Financial boundary ambiguity among military spouses
- McCoy, M., O’Neal, C. W., Gale, J., Goetz, J., & Mancini, J. (2021). Financial boundary ambiguity among military spouses. Family Relations, 70(4), 1265-1279. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12520
- During transitions, such as deployment and reintegration, couples may experience confusion around family roles and responsibilities. This boundary ambiguity during transitions can include uncertainty regarding financial roles (e.g., creating a budget, paying bills), which could contribute to relationship challenges. Informed by family stress models, this study examined the links between family resources, such as family flexibility (i.e., the family’s ability to maintain stability while also adapting to change), couples’ satisfaction with their communication, and their financial boundary ambiguity (i.e., couples’ abilities to adjust financial roles post-deployment) in a sample of 206 couples with men Service members and civilian wives. Further, this study examined linkages between family flexibility, satisfaction with communication, financial boundary ambiguity, and marital satisfaction. Family flexibility and satisfaction with communication were associated with lower financial boundary ambiguity, which, in turn, was related to higher marital satisfaction for civilian wives.
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