It ends up money can’t buy you love, or a stable relationship, or happiness with your significant other. In fact, it is more often than not a source of stress and erosion especially when both sides of a relationship hold material things in high esteem.

“Couples where both spouses are materialistic were worse off on nearly every measure we looked at. There is a pervasive pattern in the data of eroding communication, poor conflict resolution and low responsiveness to each other,” said lead author Jason Carroll, from Brigham Young University, Utah.

Statistical analysis found that couples who did not feel money and possessions were important scored approximately 10% to 15% higher on marriage stability and other relationship measures than the couples who did not similarly. Even couples where one was materialistic and one was not scored happier than the like-minded couples.

For couples who valued money and even had money, it was often a source of conflict for the couple. “How these couples perceive their finances seems to be more important to their marital health than their actual financial situation,” Carroll continued.

The results surprised the researchers who expected to see a lack of materialism and materials as a greater source of stress. It was surprising that the couples who valued money and material possessions scored more unsatisfied than the couples who had less and valued less.

Couples with more money and more desire for stuff had less effective communication, struggled with conflicts in the relationship and were less responsive to each other. Materialism may have an eroding effect on relationships.

Source: http://www.naturalfamilyonline.com/content/relationships/materialsm-ripping-couples-apart