Dyadic Trajectories of Financial Behaviors in Marriage: Predictors, Consequences, and Structural Disparities

This study investigates the joint developmental trajectories of financial behaviors, their predictors, and outcomes within the first decade of marriage. We used Waves 2–7 (six waves) of dyadic data from 1505 different‐gender couples. Growth curve analyses showed that healthy financial behaviors continued to increase but began declining between Wave 5 (April 2021–December 2021) and Wave 6 (April 2022–December 2022), coinciding with economic challenges at the time. Latent profile analyses identified three subgroups: “moderate momenta with fades” (P1, 40.3%), “peaking and ebbing” (P2, 36.3%), and “stalling in shallows” (P3, 23.5%). P1 and P2 were associated with higher relational commitment than P3. Socioeconomic inequalities were the key predictors. Higher education and household income were associated with higher likelihoods of the more adaptive P1 and P2 (compared to P3). Wives' longer working hours and husbands' prior marriage were linked to a lower likelihood of P2 than P3. P2 was more likely (than P1) when household income and wives' education were higher, but less likely when wives worked longer hours or husbands had a prior marriage. Our study advances family finance research by demonstrating how couples' financial behaviors co‐evolve and highlights the urgent need for financial interventions, particularly among socioeconomically marginalized populations.