**Can’t buy me love
**Years of previous research have turned up compelling evidence that materialism isn’t great for anybody, Carroll said. Multiple studies have found that
people who are materialistic are also more anxious, depressed, and insecure than non-materialistic types. A stronger love of money has also been linked to trouble at home, as these individuals tend not to balance family evenly with work.
Carroll and his colleagues have been studying materialism and marriage because few researchers have examined how attitudes about money affect relationships. More commonly, scientists have studied the financial situation itself to link
money troubles to marital strife. But people can be perfectly well-off and still harbor anxieties about money, Carroll said.
“We really wanted to look at the meaning side of it, and the values people bring to this part of marriage and family life,” he said.
The researchers collected online questionnaires from
1,734 married couples through the RELATE Institute, a national research non-profit. The institute provides an online, research-based “relationship assessment” questionnaire that is used by marriage counselors, educators and curious couples alike. For people taking the test on their own instead of through a participating professional, results cost $20 per person, but the money goes into the institute and none of the researchers in the consortium profit from the tests, Carroll said.
