Using a sample of 310 married respondents from one U.S. Midwestern state, a test was conducted to examine the association of financial satisfaction and financial stressors in a spouse's decision to stay married to the same person or leave the relationship. The role of demographic and socioeconomic variables, religiosity, psychological constructs, financial satisfaction, and financial stressors as factors influencing marital satisfaction was tested. Financial stressors were measured using a list of financial stressors adapted from the literature. Financial satisfaction was measured with a one-item scale. The Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale was used as a validation tool to assess whether individuals would marry or not marry again. Religiosity and financial satisfaction were positively associated with marital satisfaction. A negative interaction between financial satisfaction and financial stressors was also noted. Findings suggest that respondents who are financially satisfied tend to be more stable in their marriages.

How couples handle money has become a popular subject among scholars, practitioners, and the popular press. However, little is known about how finances should be treated within a clinical context. This study examined the financial management roles in which couples participate and their satisfaction level with these roles as well as couples' communication tactics surrounding money and their impact on relationship and financial satisfaction. Results suggested that having shared goals and values about money were a stronger predictor of relationship satisfaction than were communication strategies. In addition, satisfaction with one's financial management role participation may be more important than self-reported financial management roles each partner performs. In this study, financial management roles included 19 areas, including responsibilities such as bookkeeping, financial decision-making, and taxes.

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Research traditionally has focused on the development of symptoms in those who experienced trauma directly but overlooked the impact of trauma on the families of victims. In recent years, researchers and clinicians have begun to examine how individual exposure to traumatic events affects the spouses/partners, children, and professional helpers of trauma survivors. The current study examines qualitative interview data from 17 individuals, analyzed using a retroductive methodology to identify how intimate relationships are affected when there is a history of trauma exposure. The following primary themes were identified: increased communication, decreased communication, increased cohesion/connection, decreased cohesion/connection, increased understanding, decreased understanding, sexual intimacy problems, symptoms of relationship distress, support from partner, and relationship resources. Areas for future research and clinical implications are identified. Trauma and Intimate Relationships 2Traumatic events have received substantial clinical and empirical focus in the past 25 years.Although traumatic experiences have been survived by people for centuries, scientific knowledge of trauma has increased in recent history. Much of the literature on trauma and posttraumatic stress focuses on the individual effects of trauma on the primary victim-the person who directly experienced the traumatic event (Herman, 1997; van der Kolk, McFarlane, & Weisaeth, 1996). Currently in the traumatic stress field, the definition of trauma almost exclusively encompasses the DSM-IV-TR (APA, 2000) criteria for PTSD; thus, trauma has become synonymous with PTSD. However, some in the field have challenged this definition, suggesting an alternative model beyond the DSM-IV-TR description of trauma (Brewin, Carlson, Creamer, & Shalev, 2005). Shalev (2005) indicated that a stressful event becomes traumatic when it is emotionally and personally meaningful, cognitively incongruous, and when it affects human bonds and networks, suggesting that "trauma should not be seen as affecting individuals but as affecting humans in their context."The literature that describes a couple and family systems approach to trauma primarily involves secondary traumatic stress theory (Figley, 1983;, adult attachment theory (Johnson, 2002), and the relational approach to trauma treatment (Sheinberg & Fraenkel, 2001).Several terms have been used to describe these secondary effects, like compassion fatigue (Figley, 1995(Figley, , 2002, vicarious traumatization (McCann & Pearlman, 1990;Pearlman & Saakvitne, 1995), burnout (Figley, 1998), trauma transmission (Baranowsky, Young, JohnsonDouglas, Williams-Keeler, & McCarrey, 1998), and witnessing (Weingarten, 2003(Weingarten, , 2004. Trauma and Intimate Relationships 3The theory of secondary traumatic stress contends that being in close contact with and emotionally connected to a traumatized person becomes a chronic stressor, and family members often experience symptoms of traumatization (Arzi, Solomon, & Dekel, 2000;Fi...

Research traditionally has focused on the development of symptoms in those who experienced trauma directly but overlooked the impact of trauma on the families of victims. In recent years, researchers and clinicians have begun to examine how individual exposure to traumatic events affects the spouses/partners, children, and professional helpers of trauma survivors. The current study reports data from a larger mixed-methodology study that includes qualitative interview data from 17 individuals, coded to identify the mechanisms that may affect the couple's interpersonal functioning when there is a history of trauma exposure in one or both partners. The following primary themes were identified: role in the relationship, boundary issues, intimacy problems, triggers, and coping mechanisms. Areas for future research and clinical implications also are identified.