Can a Bad Economy Save Your Marriage? - Miller-McCune
Spouses who blame the economy for their woes, rather than pointing the finger at their partner, are more likely to be satisfied with their marriages.
Lisa Diamond is one of the few people who has something positive to say about the economy. Sure, a wide range of problems can be attributed to the continuing recession, the University of Utah psychologist concedes — but from her perspective, that’s a good thing. Diamond, whose research focuses on personal relationships, reports financially squeezed spouses who blame the economy for their woes, rather than pointing the finger at their partner, are more likely to be satisfied with their marriages. She discussed her findings, which were published in the journal Personal Relationships, with Tom Jacobs.
Genesis of the study
“What really struck me was the fact that the news coverage of the global economic crisis created an unprecedented situation in which couples could, if they wanted to, blame someone other than their partner and themselves for their money problems. Usually, when a couple is struggling with money, there’s no ‘outside force’ that couples can blame. But this time, there was, and I thought to myself, Wow, in many ways, this is like a life preserver — some couples will take advantage of this convenient scapegoat and will focus their anger and blame on the global economic crisis, and some couples won’t.”