Smith

Journal of Financial Therapy

Dr. Thomas E. Smith has been a clinician, researcher, supervisor, and professor for over 30 years. He has more than one hundred articles spanning the fields of family therapy, social work, psychology and financial therapy. He was formerly the Training Director for an accredited postmasters’ training program in family therapy and is now a Professor of Social Work at Florida State University. He is a licensed social worker and a Clinical Fellow and Approved Supervisor with the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. He is has written several books on financial therapy. He is the founder and director of …

Coping With Economic Stress: A Test Of Deterioration And Stress-Suppressing Models, Suzanne Bartholomae, Jonathan Fox

Journal of Financial Therapy

Economic stress exacts many social and psychological costs on the quality of individual and family life. This study examined the relationships between objective economic stressors, personal and social coping resources, and financial strain. Two waves of data from the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) were used to examine variations in the cultural utilization patterns of coping resources among whites (n=4,943), blacks (n=999), and Latinos (n=374). Structural equation modeling tested two competing models of the stress process from the life stress paradigm—the deterioration and stress-suppressing models. The stress-suppressing model was minimally supported; only one coping resource, self-efficacy, confirmed the …

Does How We Feel About Financial Strain Matter For Mental Health?, Sarah D. Asebedo, Melissa J. Wilmarth

Journal of Financial Therapy

This study investigated how stress responses to financial strain are related to mental health (i.e., depression) to answer the question: Does how we feel about financial strain matter? Informed by the ABC-X model of family stress and analyzed with data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), results reveal that financial strain is significantly related to increased depression; however, financial stress was found to moderate this relationship. Financially strained respondents without a stress response did not have significantly different depression scores than those who were not experiencing financial strain; however, depression scores increased as the stress response to financial strain …

Physiological Arousal During Couple Financial Discussions As A Precursor To Seeking Financial Planning Help, Megan R. Ford, John Grable, Michelle Kruger, Alycia Degraff

Journal of Financial Therapy

There continues to be a great need for financial guidance within American households, yet the utilization of professional financial help, despite its growing accessibility, is low. It has been suggested that physiological arousal is an important factor that influences help-seeking behaviors. This paper tests the hypothesis that help-seeking intentions at the couple level are shaped in part by physiological arousal within the couple. Although exploratory, findings suggest the greater the joint level of arousal, the more likely a couple will be to report an intention to meet with a financial planner. Couples who experience a higher level of arousal during …

Undergraduate Financial Stress, Financial Self-Efficacy, And Major Choice: A Multi-Institutional Study, Kevin Fosnacht, Shannon M. Calderone

Journal of Financial Therapy

Over time, undergraduates students been increasingly forced to assume a greater portion of college costs. For most students, this means borrowing larger sums and cutting back on expenses to fulfill their college dreams, which often leads to financial stress. Using financial self-efficacy theory, we sought to better understand how a lack of financial confidence and a diminished sense of financial well-being may serve to undermine students’ intended short and long-term goals. To this end, we examined the predictors of financial stress based upon a multi-institutional sample of senior undergraduates and focus on the role of the earnings potential of different …

How Do Money, Sex, And Stress Influence Marital Instability?, E. Jeffrey Hill, David B. Allsop, Ashley B. Lebaron, Roy A. Bean

Journal of Financial Therapy

This study explored how money and sex simultaneously predicted marital instability, and what financial therapists might focus on with clients to address problems in these areas. Specifically, this paper concurrently examined the relationship of marital instability to financial and family stressors (financial stressors, work-family conflict, and parenting stressors); financial and sexual resources (couple income and couple sexual frequency); and financial and sexual perceptions (financial dissatisfaction and sexual dissatisfaction). Couple financial communication and couple relational communication were explored as intervention points for financial therapists. Data came from Wave 2 of the Flourishing Families data set (N = 301). Data were organized …

Practitioner Profile: Bart Colom, Bart Colom

Journal of Financial Therapy

Bart Colom Profile

Editorial: Money & Relationships, Jeffrey P. Dew

Journal of Financial Therapy

Jeff Dew Editorial Money & Relationships

Marriage And Materialism: Actor And Partner Effects Between Materialism, Importance Of Marriage, And Marital Satisfaction, Ashley B. Lebaron, David B. Allsop, E. Jeffrey Hill, Brian J. Willoughby, Sonya L. Britt-Lutter

Journal of Financial Therapy

Drawing upon both the incompatibility of materialism and children model and marital paradigms theory, the purpose of the current study was to examine husband-wife actor and partner effects between materialism and marital satisfaction and to explore perception of the importance of marriage as a mediator of these relationships. Using a sample of 706 couples from the RELATE dataset, wives’ materialism negatively predicted both their own marital satisfaction as well as their husbands’ marital satisfaction. However, when controlling for financial problems in marriage, these effects became non-significant. Additionally, upon adding both wives’ and husbands’ importance of marriage (as well as combined …

Does She Think It Matters Who Makes More? Perceived Differences In Types Of Relationship Arguments Among Female Breadwinners And Non-Breadwinners, Melanie Mendiola, Julia Mull, Kristy L. Archuleta, Bradley Klontz, Farnoosh Torabi

Journal of Financial Therapy

This mixed methods study used a sequential exploratory design and Becker’s (1973) Theory of Marriage to explore how female breadwinners and non-breadwinners perceive types of relationship arguments. Respondents completed an online survey targeted to women about money and relationships. Qualitative analyses using a multiple case study approach explored the contents of arguments among three groups: women who earn more than their partner/spouse, women who earn less, and women who earn the same. Quantitative analyses employed independent t-tests to identify differences between female breadwinners and non-breadwinners for variables related to the identified themes from the qualitative analyses. Findings from this mixed …

Book Review: Loaded, Barbara O'Neill

Journal of Financial Therapy

Book Review: Loaded

Financial Influences Impacting Young Adults’ Relationship Satisfaction: Personal Management Quality, Perceived Partner Behavior, And Perceived Financial Mutuality, Dung Minh Mao, Sharon M. Danes, Joyce Serido, Soyeon Shim

Journal of Financial Therapy

In this study, we investigated the extent to which young adults’ (n=274) personal financial management quality and perceived partners’ financial behavior were associated – both directly and indirectly via perceived financial mutuality – with relationship satisfaction in committed relationships. The study was grounded in Social Exchange Theory (SET). A path analysis revealed that perceived partner’s financial behavior had a direct association with perceived financial mutuality, which, in turn, had a direct association with relationship satisfaction. In contrast, the participant’s financial management quality and relationship satisfaction were not directly associated nor was they indirectly associated through perceived financial mutuality. Perceived financial …

Associations Between Financial Avoidance, Emotional Distress, And Relationship Conflict Frequency In Emerging Adults In College, Josh R. Novak, Rhees R. Johnson

Journal of Financial Therapy

Some research shows that college students are not aware of their financial situation and even avoid engaging with their finances. Research has yet to investigate how this financial avoidance is associated with emotional and relational health for college students in romantic relationships. As such, the purpose of this study was to identify the associations between financial avoidance and conflict frequency. Emotional distress was included as a possible mediator of the association. Results revealed that for both men and women, higher financial avoidance was indirectly associated with increased conflict frequency with their partner through increased emotional distress. A direct association was …

Researcher Profile: Wookjae Heo, Wookjae Heo

Journal of Financial Therapy

Researcher Profile: Wookjae Heo