Service Members’ Couple Finances: An Examination of Financial anxiety, Financial Decision-Making, and Agreement on Spending and Relationship Outcomes

Service members may be at an elevated risk for financial anxiety due to the additional financial stressors of military life (e.g., moving costs, additional childcare costs) which may adversely impact their romantic relationships. Elements of couple finances, including shared financial decision-making and agreement on spending with partners, are generally associated with more positive outcomes for couples, and may attenuate the negative consequences of service members’ financial anxiety on their relationship outcomes, although these elements of couple finances have not previously been explored as moderators or in service member populations. Grounded in the vulnerability stress adaptation model (Karney & Bradbury, 1995) and the family stress theory (Conger et al., 1994), and using a latent moderation model with a sample of 1,480 service members, this study examined how service members’ financial anxiety, shared financial decision-making, and agreement on spending were related to their couple relationship outcomes, specifically, relationship satisfaction and caring interactions. Additionally, this study incorporated shared financial decision-making and agreement on spending as moderators of the association between financial anxiety and relationship outcomes. The results indicated that service members’ financial anxiety was negatively associated with their relationship satisfaction, but that their reported shared financial decision-making and agreement on spending were positively associated with relationship satisfaction and caring interactions. Furthermore, agreement on spending was found to moderate the association between financial anxiety and relationship satisfaction. These findings demonstrate the merit and utility of collaborative, relational approaches to financial management for service members. Implications for interventions for military couples’ finances are discussed.