Materialism and its effects on marriage

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Materialism and its effects on marriage
Tim Kasser’s book The High Price of Materialism has clearly indicated that people whose main focus in life is accumulating possessions are at greater risk of being unhappy and are frequently anxious and depressed. These people may also more commonly suffer from low self-esteem and encounter problems being intimate with their spouses. It is common place for materialistic people to be chronically insecure and this weakens relationships. This is because materialistic people are unable to be free enough to have rich ties with other people (Kasser, 2002). A survey done on 1,734 couples by ABC News Medical Unit in 2011 revealed that being financially successful does not necessarily make marriages better. Additionally, the family life professor indicated that materialism in both spouses makes marriages worse as opposed to when just one of the spouses is materialistic or none of them are.
Materialism is the obsession with obtaining possessions and when one is unable to acquire the expected possessions, he or she often gets disappointed and this might deteriorate to psychological disorders such as depression. Materialism is different from being genuinely hardworking and desiring to gain more possessions without necessarily being obsessed about it. People who are genuinely hardworking and possessions are able to pursue relationships with other people as they work. Materialistic people on the other hand pursue possessions and have total disregard about how their possessions pursuits impact on other’s wellbeing. This implies that when someone is materialistic in a marriage, he or she will cause negative effects on the marriage. Materialism causes unsatisfying marriages.
Materialistic people are prone to making unreasonable financial decisions. When they make these unreasonable decisions, it often leads to stress on their spouses and consequently has a negative impact on the satisfaction level in the marriage. Unreasonable financial decisions may for instance include capitalizing on taking expensive vacations, designer décor or clothing which is beyond what the married couple can afford. This may result into getting into bad debt and put a strain on the relationship. Studies have shown that there is 40 percent higher financial problem risk in couples with materialistic tendencies (Reuters, 2007). Financial strain resulting from materialistic tendencies is avoidable. Couples are encouraged to practice proper saving and budgeting. This is because the problems arise from the way in which the materialistic person thinks about money. The materialistic spouse values what they have more than in terms of usable commodities. They are unable to differentiate between needs and wants and may often go a shopping spree believing that a good marriage is based on the possessions which may be wants and not needs beyond the couples affordability scope (Reuters, 2007)...