Does materialism equal wedded bliss?

In his blog, Dr. Robert Brueck MD, Fort Myers Florida plastic surgeon, deals with a range of subjects, including human relationships. After all, the objective of cosmetic surgery is to make people happier. Here's a different perspective on what makes people happy.

Today, in modern society, the divorce rate is all too high. It has effected everyone of us – family, close friends have all suffered from it. There are many pressures placed on “couples” today and, with this horrible economy, money is certainly in the game.

A recent study of 1700 U.S. couples by researchers at BYU University and William Patterson University studied couples to determine what effect “money” had on their relationships.

Results were interesting. Couples who said money was NOT that important scored about 10-15% better on measures of the quality of a relationship. Basically the more couples emphasized the value of money, the quality of their relationship fell.

The importance of materialism may lead to couples making poor financial decisions – overspending, thus creating a strain on their relationship.

I guess it is simple – DON’T spend what you DON’T have. Maybe we should send that message to our Senators and Congresspersons and by the way – our President too.