Materialism a threat to wedded bliss

Materialism negatively affects happiness of married couples.

It's great to share values, says a team from Brigham Young University in Utah reporting in the Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy, a trade paper for family and marital counsellors.

But, it's not so good when foremost among the values you have in common with your spouse is upward financial mobility.

After interviewing nearly 2,000 couples, researchers found that spouses who share the same materialistic values have a tougher time being happy in their marriage.

Materialism, the study revealed, has a negative association with marital quality whether a couple is rich, middle class, or at the lower end of the financial spectrum.

Focussing on money problems, the researchers also found, also adversely affects communication and ways of solving conflicts in other areas.