For Richer or.....

It seems that the wedding vows are being taken a little to literally. In ABC's article Can't Buy Love studies show that marriages are falling apart due to materialism between couples. Jason Carroll, a BYU professor of family life in Provo, Utah reported that "materialism was also linked to less effective communication, higher levels of negative conflict, lower relationship satisfaction, and less marriage stability" and Susan Heitler, a Denver-based clinical psychologist discovered that "people who are materialistic tend to be narcissistic and concerned with impressing people. They have a tendency to be anxious, depressed, have relatively poor relationship skills and have low self-esteem. These qualities in turn can cause marital problems." It's so sad to think that the materialism of society affects the happiness of couples. They as individuals might have different material wants and demands that would have an impact on their happiness as a couple. We learned about the income effect and how a change in income leads to a change in consumption. Shared incomes in a marriage are being jeopordized by the materialism and demands that one of the spouses has. Shopaholics do exist, I watched a 'True Life' on it, and the people who are addicted to shopping burn through their partners income like it was Monopoly money. The need to find happiness in goods is replacing happiness in marriage. Consumers seek to maximize happiness and everyone has a right to do that but the material world shouldn't be a third wheel in a relationship.