THE INFLUENCE OF DISAGREEMENT OVER FINANCIAL EXPENDITURES ON INCOME SATISFACTION AND QUALITY OF LIFE

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of disagreement over financial expenditures to income satisfaction, satisfaction with spouse, and quality of life. Survey data collected from 262 nuclear families in Indiana, part of the NC-128 research project, were analyzed using descriptive statistics, multivariate analyses, and path analysis techniques. Conceptual models were developed following a literature search of both theoretical and empirical work. Independent variables included were family income, education, years married, number of children, wife\u27s employment, value rank agreement, management procedures, communication, net worth, and perceived future security. The research model predicting disagreement over finances was very significant for both sexes. Family income and communication were significant predictors for husbands\u27 disagreement; communication and perceived future security were significant for wives\u27 disagreement. The model predicting satisfaction with family income showed that family income and perceived future security were the most important predictor variables for both sexes. Disagreement over finances did contribute slightly to the prediction of income satisfaction for wives, but not for husbands. In the model predicting satisfaction with spouse, disagreement over finances was the most important predictor for husbands, whereas communication was most important for wives. The model predicting satisfaction with quality of life was significant beyond the .01 level, with an R(\u272) of .45 for husbands and .50 for wives. Disagreement over finances was not a significant predictor of quality of life for either husbands or wives. Disagreement over finances was found to be closely associated with other family disagreements, but for these families, finances were not the major area of conflict, ranking fourth for wives and fifth for husbands. Disagreements over responsibilities and over child-rearing were ranked as most intense. Path analysis, testing the causal model, revealed that disagreement over finances did contribute to satisfaction with quality of life indirectly, through satisfaction with spouse for husbands, and through satisfaction with spouse and income satisfaction for wives. Husbands and wives in this study showed dissimilar routes to the achievement of income satisfaction, and satisfaction with quality of life. The household, therefore, does not appear to be the best unit for the study of family economic behavior